A levitating solar motor

I bought this motor from ebay seller "greenpoweronline" for
$ 43,69. It had the title "Solar Mendocino Motor magnetic Levitating educational model HN02A Propeller CA G"

Ebay Number : 351448361476

Transcript:

Welcome to my demonstration of a Mendocino motor.

It combines magnetic levitation with the photovoltaic generation of electricity and an electric motor to a totally useless system.

It is useless in the sense that it has no practical application.

But it's a lot of fun to play with it.

There are coils inside the rotor that are powered by the solar cells.

The current in the coils together with the magnet under the rotor generate a Lorentz force that makes the rotor rotate.

I point a strong flash light from the right towards the motor.

Unfortunately the rotor is not balanced perfectly.

The flashlight has three powerfull Cree XML T6 LEDs.

Now with the light from the left side.

It's getting slower...

And starts to rotate in the opposite direction.

Maybe I should run it in a vacuum chamber.

BTW: I bought it on Ebay for only $44 (see description to this video)

Now without the prop.

Still very unbalanced.

Reminds me of a satellite.

I think when the LEDs get too hot they are dimmed by switching them on and off. Therefore the stroboscopic effects.

Flashlight off.

The friction is very small.

A prop balancer that I use for my multi copters has the same principle.

The light from the top makes it move in the other direction.