Comments on: Pedal Powered Electricity Generator from Windstream

By: Colin

Colin — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 21:03:34 +0000

World’s first pedal-powered field cinema:

http://electricpedals.com/2011/03/13/worlds-first-pedal-powered-field-cinema/

By: Gary Wardell

Gary Wardell — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 01:04:11 +0000

I am interested in hooking a generator up to a horse hot walker and so my horses can generate electricity as they walk.

Can any body make a generator for this purpose?
gw.prior[AT]yahoo.com

By: GY

GY — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:17:01 +0000

I have used my ebike (Amped Bike) with a rear wheel motor as a generator to charge batteries configured for 12 & 24 volts. (Obviously, the higher the voltage, the faster you have to pedal.) The maximum power have a generated was 469.9 watts — it was probably only for a few seconds. All you need to build this is a bike stand ~$100(must get the rear wheel off the ground), an electric hub motor for the rear wheel ~$150, and a three phase rectifier ~$38(or you can build it with 6 diodes $6 — it will get hot, so I prefer the pre-built three phase rectifier ($38) attached to an old computer’s heat sink $0-PN#88K9644 Newark Electronics) One option would be a DC watt meter (Watts up DC power meter works great) to tell you how much power(energy) you have generated $65. A typical work out (1hr) would generate 100Whr = 0.1kWhr = $0.02 (@ $0.2/kwhr – typical electric cost from grid). So, taking my engineering hat off, and put on a business hat – 20 people at a gym would generate $0.40 per 1 hour of use. Lets say it is used 4 hours a day by 20 people or $1.60/day. And, lets say the bikes are used 200 days per year = $320/year electrical savings. But, it costs $275/bike conversion = $5,500 for all 20 bikes. So, $320/$5500 = 5.8% Return on investment — you had better use the bikes 200 days for 4 hours each day (800 hours/year) with no maintenance & no battery storage (could be done with minimal battery storage) or the return on investment goes down. This is more of a marketing scheme (feel good about the environment) than a real business money maker. People can not generate enough energy to compete with the low cost/large scale generation by the electric companies.

By: ChrisRyan909

ChrisRyan909 — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:58:39 +0000

Is there a version that uses pumping action? I’m guessing that alternate equipment could be engineered? Not just a crank version, but a weight lifting version that gets a flywheel going? I’m trying to imaging ways to get unemployment down, and I want to know if there can be enough equipment in one gym to create surplus power?? Even a modest amount?

By: kenzo

kenzo — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:20:24 +0000

Did you know that this is being implemented in a Jail in the Philippines? Nice huh?

By: Mike Gordon3

Mike Gordon3 — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 11:19:39 +0000

You innovators should get in touch with Michelle Obama and fight childhood obesity. What’s needed is an off-the-shelf unit that can run a TV when pedaled.
Does such a unit exist now? Any recommendations?

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 04:11:26 +0000

Well Jeremy, I had a class last Dec. and found out that Kohler has a new voltage regulator (rectifier) that converts AC volts from the top of the wave and the bottom of the wave. So your a little late.

By: Jeremy C. Carlson

Jeremy C. Carlson — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:25:58 +0000

So all of you are caught up in this human powered nonsense- ha ha ha… ~ Really though, the answer to electric freedom without the money issues(at least in the long run), lies directly within the power source of electricity at its base core function. “Lame man’s terms… -> Electricity is a current, like a river. If one was to dam it, there would be excess energy to use for whatever. A battery is like a dam, electricity flows in to fill up the dam. The trouble with the battery though is that when the battery is in use, the dam empties. – All one has to do is keep the flow of energy going into the dam at an excess of what is being taken out.

- I’ve made such a machine that will do just that. My machine runs off of electricity, that it itself makes in excess and with this excess energy I am able to power a number of useful things. – Trouble now is that no patent company will go near my invention, nor will any investors. My prototype was built out of a wind-up flashlight… It overpowered due to lack of funding for a voltage regulator. I’d like to find a partner who’d be willing to help me fund and build a bigger more useful prototype.

By: tjdavid

tjdavid — Sat, 08 May 2010 07:36:50 +0000

Ashley,

It’s all a numbers game. You can peddle harder to get more watts per turn, or you can peddle easier to get fewer watts.

It’s just like a regular bike. You shift to bigger gears when you have momentum, you shift to smaller gears when starting off or going up a hill.

You can do it however you want.

Changing to a bigger motor/generator may prove fruitless as it may be too hard to turn to get your desired output. You can always salvage a car alternator, that may produce more for you and be harder to turn.

Really, what you want is something that you can comfortably generate power with. Can you sit for 1/2 hour and peddle as if you were going up a hill? Or would you rather peddle for 1 hour at a normal stride?

I chose a spinner-type bike for my generator. The reason is it has a big metal wheel that turns on its own. So initially it’s tough to get moving but then once you get it turning it’s actually helping you along and will continue to turn even if you stop peddling.

But again, you need to do calculations. People seem to think they will sit down for 1/2 hour a day and peddle the watts to power their house. To get an idea, if you wanted to power your TV, you’d have to peddle at a normal speed minute-per-minute of watching TV.

Are you willing to do that? Sure you can peddle harder, maybe double the speed and go 1/2 minute-per-minute.

The point is, there’s no easy way to get free electricity. You might not realize how much electricity you really need and how much work it takes to generate it manually.

By: tjdavid

tjdavid — Sat, 08 May 2010 07:33:45 +0000

Let’s do some more math to see the value in these devices. Let’s say you get 100 W (0.1 kW) for a 1 hour workout. This gives you 0.1 kWh of energy per workout. At market rates of about 10 cents/kWh, you have generated about 1 cent of electricity. Do this every day for a month and you’ve cut 30 cents from your bill. I’m all for exercise and alternative energy, but this isn’t going to put a dent in your electric bill or cause a detectable decrease in our use of other fuels. If you really want to save energy and money, then ride your bike everywhere.

By: Erik Jensen

Erik Jensen — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:18:33 +0000

By: Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:48:27 +0000

I am thinking about using this technology in large scale applications… like prisons… I think that if everyone in prison pedaled for 3 hours a day we could solve the nation’s energy crisis… What do you think?

By: colin tonks

colin tonks — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:25:23 +0000

RJ, if you google smoothie bike there are loads of different ways to chop fruit, all of which are mechanical. However, we’ve devised a slightly different method but connecting a generator to a motor! It’s a touch overkill when you look at some of the more simpler mechanical methods, but fun none-the-less.

http://electricpedals.com/2009/11/22/pedal-powered-smoothie-not-hd/

Colin

By: RJ

RJ — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:09:16 +0000

hi everyone.

it’s really cool to see how long this conversation has been going on. i’m trying to come up with a way to power a juicer or blender on a regular portable bike. is there any way to save the energy that i create when pedaling my bike around to power a blender when i stop? or is there an easy way to set up my bike to do that once i stop? is this possible or would i not be able to create enough energy? would it be better to do this by charging a battery or another way? this is great! thanks everyone!

By: Terry Quick

Terry Quick — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:15:43 +0000

Don’t you have a system that with a multiple speed bike would generate ten thousand watts or more. I don’t know if I could even buy parts to build my own, but I have to try something. My income is only $9,500.00 a year. I need to find a way to generate my own electric power.

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:54:02 +0000

Adam,

In answer to your question, 45 Pedal-A-Watts were used together over one week to create a large amount of power for Super Bowl 42. See more at http://www.econvergence.net/electrotest.htm

By: Todd

Todd — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:38:50 +0000

Gary,

I brought this up before. I bought a DC motor, connected it to a Spinning stationary bike and charged marine batteries that way. The spinning bikes are like a big fly wheel. They have a giant steel wheel. It’s ideal because you can pause while peddling and it keeps moving.

If you connect a DC motor to a regular 10 speed bike, you could simply use the gear ratios on the 10 speed to pump the wheel faster.

Realize that the faster the wheel spins, the more juice comes out.

But again, don’t get any ideas of grandeur. Pumping hard for 10 minutes isn’t going to produce that much more electricity. You are going to have limits on current and voltage anyway.

The sad fact is, even if you could maximize the transferal of physical work to electricity, you’d get exhausted very quickly with not that much return.

The best way to get a lot of juice is long and steady peddling. This, in the end, is why many people will give up. You just don’t produce as much electricity as you think you would.

By: Gary

Gary — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:47:00 +0000

Would any tech geeks provide some feed back on the idea of peddling energy into a flywheel for shifting into higher gears in order to drive a higher output/resistance generator/alternator. Am I just having pipe dreams?