bobble wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 2:26 pm
I've always liked the idea that you can get some power from your bike. Soylent Green was the first time I realised that you could use a bike to power a lightbulb inside a house.
In a good programme on BBC in 2009 they powered a whole house using a team of cyclists pedalling like mad! It was on Bang goes the Theory and I think this link should work to view it. A real eye opener and a definite reality check. https://youtu.be/vPxuuB_ZBuk
Nice idea. An old boy I learned my trade from used to say “ you can sit on your arse and earn nothing” when I was wasting energy as a raw apprentice! I prefer the lightbulb I can switch on via the solar powered battery we have. If I am gonna pedal, it will be to get somewhere! it
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
bobble wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 2:26 pm
I've always liked the idea that you can get some power from your bike. Soylent Green was the first time I realised that you could use a bike to power a lightbulb inside a house.
In a good programme on BBC in 2009 they powered a whole house using a team of cyclists pedalling like mad! It was on Bang goes the Theory and I think this link should work to view it. A real eye opener and a definite reality check. https://youtu.be/vPxuuB_ZBuk
That was really interesting! I initially posted because I saw a power unit where you could wind the handle for 10 minutes and charge your phone. We regularly use the exercise bike and thought on a resistance it could charge a unit to charge the phone. I may have to have a rethink lol
bobble wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 2:26 pm
I've always liked the idea that you can get some power from your bike. Soylent Green was the first time I realised that you could use a bike to power a lightbulb inside a house.
In a good programme on BBC in 2009 they powered a whole house using a team of cyclists pedalling like mad! It was on Bang goes the Theory and I think this link should work to view it. A real eye opener and a definite reality check. https://youtu.be/vPxuuB_ZBuk
Nice idea. An old boy I learned my trade from used to say “ you can sit on your arse and earn nothing” when I was wasting energy as a raw apprentice! I prefer the lightbulb I can switch on via the solar powered battery we have. If I am gonna pedal, it will be to get somewhere! it
Suppose a hub dynamo and usb charger would give you a bit more of a workout and charge your usb power bank at the same time
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong
Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
jennyjj01 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 8:34 pm
You could maybe use the exercise bike genny to charge up the batteries for an electric bike.
Sadly the amount of energy a modern e bike needs it'd be less effort to just ride a normal push bike to the shops
When ever you charge anything it's not 100% efficient. Even your humble phone charger. You get losses in terms of heat that the charger circuit creates stepping down from 230v to 5v plus voltage drop between the charger and phone socket then heat as the battery charges
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong
Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
I couldn't help but think of old wartime film of soldiers using a hand crank to power radios. A quick google didn't find any original footage but here's one on youtube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sXg16B6MI8Y
I personally still have doubts about how efficient such things are how more cost effective ( in terms of energy and money) alternatives may be.
On a similar video to the above one i did like a comment that said to place these outside schools with a "do not crank" sign on them and we could never have to build another power station
grenfell wrote: ↑Thu Nov 12, 2020 8:32 am
I couldn't help but think of old wartime film of soldiers using a hand crank to power radios. A quick google didn't find any original footage but here's one on youtube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sXg16B6MI8Y
I personally still have doubts about how efficient such things are how more cost effective ( in terms of energy and money) alternatives may be.
On a similar video to the above one i did like a comment that said to place these outside schools with a "do not crank" sign on them and we could never have to build another power station
jennyjj01 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 11, 2020 8:34 pm
You could maybe use the exercise bike genny to charge up the batteries for an electric bike.
Sadly the amount of energy a modern e bike needs it'd be less effort to just ride a normal push bike to the shops
LOL. I know. I was being flippant. I originally thought of using it to charge the batteries for the tv remote to save me the effort of getting up to change channels.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought
grenfell wrote: ↑Thu Nov 12, 2020 8:32 am
I couldn't help but think of old wartime film of soldiers using a hand crank to power radios. A quick google didn't find any original footage but here's one on youtube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sXg16B6MI8Y
I personally still have doubts about how efficient such things are how more cost effective ( in terms of energy and money) alternatives may be.
On a similar video to the above one i did like a comment that said to place these outside schools with a "do not crank" sign on them and we could never have to build another power station
I'm a radio ham and have a Clansman hand crank and spare batteries, good setup but I would say use solar whenever you can. Crank chargers are mechanical, they wear out, they break down whereas solar will plod on doing its thing for years.
Richard
South Wales UK
Retired, spending the children's inheritance.
It’s a lovely , low-tech idea, to charge stuff via a bicycle, it really is. Trouble is, it goes against what Ragnar Benson, the old- school survivalist calls ‘“ survival thermodynamics “. That is, more energy in, than you get out.
In a real, proper , grid-down situation ( where pedalling to charge a battery may seem to be a good idea), there will be loads to physically do. That is the beauty of electricity, it saves work. Think about your washing machine for a start; grid-down you will be boiling water on an open fire, which takes fuel gathering/ processing. YOUR energy. Then Chuck in foraging, hunting, preserving, gardening etc etc. By the time your day ends, you don’t want to be ‘cycling’ 35 miles to get a couple of hours light!
Wesley Rawles, the American survivalist calls devices like solar chargers ‘Force Multipliers’. They save energy. My own day would include firewood processing, tending garden and livestock, filtering stored water, fishing, foraging and hunting. My wife would be dealing with domestic issues like washing,keeping clean and cooking. And before I am accused of sexism- it is what we have discussed as a matter of labour divisions. Work to your strengths.
So my cheapo solar battery pack and LED lights will save a lot of work.
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
