Generating electricity.

[Quantrill]

I've heard of people using one of those stationary "excersize bicycles" to generate power.  Anyone know how this is accomplished?  I seriously doubt you could power your whole house, but you could at least generate some power and help keep yourself in shape while reducing your utility bill. 

You would need some form of battery hooked up and an electrical outlet (or maybe run wires directly from an appliance to the battery).  Sounds interesting but I wonder how much power you could generate...

[LiveFree]

http://www.econvergence.net/electro.htm

[Dreepa]

I've heard of people using one of those stationary "excersize bicycles" to generate power.  Anyone know how this is accomplished?  I seriously doubt you could power your whole house, but you could at least generate some power and help keep yourself in shape while reducing your utility bill. 

You would need some form of battery hooked up and an electrical outlet (or maybe run wires directly from an appliance to the battery).  Sounds interesting but I wonder how much power you could generate...

That is how Ed Bagley makes his toast in the morning.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I remember articles in Mother Earth News about people who had small B&W tvs hooked up to batteries charged by a bike.  You coule either pedal while you're watching or charge the battery for a half hour for future watching.
Begley pedals 10 minutes for toast.  He must have one helll of a gen to get a toaster to run!

[Raineyrocks]

I've heard of people using one of those stationary "excersize bicycles" to generate power.  Anyone know how this is accomplished?  I seriously doubt you could power your whole house, but you could at least generate some power and help keep yourself in shape while reducing your utility bill. 

You would need some form of battery hooked up and an electrical outlet (or maybe run wires directly from an appliance to the battery).  Sounds interesting but I wonder how much power you could generate...

Wow, that is such a neat invention!   

[Dreepa]

I remember articles in Mother Earth News about people who had small B&W tvs hooked up to batteries charged by a bike.  You coule either pedal while you're watching or charge the battery for a half hour for future watching.
Begley pedals 10 minutes for toast.  He must have one helll of a gen to get a toaster to run!

I think that he 'sends' the charge to his batteries and the batteries are hooked up to his house.

[Quantrill]

http://www.econvergence.net/electro.htm

Thanks for the link.  But it doesn't say anything about storing the charge.  I wonder what type of batteries you could hook this up to.  A car battery would be easy but there wouldn't be much you could do with 12VDC.  I'd like to know how this "toaster guy" has his house hooked up...

[KBCraig]

http://www.econvergence.net/electro.htm

Thanks for the link.  But it doesn't say anything about storing the charge.  I wonder what type of batteries you could hook this up to.  A car battery would be easy but there wouldn't be much you could do with 12VDC.  I'd like to know how this "toaster guy" has his house hooked up...

Storing electricity in a 12 (or 24) VDC battery bank is typical, because "on demand" systems are very inefficient. Some people use the DC current as-is, but that's not very practical in a 120V AC world. Thus, the inverter is used to converted stored DC, to usable AC.

It's logical: you need more heat at night, when there is less solar/wind/whatever to generate energy. So, storing it until it's needed makes sense. "Make volts while the sun shines (or 'the wind blows')." Then, draw them at your leisure.

Kevin

[Pat McCotter]

I had a friend who had this hooked to his B&W TV. His kids could only watch TV if they pedalled the bike. They stopped watching and found other things to do.

[Dreepa]

http://www.econvergence.net/electro.htm

Thanks for the link.  But it doesn't say anything about storing the charge.  I wonder what type of batteries you could hook this up to.  A car battery would be easy but there wouldn't be much you could do with 12VDC.  I'd like to know how this "toaster guy" has his house hooked up...

His house also have dozens of solar panels, batteries and inverter etc.

[cathleeninnh]

I had a friend who had this hooked to his B&W TV. His kids could only watch TV if they pedalled the bike. They stopped watching and found other things to do.

Win-win

[KBCraig]

Begley pedals 10 minutes for toast.

I wonder how much extra CO2 he expels. Ed Begley could be responsible for global warming!

[Dreepa]

Alex Jones is advertising $ 79.00 solar power generators.  I think it is kenssolorhouse.com or something to that effect.

Little more that $79

http://kensolar.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=jnnngoi8

[Ron Helwig]

Speaking of Ed Bagely 

This idea seems to have merit:
http://renu.citizenre.com/index.php?c=1170433226 (The "c=" part links to a local guy's info)

Basically, you contract for electricity at your current electricity price. They install and maintain the solar system. Your price for electricity stays the same for as long as your contract. If local rates rise, you win!

I'd jump on it if I had a phone line (needed for their monitoring system).

[Russell Kanning]

how about bike > battery > dc light or grow lamp (for those that want to grow crops "off the grid")