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Commercially Available Bike Generators Are Not Sustainable (2011)

solar.lowtechmagazine.com

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Re: Commercially Available Bike Generators Are Not Sustainable (2011)

#51

Post by schiffern »

thenthenthen wrote: post #49
physicalecon wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author does all sorts of odd-looking optimizations in order to make the web page run on a single host of cheap battery/solar powered compute. It does seem a bit extreme, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating: this website has been featured on the HN front page many times and I’ve not seen it ever falter. The same cannot be said for the many run of the mill “infinite scalability” cloud based SPA’s that mak…

It is an experiment, over the years various people have contributed “odd-looking” optimisations, its a great project!

More info:

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/about/the-solar-website/#h...

https://github.com/lowtechmag/solar/wiki/Solar-Web-Design

https://homebrewserver.club/low-tech-website-howto.html

IMO the only optimization they 'missed' is to pre-compress the static files and images on disk, since it's cheaper to decompress on-the-fly if the client doesn't support gzip. The could use zopfli to "extra compress" the most frequently accessed files, and use this as a solar dump load to usefully burn extra power when the batteries are full (perhaps compressing with gzip -1 when Pelican re-builds the static site, or even avoid pre-compression altogether during the build process.

https://blog.llandsmeer.com/tech/2019/08/29/precompression.h...

https://github.com/google/zopfli

https://github.com/kurtmckee/pelican-precompress

Re: Commercially Available Bike Generators Are Not Sustainable (2011)

#52

Post by Zambyte »

ygra wrote: post #48
fergie wrote: post #39

I'm suprised that the author didn't consider dynohubs which were also a thing in back in 2011, and are getting slightly better all the time.

Are there options that don't limit the output power? Typically the light power is limited, so dynamos only provide around 5 W or so, which already makes them not so attractive even for charging your phone on a bike.

I think the problem with having a higher wattage is that you can't have a substantial amount without introducing what would generally be an undesirable amount of drag. It would certainly be useful to be able to engage / disengage a dynamo hub at a higher wattage though.

Re: Commercially Available Bike Generators Are Not Sustainable (2011)

#53

Post by schiffern »

NewsaHackO wrote: post #22
erelong wrote: post #19

Might have changed their attitude since then as they posted in 2022 about a DIY guide on making a bike generator: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2022/03/how-to-build-a-pra...

I thought he was posting about some retro product until I saw the USB ports in the energy delivery. Weird that he edited his photos to look like that, and used retro components otherwise.

[dead]

Re: Commercially Available Bike Generators Are Not Sustainable (2011)

#54

Post by Zambyte »

tocs3 wrote: post #2

Some things I would like to see are pedal controlled devices. Something like a pedal controlled wheelchair, not powered by the pedals just control the forward and back motion. My mother with sever arthritis can still pedal but has a very hard time walking. It would be a little exercise doing something that needs to be done (getting around). A pedal controlled remote control lawnmower would be nifty also.

This seems close to what you're describing: https://www.icetrikes.co/products/pers-chainless-e-assist-sy...

Re: Commercially Available Bike Generators Are Not Sustainable (2011)

#55

Post by eru »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #47
eru wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Increasingly becoming more affordable. Especially as financing becomes easier. And you don't have to buy everything all at once.

That's the thing, like the used to be very expensive swing compressor ice chests that you can buy in the US for $150. You'd only need a 100 amp hour battery and a 100W solar panel to power it.

And you can probably share it between a few families, or even use it to run a small business.

Re: Commercially Available Bike Generators Are Not Sustainable (2011)

#56

Post by bityard »

wumms wrote: post #43
erelong wrote: post #19

Might have changed their attitude since then as they posted in 2022 about a DIY guide on making a bike generator: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2022/03/how-to-build-a-pra...

> Our dashboard also includes a 220V circuit. That makes it compatible with grid-powered devices (110V in the US, 240V in the UK). Retro-look nit: all are outdated nominal voltages. The US is 120 V (since the 1960s), while the UK and EU are 230 V (since the mid-1990s).

If we are picking nits, almost every panel in the US and Canada is _both_ 120v and 240v. But even electricians here commonly say "two-twenty" instead of "two-forty."

Re: Commercially Available Bike Generators Are Not Sustainable (2011)

#57

Post by fergie »

ygra wrote: post #48
fergie wrote: post #39

I'm suprised that the author didn't consider dynohubs which were also a thing in back in 2011, and are getting slightly better all the time.

Are there options that don't limit the output power? Typically the light power is limited, so dynamos only provide around 5 W or so, which already makes them not so attractive even for charging your phone on a bike.

I'm not totally sure about the specifics since despite being an engineer, I cannot distinguish electricity from witchcraft. That said, I do know that if you want to charge your phone from your dynohub you need to ideally have some sort of powerbank in the middle.
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