Pedal-a-Watt

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Pedal-a-Watt

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sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 05 9:11 am Post subject: Pedal-a-Watt
This link was posted on the FrugalGenius group, thought it looked fun for those that are excercise bike types! https://www.econvergence.net/electro.htm

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 05 9:41 am Post subject:
That's a fun idea. I'm too mean to buy the plans though

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 05 9:44 am Post subject:
Would it be possible to adapt it so that you charge a battery whislt actually getting somewhere?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 05 10:01 am Post subject:

Northern_Lad wrote:

Would it be possible to adapt it so that you charge a battery whislt actually getting somewhere?

Yeah, but you'll be putting more energy into the ride. It's like linking an old fachashioned dynamo to a battry charger, I'd have thought.

boff

Joined: 23 Mar 2005
Posts: 354
Location: Still alive and kicking

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 05 11:06 am Post subject:

cab wrote:

That's a fun idea. I'm too mean to buy the plans though

here you go then ....
https://www.homepower.com/files/electrobiking.pdf

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 05 11:29 am Post subject:
The extremely low power output from the typical human being (and I think these folk are being optimistic) serves, if nothing else, to give an appreciation of the vast amount of power that we have, (and largely fail to appreciate), on tap (quite literally!) at our disposal. Its a humbling thought.

culpepper

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 638
Location: Kent

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 05 2:27 pm Post subject:
they have a similar bike trainer bracket in the Argos catalogue page 1211 for �79.99 Looks like you could possibly use that. I dont see why it couldnt be some sort of home made bracket instead though if you had the knowledge.

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 05 2:40 pm Post subject:
They had ones at the green show last weekend, they were using the power to make fruit smoothies!

Moira

Joined: 26 Sep 2005
Posts: 49
Location: Nottingham

Posted: Mon Sep 26, 05 11:22 am Post subject:

Not sure where the plans came from (Sure they were free somewhere) but my OH and his mate made a bike generator, really simple design, for lighting, stereo etc.
It cost them very little to make it, second hand bike bits, skipped stuff and an old car battery. the only hard bit was the permanent magnet motor thingy (sorry, I'm not a technical person) but even that was sourced from an old washing machine.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Oct 17, 05 8:10 pm Post subject:

we had a ex mod pedal battery charger , fully oiled etc it was very hard work for about 2 hrs to fully charge a car battery ,as bad as a steep hill.we also tried making one from a bike and alternater this was better once we got the idea we needed some charge to power the coils but was still hard work .ideal if you need the exercise i would think . i have heared a 2 kva soundsystem powered by bike generators but there were quite a few riders.

belfast-biker

Joined: 09 Aug 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 05 4:41 pm Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

They had ones at the green show last weekend, they were using the power to make fruit smoothies!

Hi JB, I was at that show - Castle Espie wasn't it?

The fruit smoothie thing was great, I was wondering about making power out of a cycle trainer after that, but was wondering how much power....

Good thing we have downsizer to do the work for us..

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 05 4:46 pm Post subject:

belfast-biker wrote:

That was it, I was down doing the dry stone wall course

What did you think of the show?

belfast-biker

Joined: 09 Aug 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 05 5:21 pm Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

belfast-biker wrote:

That was it, I was down doing the dry stone wall course

What did you think of the show?

Loved it - never got to any of the NIE presentations though - the were massively over popular - got two of the talks in the big tent though though - the biomass farming guy (who'd have thought there was so much energy in trees, and who knew they could grow so damned fast?!?), and the guardian journalist who eco-changed his life - when I get a job, I'll be buying his book as the library ain't got it...

Got in for free, coz I cycled down from Belfast for it (don't own a car, and won't until I have kids) and parked the bike up, but never got to make a smoothie - to many people watching!!!

There was certainly lots to see, got a lot of good reading to tkae way in the form of mags and leaflets too.

Well enjoyable day...

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 05 9:22 pm Post subject:
the multi rider thing i saw was in sheffield . i find these like a 1 in 4 hill on a 1gear bike . too much for me . even the keen bikers could only do about half an hour . maybe the engineering could be arranged so it isnt too hard to bother with but it takes longer to charge a battery .they do work but ......there are better ways to microgenerate electricity .

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