# Human-Powered electricity generating..?



## DavidB.UK (Sep 11, 2011)

Going off on a tangent from another thread


windnrock said:


> ...but thanks to you folks I may just get my wife an exercise bike for her birthday!


ha ha ha ha!

I have been thinking about manual charging options more and more recently, mainly due to the fact that the terms "bright, warm and sunny day" and the word "England" are not used in the same sentence as often as they might me elsewhere...

I think that if you are the type who works out regularly then surely that expended energy could be put to productive use by using it to charge the house batteries right?

So far I have only come up with a few imaginative ways and (have just this moment) decided to start another thread (this one) to see what ideas the community throws up...
_________________________________________

Just for laughs and to see what the collective intelligence of the community throws up...

Has anybody given any thought to manual electricity generation on-board?

I think that if you are the type who works out regularly then sure that expended energy could be put to productive use by using it to charge the house batteries right?

So far I have only come up with a 2 ways this could be done, but would love to get some input on these ideas...

*1) The exercise bike:*
Rather than expending energy to spin a flywheel attached to a brake for varying resistance (thats how most of them work to my knowledge). Why not rig the pedals up to a small generator and get your workout whilst charging the batteries!​
*2) The Rowing machine:*
Pretty much the same principal (in theory) you pull on a cord to spin a flywheel/fan type affair. Rather than expending energy to spin a flywheel. Why not rig the cable to a ratchet gear and then to a small generator (or even the same one if you were really clever and get your workout whilst charging the batteries! The slidey seat thing could be accomplished with just a towel under your bum or just make a panel that could fold out of the way when not required and use non-slip matting on the bottom of the panel to prevent it slipping about.​


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## sawingknots (Feb 24, 2005)

when i was young and full of pee&vinegar i had a passing idea about that but i got over it


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

Yes Cammas. On his big trimaran solo sailed on the Route du Rhum he had on the back of the boat a kind of racing bicycle set up. He was seen pedaling furiously in diverse occasions.

Regards

Paulo


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Nice idea David ...... thankfully I am not the type who regularlly exercises ... 

Paulo .... I do remember seeing some pics or video of him pedalling away. I guess more practical on a big tri than a monohull eh ?


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## wayina (Jul 14, 2010)

*1) The exercise bike:*
Rather than expending energy to spin a flywheel attached to a brake for varying resistance (thats how most of them work to my knowledge). Why not rig the pedals up to a small generator and get your workout whilst charging the batteries!​
A study was done on this somewhere (aren't they always) IIRC the output of the average human via this method of energy production is in the milliwatts range, for the exercise value by all means anything that keeps the joints moving is good, crikey would have to pedal hard to get a car alternator up to speed, lol you might need some speed or other performance enhancer to do it:laugher


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## deniseO30 (Nov 27, 2006)

fun idea, but I think the real time HP requirement to charge 12 volt batteries is more then most of us, even the most athletic could muster. Even if we could do low wattage charging with pedal power the hours would kill most of us I think. 
Useful Formulas


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## Stumble (Feb 2, 2012)

The numbers I have seen indicate that a human on a bike can generate 150-300 watts. Start on the small side for duration pedaling, and a human should be able to generate say 12amps at 12 volts, for the duration of the ride. 

It won't power an AC, but it could certainly run the lights, maybe an autopilot, ect.


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## DavidB.UK (Sep 11, 2011)

I have not put any time or energy into investigating the realities yet, but in principal if you are going to exercise (average 45-60 minutes per day)anyway, surely that expended energy could be used towards creating electricity...

from those who have chimed in (thank you btw) it appears as though the amount of electricity that could be produced is not huge, but even if it charges an iphone or iPad each day...

As an aside...
Did you know that human being can fly under their own power?

This video, shows the amazing flight of a human powered helicopter...




but to illustrate the principal of "how much power can a human being generate" I am yet to find a better demonstration.

On a serious note, if producing enough juice to supply any useable power to a 12v system would be challenging, perhaps a shimano gear system would need to be part of the arrangement to allow you to change up the gears (just as you would when accelerating on the road) to help you build up momentum.

Another way to look at it perhaps is to imagine an example in which you were able to (in an emergency) put enough charge in the system to start the engine, because somebody accidentally flattened the batteries.

or you really fancied a home baked pizza or some chips (fries) either of which would require electricity to run the oven or deep fat fryer. I think that there is an almost poetic balance in the concept of 'having' to do 30 minutes on a bike to make enough electricity to cook a pizza!

I wonder what the equation would be for: *Calories burnt* vs. *Electricity made*


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## LTCruiser (Dec 18, 2011)

lots of calories required. Peddle radio was first used in Australia in about 1929. If you are interested check out this web sit for a bit of history.
Pedal wireless
cheers.


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

You wrap one leg in zinc, wrap the other in copper, immerse the poor bugger in a tub of warm (ahem) and watch the power come out.

WW2 emergency radio sets routinely had crank power, the problem is that the human being usually consumes more energy than it produces.


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## davidpm (Oct 22, 2007)

Here you go:
Human Power Generator -- Generate electricity yourself

The Human Power Generator will charge at a rate of between 3A to 5A when connected to a 12V battery.The average output is between 35 to 65 watts of power.


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## DavidB.UK (Sep 11, 2011)

davidpm said:


> Here you go:
> Human Power Generator -- Generate electricity yourself
> 
> The Human Power Generator will charge at a rate of between 3A to 5A when connected to a 12V battery.The average output is between 35 to 65 watts of power.


Those look perfect for the job!
Thank you very David.


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## VentureCat15 (Aug 12, 2009)

A better way to store energy for starting an engine is in the form of compressed air, either by a hand or leg pump.


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## denverd0n (Jun 20, 2008)

VentureCat15 said:


> A better way to store energy for starting an engine is in the form of compressed air, either by a hand or leg pump.


And pray tell, where would I buy a compressed air starter for my Yanmar? Mind you, for it to really be "better" it needs to be very comparably priced to the electrical alternatives (preferably less, but definitely not too much more).


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## Pneuma-seeker (Oct 30, 2011)

A CT company called The Green Revolution has been building and selling stationary bikes to gyms for about 5 years now. They say the average user inputs about 100 Watts.


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## davidpm (Oct 22, 2007)

hellosailor said:


> WW2 emergency radio sets routinely had crank power, the problem is that the human being usually consumes more energy than it produces.


Not a problem corn and grain are subsidized by the feds so are relatively cheap.
So instead of a corn fed cow we could have a corn fed captain.
Oops time to move to off-topic.


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## hboy (Oct 20, 2011)

Hi:

Years ago I used to follow the Human Powered folks. I have a stack of magazines somewhere. Any how, IIRC, any reasonably fit person can produce about 75 Watts, world class athletes about 400 Watts. This is continuous for hours. If you were on a boat doing this every day for say 2 hours, you would soon enough find yourself over 200 Watts I would think.

I once left Winnipeg and made it to Vancouver a month later. I was in MUCH better condition at the end of the month.

So assuming 200 Watts after a while of getting in to shape, and 2 hours/day, and 75% efficiency, a good working number would be something like 300 Watt-hours a day for one's 2 hours of exercise.

hboy


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## DavidB.UK (Sep 11, 2011)

hboy said:


> ...So assuming 200 Watts after a while of getting in to shape, and 2 hours/day, and 75% efficiency, a good working number would be something like 300 Watt-hours a day for one's 2 hours of exercise.


Wow, that's quite something!

So with a couple of fixed flexible solar panels, a decent sized battery bank and daily top ups with human powered electricity you'd have enough to meet the power needs of a small liveaboard sailing yacht it seems! hurrah!


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## deniseO30 (Nov 27, 2006)




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## davidpm (Oct 22, 2007)

I was curious enough to look it up.
Propulsionmarine.com says that their Catalina 30 draws 1.2 KW at 4 knots.

Bicycle Pedal Power Generator FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
This site puts the bike output at about 100 watts

So it seems like it would work fine.
You peddle every morning before work and every evening after work for an hour Mon to Fri and get 10 hours in then by Sat you have built up enough battery power to motor about 25 min to the outer harbor and back.

Should work fine.


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