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

Colin

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!

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

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.

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.

As I read through the posts I find that I have the same question as #24, BobTFK. Would it be possible to use a larger generator and use the gears on a bicycle to get it turning to the appropriate RPM?

Thanks for your consideration and feedback…

Ashley

Oh by the way, here is what you can do when you link a bicycle generator to a motor!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3TlXFIjWb4

Thanks
Colin

Thanks for your help, Colin.

Luby

I’m not sure if you understand how a generator(motor) works. But the faster you peddle the higher the voltage will go on the output of the motor. The only issue is, you need to peddle fast enough to get the voltage higher than the battery to charge it. So if the battery is down to 8 volts, you need to peddle faster than 8V. And as the battery charges, you need to keep peddling over the battery’s voltage.

Being “240W” is based on an electrical input not output. If it has a constant wattage, that means the motor is not variable, i.e. it has a constant speed when you plug it in. I’m not sure how that works as a generator. Like I said, you will have to peddle at a minimum speed that may be vigorous. You can’t peddle slowly and expect to charge the battery.

I had my own setup and although you can power a low-watt TV, a radio or a light bulb, it’s a bit discouraging how much work it takes to power these small items. You can buy 60W solar panels for around $300 that will do the trick as well.

These motors are not the most efficient, but given their low cost, you get good bang for your buck. Also, although these motors are rated @ 250w, they will produce more under extreme load. However, unless you’re a professional cyclist, you are going to struggle to sustain that for anything more than a few seconds.

Also note that if you wish to charge a battery with a bike generator that a) you’ll need to include a diode to prevent the battery from cranking the motor. A diode is like a one way value that allows energy to flow from the generator to the battery only.

Also you’ll need to ensure that you do not over charge the battery as this will damage it. There are a few simple ways to do this I can explain another time.

Thanks
Colin

I like that this motor is 24V. This makes me think that if I pedal slower I will still get enough to charge a 12V battery. My concern (not knowing much about DC generators) it that this motor may not be too efficient, since it produces only 250 Watts. So, if I pedal slower, it would output much, much less. I read the description that an average human can produce only about 40-50 Watts in regular pedaling. Still, effectiveness of the motor is a factor. Do you have another suggestion? Or maybe, explain the process a bit, please.

Thanks again,

Luby

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/24V-250-Watt-Electric-Scooter-Motor-24-V-MY1016-Chain-N_W0QQitemZ150374196126QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Sporting_Goods_Scooters_LE?hash=item230300239e#ht_1793wt_939

but the belt drive version. Have a quick look here for how it works:

http://electricpedals.com/how-it-works/

Colin

What is the best DC motor/generator for pedal/bike electicity production? Where can I get one?

Thanks,

Luby

The best way to find funding or grants for these programs should be the utility companies. It is ironic that the more we conserve energy the higher the rates will go. The utilities do not charge based on cost, they charge based on what they feel the people can afford. They would rather charge higher rates and produce less power this means better profits, so in fact they would/should be the biggest supporter of green programs. Good luck!