I'm trying an experiment, I want to wire a AC or DC motor to a light fixture and manually rotate the shaft which extends from the motor to generate electricity to the light bulb 60W or bigger.Can it be done, If so, Which type motor is recommend? Ac or Dc
Ac motors are not generators unless connected to an existing ac line. Small permanent magnet dc motors as used for models or dynamo from bikes (effectively permanent magnet alternators) or a old car dynamo are the best. Alternators of new cars require dc excitation.
You will have to use the DC motor. AC motors will not work as generators unless they are wound rotor synchronous motors so you can excite the rotor from a DC power source. But turning it fast enough to generate enough power is going to be your problem. If you are turning it by hand you are going to have to have some type of gear reduction.
Well, there isn't much of a difference but an AC motor must be plugged into a wall outlet for example. A DC motor can run on a battery such as a car battery.
it will be difficult to hand turn any motor fast enough to illuminate a bulb that large. You could put a volt meter on the motor while you turn it to see how many volts you get. You can also drive one motor with another motor, just to see what the best voltage possible is. A DC motor will generate DC voltage, and the DC voltage will likely be small - approx 12 volts or less. If you spin such a motor fast enough to generate 120 volts, it will self-destruct, because it's spinning ten times faster than it's designed. There will also be inefficiencies, so you will only get part of the electric energy out. You might want to try a smaller bulb, like a flashlight bulb.
We tried this with an old AC washing machine motor at a Girl Scout meeting. It would make voltage - less than 1 volt on the volt meter as I recall. No way it would light a 60 Watt bulb.
