This Lego Vacuum-Powered Generator SUCKS!
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Patreon: www.patreon.co...
See my latest experiments and behind-the-scenes footage!
Let's suck our way to generating electricity using Lego! In this video, we experiment with a few different 'Lego Vacuum Engines', and use a powerful turbine engine to drive a Lego generator made of large neodymium magnets and 3 coils of copper wire. This generator outputs a 3 phase signal, giving us a nice smooth signal at quite a high voltage. The current is limited, but this gives me great hope for an upgraded version with beefier coils!
Now it's not lost on me that we're using a 620 watt hoover to generate only a small amount of power. But this sure has been a fun experiment using a vacuum to drive our turbine, and then using this to drive our generator.
I'm happy to see that I'm not alone in using my tongue to measure voltage.
Best measuring method out there for lower voltages 😋
Human Voltmeter
Same but I almost died
I used my fingers to know if electric model train tracks are conducive.
@@JamiesBrickJamsvoltage gives a delicious taste 😋😋. No need for sambal or any spice. Voltage is spicy enough
"Yo bro can you charge my phone?"
"Sure let me just get my vacuum."
😂
Lol
charging phone using lego ? i gotta get some lego like right now
@@JamiesBrickJamsyoo I have an idea for a continuation title for dis. -sucks dick
"what"(concerned) lol
Awesome! I appreciate that you’re getting into lego air-flow based things now! Both vacuum engines and pneumatic engines.
ayy hi there
Cheers! I hadn't messed around with vacuums until now, but it was a lot of fun, so will definitely explore this a little more 😉
Bros fr in here nice
I like how because the vacuum is plugged into the wall, and that's powering the turbine, and that's powerful the generator, in a really roundabout way you've basically plugged the LEDs into the wall
World's most inefficient USB adaptor 😁
@@JamiesBrickJams
Work harder, not smarter 😄
6:32 while 10000 RPM is of course a ridiculously high speed, the faster the spinning is, the higher the flux will be. And as the flux is directly proportional to the induction voltage, the higher your RPM is the more voltage you will generate. Anyways, love to see these physics applied in lego builds, it's really cool!
Yeah I'm almost tempted to see just how fast it could spin if I connected the magnets directly to the turbine without any gear reduction. But I'd be pretty worried about something flying off or creating a speed wobble. Perhaps in a future experiment!
but vaccum engines have less torque than a nitro engine
@@JamiesBrickJamsdo it, no balls
@@sammyboy2007 on it already 😉
@@JamiesBrickJams eeyyy my man
You must say "Full Bridge Rectifier" more! We must spawn Electroboom
edit: Thanks for 447 likes!
Agreed
Definitely - perhaps one day we'll be graced with his presence 😊
@@JamiesBrickJams i wish you meet him
No, don’t we don’t need him going. crazy again.
As electroboom always says ThefullBrigerectifi and there is no free energy
Most people who are into Lego vacuum engines lubricate their axles and turbine blades with olive oil to achieve even higher RPM. Veggie oil works too :)
I considered that, but didn't want to get my hands all oily 😅 Surprisingly, there wasn't much wear and tear even after running this engine quite a bit. But for a future experiment I'll consider some oil to see how far we can push it!
@@JamiesBrickJams A Q-Tip / cotton swab works pretty well and keeps your hands pretty clean. Cheers!
@@JamiesBrickJams You should honestly use something like silicone grease or oil instead. Vegetable oils tend to oxidize and are hygroscopic, which means they will gum up and actually increase friction after a while.
Are you saying that olive oil is not a veggie oil? 😂
@@SonoIlFactotum They are different I dunno what you are on about ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
surprised this guy does not have more than 100k. You definitely deserve more than 100k for your work.
Aw well appreciate your kind words ☺️ Maybe one day!
Views or subs?
Subs
I love that it sounds like a rotary, which makes sense given it’s moving air past 3 blades, just as a rotary does, even if it’s not a blade
Great animation! Loved all the sounds effects! Keep up the good work!
0:45 the LED actually flashes TWICE per passing of the magnet, once when the coil approaches, an extremely short interrupt at the center as everything is balanced out, then once more when it moves away.
lol no, when the magnet moves away from the coil, the output voltage has the polarity reversed, and since LEDs require the right polarity, they only blink once per pass
i like how it sounds like a 4 cylinder sportbike
A piston vacumm engine sounds better i think
You plug the vacuum into the wall, then plug the vacuum into a generator, then plug the generator into a light. It's complicating things a bit, isn't it? Lol, amazing work. Your channel is really cool! Keep it up.
Thanks a lot! And yes, it's really ridiculous - not practical at all 😅 But a very fun experiment
Slightly new here but just want to say that I love your work. Nothing more nothing less. I truly enjoy your content
Keep your little light shining.
What a lovely comment, thanks so much for that, and for the encouragement! 😊
when i relized you ran those 3 12 volts on just one coil you kinda blew my mind. pretty awesome. now make one for a small steam of water
you should design a clutch for the hand crank thing attached to the red door, it should act like an E-Stop where the door closes and the engine stops
11:00 the loudest lab bench power supply
This could honestly be an awesome over engineered show stand for technic cars
I’ve seen vacuum turbines my friends making hitting like 20k plus rpm. We usually use an oil like olive oil as lubricant when making engines and stuff, if not the axles start sheering cuz of the friction. You def need it for bigger engines like if you make realistic engines with cylinders and start messing with dohc valves systems and stuff.
Cool video btw, keep up the work. 😁
That's awesome! Looks like I'm gonna have to lube this thing up to get more performance in an updated version
March 2025: This Lego Jet Engine Blows!
🤔
@@JamiesBrickJams yo what happens if you put oil at the spinny spinny turbines, does it get faster?
@@D9fjg I'd imagine using some lubricant would make it run just a little faster. Probably not too much though. I believe lubricant would make a bigger difference with a piston engine
@@JamiesBrickJams future video idea?
@@JamiesBrickJams Soda bottle. Vinegar. Baking Soda. Put the jet turbine bit on the outlet and boom -- chemical power! Be careful it has a tendency to foam over in amazing science fair volcano
Thx for the videos! You inspired me to make a tiny Lego speaker because you made it look so easy.
Aw that's amazing, and I'm so happy to hear that! All I really want is for folks like you to take ideas from these vids to make your own inventions ♥️ Hope your speaker works well!
@@JamiesBrickJams It does! Thx again
But can it run doom?
💀💀💀
Lets test
Anything, even electronic pregnancy test can
Chernobyl rundown test
Crazy! Let's test!
hey jamie, i’ve almost been building these engines for a year on tiktok, but i’d recommend trying to port the housing a little more to optimize airflow, and definitely lube it (veg oil works fine, but i prefer wd-40 if you don’t care abt maybe damaging bricks more). I think it would also be cool to add a supercharger on top for fun (contact me if you’d like any help on that). Have a good one
Cool! I’d love to see more vacuum based projects in the future
Thanks! I'm pretty new to vacuum engines, but I had a lot of fun, so will definitely be experimenting more here 😉
So you're using electricity... to power a vacuum... to generate electricity.
Love it!
Haha yeah this is totally ridiculous and impractical. But fun ☺️
3:42 this is actualy good since you dont get i air input but like the holes make inputs for almost every turbine
Want alot of power? Make a lego vacuum v12 engine!
Powered by 4 vacuums!
@@JamiesBrickJams YES!
Actually a vaccuum v12 will be far weaker than even a vaccuum 1 cylinder. The reason is because the vaccuum will need to spend more power to move 12 entire pistons instead of just 1. The axle will also have more rotational inerta in the v12.
@@LemonJuice_ Exactly
What about 12 vacuums 👀
That Lego vacuum turbine sounds like a race car don't you think😊😊😊😊
Because they both go around 10k rpm
Crazy what lego can let you do. You were able to use a vacuum cleaner to charge your phone, which is so cool
If you want a vacuum turbine to perform well, you have to let the inlet be light and barely any friction in the inlet because it will let the engine run at its best rpm while having the inlet at a certain point where the engine likes it
ah yes, powering a generator with electricity (with losses) this is revolutionary! why has no one thought of this yet?
Haha it sure as hell isn't practical 😉 it's really just an incredibly lossy wall to USB transformer!
@@JamiesBrickJams But it is awsome, good job
You never fail to impress me… keep up the great work!
Damn, appreciate the compliment, thanks a lot! 🙏
@@JamiesBrickJams Like damn, I never thought these things were possible with Lego! Not only this, but your video ideas are very original, captivating, and just completely awesome. Thank you man. Been subscribed for a very long time.
13:00 Let me turn my vacuum on so I can light my room.
😂
Full bridge rectifier bro electroboom needs to be here
As a siren enthusiast I can confirm this thing sounds like a thunderbolt blower or really high pitched model 2T
I really like your videos. They are both educational and playful.
12:40 Now I dont have to worry about wasting infinite supply of air vaccum to charge my phone lol
A thought, If you enclose the generator portion between the vacuum and the vacuum driven turbine, it could perhaps reduce the air pressure such that the generator could be easier to drive.
Maybe even house the generator within the body of the vacuum.
This is a brilliant way to show in a a practical experiment how electricity can be produced just by using airflow to rotate the magnet core.
Thanks 😁 It's obviously totally impractical but a fun experiment nonetheless!
Nice to see the vacuum to phone adapter is going well 😂
😂 Absolute nightmare bringing this charger on the plane
@@JamiesBrickJams and if you do you can use the suction from the toilet to power it 😂
Can you please make sure that the final generator can power the vacuum cleaner? That would be nice.
That violates the laws of thermodynamics…
Your not just making an electric generator but your making a vacuum engine
Very awesome and inspirational design! You think a second prototype can be made more efficient and compact?
Absolutely! And thanks 😁 The generator portion is extremely inefficient, so this is likely the first thing to improve. But the vacuum engine too could see some significant upgrades. Will work on this over time 😉
Now connect it to something like a pi pico or a ti-84 and play doom, to say that you ran doom on a vacuum cleaner with lego
Haha that's actually a great idea 😂
If you want to improve output better. First move from a 2 magnet core to a 3 magnet core. This should stabilize current better as well. Also to reduce resistance on the turbine you can use a smaller core and use larger coils since they will be stationary. It'll reduce drag resistance from the air and should put the energy saved into your core for a higher peak voltage.
This is such a cool and interesting hobby. I'd love to get my hands on a collection of technic.
11:50 i think thats radioactive
While i do love this ingenuity , i just had to comment on one thing. I dont know i f you have an oscilloscope, but i would recommend that you get one to se the wave signal of your coil. because those coils are extremely inefficient. And since you talked about efficiency regarding the vacuum turbine, i would like to think that machine efficiency would also be equally important. While the magnet traverses over the coil, enveloping the coil, there is no induction at all. One would like to think that peak voltage would be at that point, but due to the coil geometry that is not the case. I would assume that the peak voltage positive is when the permanent magnet is introducing the magnetic field in where the edge of the magnet is aligned with the center of your circular core. and a new peak when the magnet is about to leave the coil. The coil in it self introduces harsh harmonic distortion which in turn creates huge losses. If you are going to iterate on this design, i would invite you to check out how coils are assembled in the stators, aligned perpendicular with the magnet, linear, non-circular. A bit difficult to explain, but check out for example lesics. Anywas, a really good proof of concept. i imagine, keeping your coil urn, id guess you would acheive atleast 60% efficiency if you redesign it. And that might be a understatement.
7:32 well its a 5:1 gear reduction and you got 10k before so its gonna be around 2k.
7:43 huh who woulda thought
Quick mafs
That's basically a backwards vacuum cleaner that turns the output vacuum of a regular vacuum cleaner back into electricity the same way it was created lol.
Haha yeah, kinda! It's a pretty silly and inefficient way of turning a 620 watts into (probably) sub-10 watts 😅
Btw hetty is so cute lollll😂
I agree, she's the best! I refuse to upgrade her
Imagine using this as a powerplant for a lego city
That's a really cool idea!
9:36 that one LED is like I’m special no, you’re not bud. You’re just ruined it for everyone.
Haha sneaky little dude, had to put him back in his place 😂
6:00 at this time you made some sort of blower seen on drag cars!
mAN just casually electrocutes himself testing a lego turbine. mad. love the video
Don't have the budget to patronize anyone (can barely make ends meet) but I remain a faithful humble subscriber. Keep doing cool stuff. One thing I would like to see is a Lego variable capacitor, it ought to work if you put aluminium foil on one side of the plate?
Aw well I just really appreciate your support and comment! ☺️ That's a really interesting idea about a variable capacitor. I guess in theory that's pretty doable. Will have a think about possible applications. Thanks a lot!
Hi Jamie, could i ask if u send the link if where u have bought the copper wire used in the video please? Thanks!❤
Sure! I just get most of my bits and bobs on Amazon. Here's the link to the wire: BNTECHGO 24 AWG Magnet Wire - Enameled Copper Wire - Enameled Magnet Winding Wire - 1.0 lb - 0.0197" Diameter 1 Spool Coil Red Temperature Rating 155℃ Widely Used for Transformers Inductors amzn.eu/d/jip4jls
Thank you!!!!!! I rlly appreciate it!!!!!❤
I need the part list,and where you get the parts.
From irresponsible spending over many years 😅 I'm thinking of making instructions for some of my contraptions, but right now life is a bit crazy and need a little more time!
Cool,I'm researching biology as a school subject,and I'm learning electronics from my father.
Ok so I've created lego transformers out of hinges,but it's parts are so old that they are falling apart.
That's cool, my dad got me interested in electronics too. Best of luck with your contraptions!
Also I nabbed a glass air tank,I've been thinking to build a fully-functional lego motorcycle that can compresses its own air and runs off air.and generate its own energy.btw where do you go for those magnets?
How about you power the vacuum cleaner itself ?
Does anyone know what his ground plate is called (at the start)
I got mine from various Lego art sets. I believe it's this part here: www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=65803#T=C
@@JamiesBrickJams thanks
Very cool! I've wanted to build a vacuum turbine for a while, although at the moment I have got myself a vacuum mill engine (which is basically just a steam engine with a very simple valve gear - used in old mills & factories, hence the name!). It runs quite well with a large flywheel to keep it turning over. Not sure if it's able to achieve the same results you have with the turbine lol.
Woah that's awesome! What a cool idea for a Lego build 😱
Mom:we have a generator at home
The generator: a damn lego motor
Bro didn't make a generator he made a tornado siren
Wow ! Now, you just need to create a screen, and you have build a complete computer !
A Lego computer would be quite the spectacle 😄
Complete with Lego mouse and keyboard 🤯🤯🤯
@@Sivaramachandran971 The keyboard already exist, it's just a little modification of the organ.
If you put a metal rod inside of the coils, they will actually produce more electricity than before.
Most vacuum cleaners also have an output, where air from the vacuum is brought out of the vacuum cleaner.
Why not connect a hose to the output of the vacuum cleaner, and use on the input vent of the generator? Would it make more power now that are is not just being drawn in, but forced in? Have vacuum on one side of the fan, and air on the other side still, Add a flap to the air side so you can still control the power. Might even use a bigger fan to spin it, so you have much more torque and power.
imagine living on legos and parents ask how you have so mutch electrisity and you show them that one room they : told ya lagos pay of
Try this with a lego vacuum piston engine, I've built ones before and the 1 cylinder has high rpms and decent torque with a good flywheel.
That's an awesome idea, it's definitely on my list as I'm pretty new to vacuum engines, but they look fun as hell!
They sure are, but something about the actual piston engines is that the valve timing has to be 90° left or right from the piston.
Some other engines i made it has a ohc, which then I had to use a chain for it.
Awesome video btw 👍
Vacuum turbines are more efficient and have a higher power output though.
Yeah I just assumed a turbine engine will be more efficient overall. But I do love the mechanical sound and functioning of a piston. They demonstrate concepts well too. So will still give it a try!
Vacuum turbines are fast but have little torque. Piston engines are pretty much the same. But definitely more torque
You should be able to get an estimate of how much power your phone is taking by using an app to measure power going into the battery, and having it take measurements with the screen off so you can be sure that almost all of what your phone takes is in fact going into the battery. The only issue is that I'm not aware of an app that records historical power measurements. The closest I'm aware of is Battery Guru, which reports instantaneous power (which you can only actually see with the screen on), but only records historical current (which doesn't tell you much beyond a qualitative fast/slow without also knowing the battery voltage). I'm sure an app that does the right thing is possible though.
I find it funny, You use electricity to spin some blades, that then blow your lego blades, to make electricity. XD
Yeah it's all a bit silly and insanely inefficient 😅 But fun!
@@JamiesBrickJams And fun is reason enough =3
If you want to charge a phone faster with high voltage, I'd recommend turning some of the voltage to current. I wouldn't push it though, as I don't know a phone's rated amperage.
While this more or less is a demonstration, you could probably use this generator with a vacuum generated by falling water! I don’t know any of the logistics, but seeing as it was a relatively low power setting and vacuum, running this off a small waterfall seems like a viable idea.
Driving something similar with water is definitely on my agenda, good thinking! I also love the idea of driving it by vacuum created by the flow of water through a pipe. Thanks for the suggestion 😁
Didn't you used to be called Jamie's Lego Jams?
Also - great video.
Thanks! And yes, you're right I was called that. Though I was warned that Lego is quite protective over their brand and name though, so I decided to err on the side of caution and update my name while I'm still relatively new 😅
@@JamiesBrickJams Ah, okay. Fair enough.
Why didn't you fully open it to see the maximum power? 😭
It was fully open when the generator was in action!
i love this series of making generators, please make a hydroelectric generator
Water power is on the agenda 😉 And thanks!
Fun and interesting, as it's really surprising just how much power can be drawn from just atmosphere pressure, if using a vacuum to direct it.
But; I find the fact the word 'efficiency' is abandoned, yet still used early on incredibly amusing; because using a mains powered vacuum cleaner as the source of for this generator renders all efficiency pretty much void the second it's turned on.
Haha you're totally right, this is really just an absurdly inefficient and over-engineered transformer. Turning a 620 watt vacuum cleaner into only a few watts is pretty silly 😅 But a fun experiment, and I like getting an idea from these generator experiments to benchmark their performance. I'm confident there are better configurations of this vacuum generator which would be much more performant. The engine is good (could be a bit better), but the generator could be much better. Will work on it 😉
@JamiesBrickJams Well, if you like the ridiculously redundant...
Did you consider 'supercharging' your vacuum?
As in use a little positive pressure on the inlet.
Oooh I did not, that's a cool idea! Might have to tinker with that a bit - cheers for the suggestion
Tip: and it may sound ridiculous with plastic but use a lubricant for a smoother use and less wear on the lego
Cheers! I thought of using some olive oil but decided to keep my hands clean. Might try it for a future version though 👌
Wow a lego vaccum engine, who would’ve seen that coming?
you could try making energy with pistons and compresed air (or steam)
Improvement idea: try building the turbo out of those yellow circle pieces it will be much more efficient
In vaccuum engines, turbos actually decrease the preformance of the engine. Thats because the vacccuum will have to use up more power to spin up the turbo along with the engine itself which will decrease power.
Guess we're gonna have to use multiple vacuums 😎
@@JamiesBrickJams 😎😎😎
this would be a cool gadget to have in a house with central vacuum
World's most inefficient wall adaptor 😅
Can you try powering up your vacuum cleaner with the generator?
OMG perpetual motion energy 😂😳🤯😝😮
Nooooo you cant just make power with Lego!
HAHA turbine go BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT
So because the light was flashing that indicated it was AC current and then using the capacitors changed it into DC? Is that what most generators have to do if they use magnets?
you dont use full speed cuz there will be more than 15 volts
you just use low and high speeds not full
bytheway keep up the gud👍🏼 work 👍🏼
edit: thanks for 1 like
Haha yeah I realised after blowing one of my 16v capacitors that I was outputting quite a bit more at full speed 😅
You can also use olive oil to make it run smoother
Lol thanks for making a video about it. Maybe i can fit it on some of my lego technic builds that the original designs didn't seem to do very well with.
Awesome, hope it works out - best of luck! 😁
How come you usually spin the heavy magnets instead of the lighter coils? Wouldn't your generators be more efficient if they moved the coils through the stationary magnetic fields than they are by moving heavy magnets near stationary coils?
That's also technically possible. But the question then becomes - how do you collect the current from those moving wires? It's really not so easy, especially via Lego builds. You need some kind of commutator or something which is difficult to build, has major points of mechanical failure, and are not easy for others to replicate. Ideally I like my builds to be easy for other folks to make themselves relatively easily. It's a fair point though, and worth exploring at some point in a future build
6:11 YAA YAA YA
Very nice work!
Thanks a lot!
So i’ve got this electric skateboard that i use to commute to work right, it can go about 30mph, theoretically, if i were to build this with like an air intake, do you think it’d be able to generate enough energy to charge the board? If not the remote? Idk lol
Haha it might charge the remote.. but you'd have to run the generator damn near forever to build up an appreciable charge on a large battery in an electric board. This thing is terribly inefficient 😅
Excellent solution. I think Lego Technic with electric parts would like to support for learning at teaching for physic or experiencing for electric technology. Thank you for saving my experience. I want to enroll for electric technology. 😊👍 i think i need to enroll for understanding how does it work with energy power like vacuum or wind power and how does it work if you add a chargable battery like at car without loading energy. If wind comes then wind boosts then generates more energies to battery? ⚡️
now try it with a smaller gear reduction to improve efficiency
you should make an air raid siren along with an upgraded vacuum turbine
You should put more copper around the magnets
Are there low power vacuum cleaners you can use? If so can you turn this into an perpetual motion machine that actually produces power to supply itself?
Would like to see an ammeter added. Watts is a measure of power. Watts is amps x volts. The power output is the true measure of a generator.
i think you should make an actual turbine with steam sometime! that would be pretty cool imo
WoW that was something super interesting!
Aw thanks 😁
I bet you can get a lot more power from this if you add an iron core to the coil, i managed to get 2V from 18m of wire using four 5mm thick 20mm wide neodymium magnet and spinning it by hand with no gears using my 3d printed generator
Sometimes that's possible, but the drag created with these powerful magnets against a ferric core is extreme, and would leave the engine unable to run. At least with only 3 cores. I've made a few generators with many more cores (8+), and this reduces the drag quite a bit. But it didn't increase efficiency that much. They might increase your voltage output a little, but what really matters is how much torque you can apply to the generator. I prefer to have air cores as most of my Lego generators are primarily limited by how much torque they can handle
@@JamiesBrickJams if the axel cant handle the torque perhaps use a metal axel,
If the air turbine cant produce much torque to get it going perhaps the cores are very spread out it can cause a magnet to lock on the iron core and have some holding torque, but this torque should not exist when spinning the generator since it will average out to 0, but maybe you can make a transmission to have high torque to start it but not much torque to run it
if there are too many eddy current and hysteresis losses, i dont think there is much you can do
Also you can consider having more smaller magnets and more smaller poles, in motors it makes the motor have more torque, in generators it makes the motor produce more voltage, also it may fix what i assume problem to be which is the magnets locking onto the core
Definitely want to try with some metal axles! I have a few now, so it's worth trying. Especially powered by a nice pneumatic engine which tends to output loads of torque. You're probably right about trying a larger number of smaller magnets and cores helping to neutralise the drag - certainly worth a try! Cheers for the suggestions 😊