Friday 8/29/14 - Today I purchased fishing weights and attached them to 2 out of 3 spokes on the rear wheel of the bicycle. We hoped this would create a sort of flywheel effect and make the pedaling easier to sustain. A close-up of the weights is shown in a picture below the video. We packed up the bicycle generator and took it to an empty lot - the site of an outdoor concert. We hoped to test a larger sound system with the battery. My husband, Matt, tried pedaling the bicycle generator. As you can see in the video, around the 30 second mark, when the switch is flipped to the "on" position to give current to the alternator, the resistance increases significantly and the bicycle becomes very difficult to pedal. Around the 38 second mark, Matt shifted to a lower gear. This made the pedaling a little easier. Still, the voltage output by the alternator was about 12.8-12.9 volts. Matt was able to get 13.00 volts with a short burst of intense pedaling, but it was not sustainable for more than a few seconds. Thus, we are about 2 volts short of being able to charge the battery. I am not sure what to try next -
1 Comment
Richard
9/5/2014 02:53:25 am
I don't think shifting gears on the bicycle is going to make much difference. The alternator will adapt to the new RPM and just try to get more power out of fewer revolutions of the alternator, resulting in approximately the same force required to crank the pedals.You might be able to shift the bicycle to obtain an alternator RPM that is more efficient, though. You have probably just experienced how much power it takes to create the required electricity. You may need 3 or 4 people working together to produce the required power...
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