3 ms·

75w - 1hup sounds good to me. I could power a computer, a light and monitor with it going into sleep mode when I stop pedalling. This is the level of power I li

75w - 1hup sounds good to me. I could power a computer, a light and monitor with it going into sleep mode when I stop pedalling. This is the level of power I like to use most of the time anyway. I might not be able to power a kettle, keep the fridge on and all those things that take 10-20 x 1hup but, most of the time I don't need those things. What I would like on the bicycle is a general purpose recharegeable battery that works off a dynamo and powers the lights on the bike. If it can charge for free on re-gen braking and give a feeble power assist if need be then that would be helpful. But not something actually heavy. The problem with batteries is they always come in boxes that need other containers that need housings and brackets and even more mounting hardware. I would like a battery to be practically structural, so, in the bicycle implementation the battery would use the frame tubes, to be more like an internal layer of paint than something big and heavy. Anyway, it would be great if a bicycle could harvest electricity and store it in a way the EV cars are talking about, but to return electricity to one's personal grid of USB powered devices so, even if you did not have mains power you could always get everything charged.

jotm 7y ago
You are not getting over ~500W continuously for more than half an hour, an hour maybe if you're really fit. An alternator gets surprisingly hard to turn when it actually has a full load connected to it. I'd compare it to biking uphill. Still useful for getting a laptop and two smartphones fully charged when you exercise, though.
- _Wintermute 7y ago
  As a keen cyclist that trains with a powermeter, there are very few people on the planet that can produce 500W for an hour, more like 1 minute for mere mortals. I think 150W for an hour would be more reasonable for a typical person, even then you're going to get pretty sweaty.
masklinn 7y ago
> 75w - 1hup sounds good to me. I could power a computer, a light and monitor with it going into sleep mode when I stop pedalling. This is the level of power I like to use most of the time anyway. There's a pair of issues with that plan: * 75w is mechanical, factor in the converter and you end up with quite a bit less. * 75w is what you can produce doing nothing else, you're not really able to use that computer while you're doing that. It's not strenuous exercise, but it's continuous work. > I might not be able to power a kettle, keep the fridge on and all those things that take 10-20 x 1hup but, most of the time I don't need those things. OTOH you can't really need a fridge only some of the time. At that point you're better off with some sort of evaporating cooler or (dry-)ice box. > What I would like on the bicycle is a general purpose recharegeable battery that works off a dynamo and powers the lights on the bike. … buy one? Get a dynamo-charged buffer battery and plug a USB headlight in it or whatever. > I would like a battery to be practically structural, so, in the bicycle implementation the battery would use the frame tubes, to be more like an internal layer of paint than something big and heavy. A battery is big and heavy by definition. And will remain thus until we get an absolute breakthrough. > to be more like an internal layer of paint than something big and heavy. Magic, got it.
- Theodores 7y ago
  No need to be so cheerful!

jotm 7y ago

You are not getting over ~500W continuously for more than half an hour, an hour maybe if you're really fit. An alternator gets surprisingly hard to turn when it actually has a full load connected to it. I'd compare it to biking uphill. Still useful for getting a laptop and two smartphones fully charged when you exercise, though.

_Wintermute 7y ago
As a keen cyclist that trains with a powermeter, there are very few people on the planet that can produce 500W for an hour, more like 1 minute for mere mortals. I think 150W for an hour would be more reasonable for a typical person, even then you're going to get pretty sweaty.

masklinn 7y ago

> 75w - 1hup sounds good to me. I could power a computer, a light and monitor with it going into sleep mode when I stop pedalling. This is the level of power I like to use most of the time anyway. There's a pair of issues with that plan: * 75w is mechanical, factor in the converter and you end up with quite a bit less. * 75w is what you can produce doing nothing else, you're not really able to use that computer while you're doing that. It's not strenuous exercise, but it's continuous work. > I might not be able to power a kettle, keep the fridge on and all those things that take 10-20 x 1hup but, most of the time I don't need those things. OTOH you can't really need a fridge only some of the time. At that point you're better off with some sort of evaporating cooler or (dry-)ice box. > What I would like on the bicycle is a general purpose recharegeable battery that works off a dynamo and powers the lights on the bike. … buy one? Get a dynamo-charged buffer battery and plug a USB headlight in it or whatever. > I would like a battery to be practically structural, so, in the bicycle implementation the battery would use the frame tubes, to be more like an internal layer of paint than something big and heavy. A battery is big and heavy by definition. And will remain thus until we get an absolute breakthrough. > to be more like an internal layer of paint than something big and heavy. Magic, got it.

Theodores 7y ago
No need to be so cheerful!