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Solar panels on a bike? Curious choice. Seems like a lot of weight to lug around and a lot of downsides any time it isn't sunny when you could just use a dynamo
by dont__panic 5y ago
Solar panels on a bike? Curious choice. Seems like a lot of weight to lug around and a lot of downsides any time it isn't sunny when you could just use a dynamo to generate power instead. Though maybe in the late 80s dynamos were inefficient enough that it wasn't worthwhile?
- JKCalhoun 5y agoDynamo makes sense on the downhill. But yeah, overall, way to much weight. But 80's, 90's tech probably needed the current. A modern nomadic bike would just be a touring bike + iPhone?
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y agoMy brother (who also reads HN) has spent long periods living "on his bike", and still opts to pull a trailer with a small flexible solar panel on top of it in order to provide power for his laptop. He has a dynamo hub too, which is generally fine for recharging his phone, but since he tends to want to do work too, having the laptop be charged also is important and I don't think that the dynamo is capable of that.
- Johnny555 5y agoI don't know how much the old bike generators weighed, but a modern dynamo hub weighs a pound or more. A cyclist will use around 100W of power to ride 12mph, so a 50% efficient 10W dynamo will cause 20% extra drag. I'd rather have the solar panels, even though they only charge in daylight, they charge whether I'm moving or not, and I don't have to supply the energy from my legs.
- Johnythree 5y agoHub dynamo's are quite efficient. However bike dynamo's require input power, and a human can only develop a few watts continuously. A solar panel can develop much more power.