Pedal Power Computer?

[Sceadwian]

What you need is an LED bank =) Higher voltages will light more LEDs, then you can determine what your peak power output is and see what level you're comfortable peddeling at for extended periods of time. Just add as simple resistive dumby load to dump a little extra 'real' power and you can step up the workout.

That's one thing that real excercise equipment needs, is true feedback on how much work you're actually doing.

 

[tcmtech]

That's one thing that real exercise equipment needs, is true feedback on how much work you're actually doing.

That design has been tried before. It doesn't sell well. People don't like seeing real numbers that relate to exactly how useless they are in real terms!
I've been on several exercise machines before and saw the numbers they show. They are way off! I was on a exercise bike one time that said I was burning 20 calories a minute! And I was not even peddling hard.

Hook a electric motor up to one and read the actual input watts then convert that to calories and you have your theoretical over unity machine right there! Your output according to the exercise machine is going to be 3 - 5 times what the measured input power is!

 

[oliverb]

I built a bicycle powered generator over the winter to power my central heating during the many power cuts we get in my area. You may find some useful ideas on my site here.

**broken link removed**

I have used an old racing bike frame fixed to a turbo trainer. I have removed the turbo fan and replaced it with a car alternator driven by a large fan belt off the back wheel. The back wheel acts as a large gear and enables me to get enough "revs" to get the alternator working.

The alternator charges a car battery and produces 240v via an inverter. The circuit is based on the alternater circuit in a car and includes an "ignition light" that goes out when your cadence is high enough to start charging.

 

[Thunderchild]

do you mean by powering the central heating that the electricity you made was being turned to heat or that you were running the control circuits off the bycicle ?

 

[oliverb]

The electricity powers the contols and water pump in the central heating system- around 60 to 80 watts.

 

[Sceadwian]

I think the human body generates more heat than that actually exercising =)

 

[Willbe]

my two cents

I think the human body generates more heat than that actually exercising =)

People put out 100w sedentary and 1500w exercising, an untrained person's body is 10% efficient, and a world class cyclist can put out 1/2 hp for about 20 minutes.

 

[oliverb]

The boiler output is around 30K watts so I'm never goimg to heat the house through my own body heat. All I can do is keep the 80 amp hour battery topped up.

The outside temp during the last power cut was -6 and it did not take long for the house to start getting very cold. The trouble with power cuts you never really know how long they are going to last. Before I built the bike generator we just had the battery to keep the boiler going so we had to ration it just in case the power was out for days.

The problem in my area is an 80 year old supply cable which just blows at peek times.

 

[Thunderchild]

I assume solar panels are not an option ?

 

[oliverb]

I use a small solar panel to keep the battery topped up when not in use but as the power goes out mostly in winter and could also be after dark the battery/solar panel combination would be too large and expensive.