How Many Marbles Does it Take to Charge My Phone?

Try Brilliant for FREE for 30 Days: brilliant.org/... (This will also get you 20% off the annual premium subscription)
Check out the Engineezy merch featured in this video:
engineezy.com/...
I have a bunch of cool mechanical 3d print files available on my website:
engineezy.com
Or Become an Engineezy Thangs Member and get access to 2+ premium files every month: thangs.com/des...
The Wintergatan Holy Grail Divider Video:
• WE FOUND IT! - The Hol...
Tom Stanton’s Generator:
• Building a Generator
Here are a bunch of articles about different renewable energy storage systems in the works:
spectrum.ieee....
My 3D Printers:
Prusa: www.prusa3d.com...
Bambu Lab: shareasale.com...
This is the Laser Cutter I use for all my projects:
www.xtool.com/...
This is the filament I use for all my projects:
geni.us/sdT9QBj
I also have a Patreon if you want to see some exclusive behind the scenes content: / engineezy
The electric screwdriver I used to assemble and disassemble this thing many times is a game changer: geni.us/f6oJ
Can you harvest the energy of falling marbles to charge a phone? In this video, I take you through the incredibly complex engineering process required to answer this simple question. From converting a stepper motor into a working generator using a full bridge rectifier, to powering this generator with a marble-paddle wheel, to feeding the paddle wheel with hundreds of marbles- there were some interesting challenges I encountered along the way, and some satisfying solutions.
This is probably the world's least efficient way to store energy, but it might be the most fun.

[@aserta]

I setup my brother's farm with water batteries. We're up to 27 now, each about 30k liters of water. Sun moves it up with pumps in the day, turbines make power during the night. It was the best deal, because water is also a reserve for irrigation purposes, to that effect, we plan to expand it all along the borders of the land, which is basically useless because of the hilly nature of the property. Other than maintenance on the pumps and turbines, clean-up of the solar farm, there's basically no other worries, not for the duration of our lives anyways.

[@lupusk9productions]

should post some vids on that! sounds interesting

[@mikebond6328]

No video?

[@mikebond6328]

That’s a lot of water.

[@xtofury]

I've been thinking lf doing the same since our property is on a slope.

[@Engineezy]

Sounds very cool, would love to see some videos on that

[@hope8838]

Ball power... Literally

[@creativename.]

flowma balls chargma phone

[@3RR0RNULL]

Reminds me of uwos lab’s fap generator

[@BalticoYT]

Big ball energy

[@xalwine]

Watched some of the shorts leading up to this. Could never have guessed this was the end goal. Fantastic!

[@Engineezy]

Thank you!!

[@SeatiesFN]

me

[@phantomcrafter146]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="208">3:28</a> Where's Electroboom when you need him?

[@IceBotYT]

FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER

[@Engineezy]

Haha I should’ve called him in for that section

[@nolanv4227]

FFFFFULL BRIDGE RECTIFIEEEERRRRR!

[@ForgeCoreCo]

You gotta have a lot of balls to attempt something like this

[@Engineezy]

Maybe, or I’ve just lost my marbles…

[@alex_is_my_cat]

@@Engineezyif you lost your marbles why do you have so many

[@CFedits62]

​@@alex_is_my_catthat's pretty ballsy to ruin the joke chain

[@TheRealTopHatOnYT]

“Yo bro what’s that thing?” “Oh, that? That’s just my charger.”

[@Chkoupinator]

insanely inefficient charger* lol

[@maxim_samy]

@@Chkoupinator it was a joke

[@LordDragox412]

The P is stored in the balls. And by P I mean power.

[@Theboardbro]

Wintergatan is my GOAT! He literally commits years of his life on the same task and even though he makes mistakes he continues to press on and not give up!

[@federicocaputo9966]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="993">16:33</a> this guy wanted to literally make a perpetual motion machine. IN THIS HOUSE WE OBEY THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS.

[@Epicdoge1091]

Genuinely surprised how far I had to scroll for this comment.

[@asdfadszfdsafdsfsdfsdfasfa2708]

Not really, nothing wrong with lifting them balls as such, in theory anyways, as long as the number of balls lifted up < number of balls dropping down.

[@WalnutBun]

The fact you felt the need to make sure the laws of thermodynamics still apply is hilarious to me

[@Engineezy]

We are all slaves to thermodynamics 😵

[@VolcanoGamingVR]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="604">10:04</a> - Wintergatan is the dude who made the Marble Machine music

[@Literally_hatsune_miku_39]

Yes. He’s making a new machine now.

[@terohannula30]

​​@@Literally_hatsune_miku_39Well original was around 2016 if I recall right and around 2017 he started making MMX, which he then dropped couple years ago. But then he started third machine soon after. So, I would say this is just perpetual project, which will never actually finish.

[@mathijsfrank9268]

So this is what those shorts were about...

[@BLACKTHUNDERGODZEN]

This is something else. The shorts were making an automatic marble pixel art machine Edit: wrote the comment before watching the vid. You're right

[@VolcanoGamingVR]

He’s saying that the shorts he did that were not on the art machine

[@Engineezy]

Yesss!

[@dannylumcreative]

The animations were so fun makes me want to do some arts and crafts!! sick job jay the scale of this thing is so insane lol. excited for the day you have a whole gallery of all your inventions

[@parmesanzero7678]

Since you are powering the lift externally, you’re just adding a bunch of resistance between the wall socket and the generator. <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="806">13:26</a>

[@mattimotion]

It's really satisfying when you explain a problem and show us a smart solution seconds later. Awesome video!

[@Engineezy]

Glad you enjoyed 👊

[@jaimdiojtar]

Loved yhe reference of electroboom "full bridge rectifier" at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="219">3:39</a>

[@BloodyMobile]

I can imagine the conversation with a neighbor: "How're you storing your renewable energy for later?" - "I pump marbles up my attic" - "...wat?..."

[@epicmemelord2258]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="87">1:27</a> I had no idea the animations were stop motion. That’s actually so cool

[@Engineezy]

Glad you appreciate them (took me SO long to make haha)

[@jessicabrown2634]

The animation is soooo sick. Amazing video as always!

[@Engineezy]

Thanks for sacrificing another room in your house to the Engineezy cause ❤️

[@themostoriginalyoutuber]

Interesting. I shall now build a mechanism to power my entire house with balls

[@hasanali-us7jz]

ha BALLS

[@brettfontaine4681]

More engineering puns! Love the rectifier joke.

[@Engineezy]

🤓

[@GrandDawggy]

Personally i call them a rectumfryer, thanks to AvE

[@bowieinc]

Really Fun! I’m 90% done with a tootsie roll distribution machine included unloading a 5 lbs bag, up a tracked “Mountian” dosed into a plate based on empty plate sensor. Full electronic schematics done, all 3d printing done, electronics and control panel ready, just having a hard time finding motivation to finish. It’s almost like since I’ve worked out all the issues in my head to make it work, the actually “making it work” has been put on the back burner. Your video has motivated me one step more towards working on it.

[@AustinEarley-s7m]

Make the marbles magnets, and have them roll past the coils. Use a crank that has a ball bearing style thing like on bike pedals s to store some kinetic energy from the cranking. If this is chosen to be done I will be soo happy. It would show how I really could be an engineer. A response would make my day. I can clarify if needed.

[@Ron76844]

Awesome work dude, I was wondering what the shorts were leading to!

[@Engineezy]

Thanks Mr. LaRue 👊👊

[@dallencorry]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="911">15:11</a> Wilson’s overly stressed, over stimulated and over caffeinated cousin, Stilson

[@nindoninshu]

it's pretty impressive that i saw your short video on this just a couple days ago and you had just solved the issue with a binary funnel, now you've built the whole thing and made the video

[@Engineezy]

Haha! Took a couple months but Im glad you didn’t have to wait too long

[@oasntet]

"Engineering is all about finding solutions that make all the work you did last week obsolete." ouch, I feel that. I figure that's why we have imperfect memories, so we're not haunted by all of that work forever.

[@hearhaw]

I love how you are willing to obviate the designs if your previous videos. Awesome video!

[@hdsoccergmer501]

I saw so many shorts for this guy. Very interesting + the wintergarden mention perked my ears up like a dog XD. The entire duration of the machine running has me humming wintergardens marble song

[@kriekenzero]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="535">8:55</a> My dude is making factorio lane balancers in real life.

[@CosmicEpiphany]

Let the phrase “Engineezy doesn’t have the balls to do that" be banished from the Earth forever.

[@Engineezy]

🕺🕺

[@kianr2200]

this is the most well rounded engr channel on youtube imo. great background information and explanation, without being too overbearing. love seeing the process, and you mkae it seem so doable, like any of us could do something similar. inspiring

[@Engineezy]

Appreciate it, glad you like the content! 😄

[@JeremyChung]

Dude, I’ve been super impressed by your recent creations. I think you’ve really found some ideas that are gonna crack the KZbin algorithm man, congrats. Also, your work ethic in making all these videos in such a short amount of time is super respectable. To increase the torque the motor puts on the flywheel, what if you tried using multiple gear reduction stages? Also, how does the power output of the setup relate to the power input of the chain lifter motors if you were to run this thing continuously? My math brain wants to know.

[@Engineezy]

Gear reductions could help get the thing up to speed faster but wouldnt add any power to the system. For power in vs power out, turns out it’s pretty hard to measure power out!

[@SupGaillac]

Glad you mentioned Wintergatan, and nice job!

[@lorddorker3703]

Love the project and the initial ideas simplistically. If you want a method backed by science that has a positive feedback loop. Use solar to directly power nichrome wire. That heat is used to pyrolize bio mass. Pyrolysis is a chemical process that is more efficient then an open air burn. This gives two byproducts Syngas and Biochar. Syngas is a replacement for natural gas and if you REMOVE the carburetor it will run directly in an internal combination engine. The Biochar is a permanent soil amendment that when used in poor soil improves crop yield. More crops, more biomass, more syngas,more char, more yield, repeat loop.

[@MegaBlox_YT]

I think this is one of your best vids!! Love it!! 🔥

[@DC-id2ih]

Awesome video! I really enjoyed watching you use both design theory and practical experimentation to ensure a successful implementation...

[@henkdepotvis3425]

The marketing for this video is the best ive seen for a video ever, the hype creation by the shorts was crazy

[@CraigMoynes]

Great video Jay! Love the animation style and long form. Great tips and tricks.

[@Engineezy]

Thanks, always trying to keep it interesting!

[@lbaerror9492]

Bro is good with balls 💀

[@hlarjay7503]

Homie handles them nicely😳

[@lbaerror9492]

@hlarjay7503 lil too nicely 😭

[@saranshlohiya5060]

Hats off sir❤..those stop motion animations❤..the whole project is so good❤❤

[@bahamutbbob]

A Full Bridge Rectifier! *Mehdi has entered chat*

[@itscorgivr]

I have been waiting for this video for SO LONG

[@Engineezy]

🙌🙌

[@zigimc2370]

That non-cgi animation in the beginning was sick, keep up the work

[@christianbureau6732]

Genius, really enjoy each projects, keep going Cheers

[@Sauce_E9]

really liked the stop motion, good touch

[@cullendarling7916]

So easy to understand. Very good. Thanks!

[@Ralf-73-D]

You, Wintergatan and Ivan Miranda should definitely join forces to finally find the ultimate answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything...-with marbles.

[@michaeldiamond2269]

Original and beautifully executed as usual.

[@Engineezy]

Thanks Michael! Appreciate it 👊

[@troldtoft]

I love that you say that batteries are not the solution for large scale storage when that’s literally what Germany and USA are doing at the moment. Plus it’s the most used technology in private houses.

[@cloudyskies2]

love the marching song that happens once the generator is filling up

[@VolcanoGamingVR]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="792">13:12</a> - Friend: Where are you? Me: Hold up, gotta wait for my charger to fill up

[@Ablesofthealex]

One person told me that I ate a marble when I was a child

[@PatshraygKawlinse-o4b]

Well, most children are dumb.

[@panzerofthelake4460]

same but it's not hazardous it's just glass, it usually comes out again with no issues

[@Becuase_Im_HIM]

Congrats

[@chuckle5253]

My little brother ate mancala beads

[@shadowassassin1587]

I find your use of "one person" very concerning. I hope this was someone who at least knew you when you were a child? Not just some stranger on the street?

[@lilistaylit]

Glad to see it all come together ❤

[@medicwine]

Okay hear me out: Bicycle generator powers the marble lift, the marble tubes are run throughout the house, there are low power led strips throughout the house in various places. You create a house that if the person chooses, they can pedal a bike and have a marble run throughout the home thats powering funky lights, and it lasts as long as you decide to pedal and costs no money to run.

[@elwinaylen866]

This is really cool! I especially like the way you can see everything working; I wonder if it could be integrated into your marble-pixel art thing which makes images; could be attached somehow so that when emptied it makes a bit of electricity before going to the sorters- crazy idea, what do you reckon? Love the stop motion animation work too!

[@KennyLenny0]

i learned more in those breakdowns than my many years on this earth. well done!

[@Engineezy]

Haha glad you got something out of it!

[@JoelSapp]

Wow. I had been following your incremental shorts and you have crazy focus on a fun but silly idea. Super commendable. You should write a paper on jamming and unjamming of ball bearings. I think it would be super helpful for science. What is the energy in versus the energy out ?

[@Engineezy]

It was honestly pretty tricky to determine that! Might make a short on it! Thanks for watching

[@Ssidistik]

Jokes are ALWAYS better when you explain them!

[@Engineezy]

Right?! 🤓🤓

[@Ssidistik]

🤖

[@jaredstrell1721]

You never cease to amaze

[@Engineezy]

Might even say it’s…perpetual?

[@iambadatnamingthings3547]

It seems to me that being an engineer, to you at least, means to find overly complicated solutions to problems that already have simple solutions but this time with ✨MARBLES✨

[@Nera-whimwhams]

I love your projects!!! I thought for sure when you added those lightning bolts, it would work⚡️😜

[@Engineezy]

🤣🤣 sometimes you need to fix a products flaws with flashy logos

[@Boxland_]

Marble machines are so satisfying! Super interesting to see the iterative process. I have a very specific question: How did you find a good gear ratio? Were you able to calculate it?

[@ThePurpleOwlGod]

Wintergaten is a legend fr.

[@shanemarkle]

"Is the power coming out enough to lift the marbles up?" Just casually wondering if he's created a perpetual motion machine.

[@FuncleChuck]

No. It’s not close. Surely

[@Kwainfinity]

🔥vid bro

[@claird8991]

I had thought about making a small scale version of an idea I had to see if it would work. But I don't think my craft skills are quite up to the task like yours are. My idea was to harness the tides and ocean waves. They would raise and lower a mass that could be used to pump ocean water up to a reservoir on land. The water would then flow out over a paddle wheel connected to a generator. Free energy from tides and waves! A small scale version would have a water bucket on the floor and another water bucket a couple of meters above it. Ocean tides and waves could be simulated by raising and lowering the bucket on the floor. A pump mechanism in the bucket on the floor would them pump the water up to the bucket two meters up. The water would then flow back down over a wheel connected to a generator, much like your ball system, back into the bucket on the floor. I figure the water system would greatly simplify your ball system since the water would be much less likely to jam. Of course it would also be much more likely to leak and make a mess on the floor that would have to be mopped up. Maybe I could cobble something together to make use of the water coming out of my rain gutter downspouts so that the next time it rains...🤔

[@prashmakes]

Sales assistant: How many balls would you like? Engineezy: Yes

[@3StarPanda]

"Is the power out strong enough to lift marbles up? " ="Have I invented a perpetual motion machine?"

[@Engineezy]

Had to try it 😅

[@DerpyDerpo-p4g]

"How did you charge your phone?" "Balls"

[@TheRealBlight]

It's impressive the power that balls can bring to the table...

[@DridgeDEU]

Wow, that was an amazing video!

[@MikeHarris1984]

And there is also the lake systems or water systems that are used to pump water up to the top of a mountain and then whenever the grid needs power it'll then release the water back down through hydroelectric generators and so they get some of the power back during those peak hours. There's a couple big ones around the world that do this.

[@Blazer106]

Can yu two, meaning electroboom and engineezy collab, it will be amazing

[@Engineezy]

🙌

[@VolcanoGamingVR]

Love the rebrand

[@Engineezy]

Thank you!!

[@higherrating2195]

You should plug the "lift motor" in to a power source, run it for a few hours and see how much it charges your phone.

[@Epicdoge1091]

Wintergatan and LEGO GBC are the reasons I'm "interested" (addicted) to this kind of stuff

[@respitesage]

The most promising (and realistically-marketed) dry gravity storage implementation I've seen is from a British company called Gravitricity. They're repurposing old mineshafts.

[@YO-BIZZY]

Try add a sandbag full of marbles to a roller, as a spool. Then have that unwind downwards

[@peegion4742]

My disappointment when he didn't yell "FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIEEEEER" was immense.

[@Engineezy]

🤣

[@The_Meme_Fox]

The hat design looks like it’s made by an engineer that’s also a nirvana fan

[@lexcorreia416]

this is crazy, and just so cool!

[@Engineezy]

Thank you!!

[@andrew.c5492]

Amazing creations

[@Engineezy]

🙏🙏

[@Theboardbro]

This is on par with some of unnecessary inventions, inventions!👏👏

[@Tinker_Nerd]

The time on the clock leads me to believe this was an idea inspired by a certain plant

[@daviedood2503]

You remind me of John Travolta. Maybe you're his son. 🤘🤣🔥 Awesome job man.

[@Engineezy]

Possibly 🤔

[@Volcan-kf3oz]

When i saw the battery in the beginning my first thouht was monsters inc. 😂😂

[@boonjabby]

Ironically. You referenced Wintergarten as your inspiration for the divider, martin could definitely use your design advice to optimise his marble machine.

[@rzeqdw]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1070">17:50</a> - this can only charge the phone for 30 seconds One of the major problems with gravity-based energy storage is that gravity is the weakest fundamental force. I did some back of the envelope math the other day to win a bar argument. I said, hypothetically, what if you turned your water heater into a pumped hydro storage between your attic and your basement? ~6 meters elevation gain, ~150kg water mass, you get about 10kJ stored, which is about 1/4th of what a single lithium ion cell stores. The electromagnetic force is orders of magnitude stronger than the gravitational force, so you get this massive difference. Incidentally, something very inconvenient for things like electric cars, is that a similar level of difference applies between electric energy storage (eg normal battery technology) and chemical energy storage (eg hydrocarbon fuel). Chemical bonds store _way_ more energy than batteries do. That's why I'm convinced that the only practical way we will ever get to a net zero carbon energy economy, is if we stop putting batteries on everything, and start figuring out how to synthesize gasoline from atmospheric CO2. That would, after all, be a (very unorthodox) method of energy storage. Sun shines on solar panels, solar panel output generates gasoline from the air. It's net zero by definition because of conservation of mass. And it's storing the power to be released later, albeit in a non-electrical form

[@GoldenAxeBuildz]

love the stop motion

[@Engineezy]

Appreciate you appreciating that

[@ThatRandomNeonGuy]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="110">1:50</a> bro tbh TYSM FOR REMINDING ME THE FORMULA I COMPLETELY FORGOT IT T^T gotta review my 6th and uth grade physics notebooks istf💀

[@Engineezy]

Man we were learning this stuff in like highschool 😵

[@666lumberjack]

This video makes me want a 3d printer more than anything else I've ever seen

[@zax1998LU]

FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!!!!!

[@Engineezy]

⚡️⚡️

[@tugaric]

Jesus christ what an insane idea. I love it *grabs popcorn*

[@Engineezy]

🫡🫡

[@falldeaf]

Nice job, that was a fun watch! Two questions, why did you split the marbles into so many separate tracks only to combine them back into two? And second, have you tried calculating how many balls it would take for a full charge, if you could have a theoretically huge, raised, reservoir?

[@gilb6982]

We the poeple need you to stop changing the name of things with the intent to cut our fun ! Lol ! There is a lot of reserch into this project and i learn a lot Thank for all your time and humour !

[@superspooky4580]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="189">3:09</a> that is technically false. All DC motors can be used at generators. (permanent magnet or electromagnet). The same cannot be said for AC motors. Primarily squirrel cage type induction motors(aka the vast majority of medium size motors "think pool pump, AC compressors, ceiling fan, etc"). Motors that only have a stator coil. The rotor in these motors requires a AC input to generate a rotating magnetic field that in turn induces a magnetic field in the rotor. If these motors are spun from the shaft (aka in reverse) they generate no power as there is no magnetic field and no way to make one. These are very sad motors to me at least because without major modification they will never be a generator.

[@k4be.]

Induction motors will happily work as generators. They just need to be connected to the AC grid. The motor, if forced to spin in excess of its synchronous speed will feed power into the grid. It's actually utilized in some kinds of small power plants, and for braking of some types of elevators going downwards.

[@mrpants8976]

Now you just need to extend the marbles to your attic and have a large storage in there, plus connecting solar for the marble returner

[@Engineezy]

That would be perfect! Gonna have to build it into my dream house one day

[@moth.monster]

Pumped hydroelectric is just so simple. It's a genius system.

[@Kurea_Mutoh]

“ How Many Marbles Does It Take To Power The Entire Planet Earth? ”

[@MichaelVegoda]

That’s so flippin cool.