Bike to charge phones

[Yorkshire Andy]

So my cheapo solar battery pack and LED lights will save a lot of work.

I'm still using the Philips life lights we all rushed to buy about 4 years ago....

My biggest regret I didn't buy another few sets

We have one set in our room as bed side lights mines sat on a 2 pint stein to defuse the light

The kids room and hall/ top of the stairs is used as comfort lighting on a night (now only to convince the kids you don't need the hall lights on to see upstairs

And another set in the kids play house which I can soon strip out and put in the kitchen and living room

Solar panels are stuck to the outside window sills they do struggle on really gloomy days but most of the time they are fully charged by dark..

Must save a few quid over the year

https://www.homebargains.co.uk/products ... dants.aspx

[jansman]

So my cheapo solar battery pack and LED lights will save a lot of work.

I'm still using the Philips life lights we all rushed to buy about 4 years ago....

My biggest regret I didn't buy another few sets

We have one set in our room as bed side lights mines sat on a 2 pint stein to defuse the light

The kids room and hall/ top of the stairs is used as comfort lighting on a night (now only to convince the kids you don't need the hall lights on to see upstairs

And another set in the kids play house which I can soon strip out and put in the kitchen and living room

Solar panels are stuck to the outside window sills they do struggle on really gloomy days but most of the time they are fully charged by dark..

Must save a few quid over the year

https://www.homebargains.co.uk/products ... dants.aspx

They were the ones!

[Yorkshire Andy]

So my cheapo solar battery pack and LED lights will save a lot of work.

I'm still using the Philips life lights we all rushed to buy about 4 years ago....

My biggest regret I didn't buy another few sets

We have one set in our room as bed side lights mines sat on a 2 pint stein to defuse the light

The kids room and hall/ top of the stairs is used as comfort lighting on a night (now only to convince the kids you don't need the hall lights on to see upstairs

And another set in the kids play house which I can soon strip out and put in the kitchen and living room

Solar panels are stuck to the outside window sills they do struggle on really gloomy days but most of the time they are fully charged by dark..

Must save a few quid over the year

https://www.homebargains.co.uk/products ... dants.aspx

They were the ones!

Absolute bargain £8 I think they were .. if it ever fails you can replace the battery easy enough (I've looked) only drawback is the charging facility via usb really isn't suitable for a modern smart phone no issues for a old Nokia

[jansman]

Noted! Cheers mate.

[Yorkshire Andy]

One thing I need to look into is wind... Just as a plan b or is it c/ d solar at this time of year isn't always viable . .

I usually have a power bank charging in my car or torch from the ignition switched power socket ... Why not? Cars running alternator is chewing away a tiny extra draw makes naff all difference to the fuel costs in my eyes 9 miles to and 9 miles home from work soon tops them up.... Next job is a swap of adaptor under the dash to charge a torch up when ever the car is running got a night searcher for the car . Having had a car problem a few nights ago at midnight on the a63 dual carriageway was nice to have a decent torch to hand so impressed I've bought another classic "torch" design with modern led/ optics well worth £36

[grenfell]

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.

Expanding that one gets the term EROEI . Energy returned on energy invested which looks at the broader picture of how much energy is used to make , maintain and use a piece of equipment verses how much energy it will ever generate. Good example of that would be urban wind turbines. Lancaster university ( IIRC ) looked into it and because of the small size of the turbines and disrupted airflows because of buildings came to the conclusion that it's almost impossible to pay back the embodied energy. The study looked at energy returns and didn't look into the financial aspect although i suspect the results would be the same there. The same applies to some solar installations as well.
That's not to say that in the scenario jansman describes such things don't have their place. In that situation the wider EROEI can largely be ignored. I
One thing i will add to this is on the lowtect website is an article about using bikes for direct work. There is an emphasis on generating electricity but it can be more energy efficient to use the bike for actual work . For example rather than generating electricity to charge batteries to then power a pump or washing machine use the bike to directly power the pump.

[Lemne]

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.

It is if you are using the bike just to charge something but if you are using the bike anyway then there is no waste of energy, just a waste of opportunity.

[jansman]

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.

It is if you are using the bike just to charge something but if you are using the bike anyway then there is no waste of energy, just a waste of opportunity.

If you are using the bike anyway,then yes,you are right.However I am not aware of a dynamo system to charge a phone whilst using the bike as transport ( a most effective form I must add), so perhaps someone could enlighten me? ( just researched and it appears there is)

My tablet needs charging right now,and the battery pack attached to the solar panel will do that easily in an hour and a half. FREE energy.The step counter on my phone ( that lives in my cargo pocket) tells me I average 9km a day,so no way I am expending any more energy on a static,or mobile bike ,at my age and joint-status! The time it would take,I guess I could use to water the garden,cut two week's worth of firewood,brew 50 litres of hooch...I found a link,and it suggested that pedal power would take about 30+ miles to charge a phone.Now, back in my bike commute days,I rode at an average of 19 miles per hour,so that is about an hour and a half riding.

I am not dismissing bicycle- charging at all.It is just that as a professional tradesman, who works manually,I am used to working as efficiently as I can.Minimum effort,maximum return.As I said earlier,you can sit on your arse and earn nothing.Put another way,you can be a busy fool. The following link ( and I am sure there is better information) seems to suggest solar is a better option.https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topi ... g-a-phone/

[grenfell]

I've got a woodburner and like a lot of people have one of those little fans sat on top , a simple sterling engine with fan blades and watching it spinning last night i did wonder if something like that could be utilised. I assume the power generated in these stove top ones is tiny so it wouldn't be exactly a fast charge but it falls i to that catagory where it's not taking up human power or time to any degree. Probably a non starter and would have terrible EROEI but a thought.

[Yorkshire Andy]

I've got a woodburner and like a lot of people have one of those little fans sat on top , a simple sterling engine with fan blades and watching it spinning last night i did wonder if something like that could be utilised. I assume the power generated in these stove top ones is tiny so it wouldn't be exactly a fast charge but it falls i to that catagory where it's not taking up human power or time to any degree. Probably a non starter and would have terrible EROEI but a thought.

The technology is out there :
https://www.blacks.co.uk/15979269/bioli ... lsrc=aw.ds


And a DIY ghetto version

https://youtu.be/AL8lIwzD4Mk