recharge battery by pedaling ... no chain ring or sprocket

[tomnlo]

I have two grin all axle motors, since they are for FWD I mounted the second on the rear and removed the chain ring leaving the pedals to act as simple foot rests. Then I started wondering if there exists some sort of hub mounted generator that could charge my battery as I pedal along.

...just for grins let me know if you have seen anything along these lines.

 

[khorse]

Nah, and not even worth inventing.

 

[Chalo]

If you don't understand why this is a bad idea that doesn't work, please accept from those who understand it that it's a bad idea that doesn't work.

If you only have one source of energy (battery), the most efficient way to use it is the way that incurs the least losses. So, no converting potential energy to kinetic energy back to potential energy back to kinetic energy. That's a loser's game.

If you want to use pedal power to charge your battery, do it on a stationary bike at home. You'll soon lose interest.

 

[E-HP]

If you wire several of these in series in order to attain pack level voltage, you could get some decent trickly charging. :thumb:

 

[docw009]

Bad Idea that didn't work.

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/the-incredible-mando-footloose-im-e-bike-2/

 

[tomnlo]

This email was sent to Grin this AM but I would like to get your feedback... both on setup and my pedal recharge notion.

With two baserunners (BRF and BRR) siamesed into one CA and the communication cable plugged into BRF, do changes made to BRF need to also be made to BRR?...Or should I unplug the siamese cable, make changes to both BR's and then plug back in?

With a slow wind 7.5 v/rev on the front and a std wind 10.1 rev/volt on the back the bike goes pretty good.Your video on 2wd vehicles suggests no good reason to run just one motor at a time but I would like to get both wheels running at the same rpm....any pointers, tutorials or direction you can provide is appreciated.

I set the bike up based on WCEC's drawing which suggests 60-70% power on rear and 30-40% power on front ...any pointers, tutorials or direction you can provide is appreciated.


Also...and I know this may seem a little far afield but with no chain ring, I have to believe that some sort of dynamo, magneto or gizmo exists that would allow the rider to pedal and deposit energy back into the battery.

 

[tomnlo]

This email was sent to Grin this AM but I would like to get your feedback... both on setup and my pedal recharge notion.

With two baserunners (BRF and BRR) siamesed into one CA and the communication cable plugged into BRF, do changes made to BRF need to also be made to BRR?...Or should I unplug the siamese cable, make changes to both BR's and then plug back in?

With a slow wind 7.5 v/rev on the front and a std wind 10.1 rev/volt on the back the bike goes pretty good.Your video on 2wd vehicles suggests no good reason to run just one motor at a time but I would like to get both wheels running at the same rpm....any pointers, tutorials or direction you can provide is appreciated.

I set the bike up based on WCEC's drawing which suggests 60-70% power on rear and 30-40% power on front ...any pointers, tutorials or direction you can provide is appreciated.


Also...and I know this may seem a little far afield but with no chain ring, I have to believe that some sort of dynamo, magneto or gizmo exists that would allow the rider to pedal and deposit energy back into the battery.

 

[E-HP]

FYI - there's actually a way to reply or add to your existing threads rather than starting a new thread each time you want to post someting on the same subject. Simply open the existing thread and hit the "Reply" button and that will add another entry to your thread(s) after you hit submit.

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=115819
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=115708

 

[LewTwo]

Also...and I know this may seem a little far afield but with no chain ring, I have to believe that some sort of dynamo, magneto or gizmo exists that would allow the rider to pedal and deposit energy back into the battery.

The point everyone is trying to make is although it can be done the returns are so diminished that it it not worth the trouble.

 

[kevinscargobike]

I've been wondering whether I could do pedal by wire using an old Stokemonkey that I have laying around - the thing that I don't know how to do is "fix" the freewheel on the DD Stokemonkey and just have the chain going directly to the axle on the motor.

To me, the reason that it seems like an interesting experiment isn't for the power that you'd generate, but for the pedaling resistance that doesn't rely on having gearing wide enough for whatever range of speeds you travel, and doesn't have extra maintenance needs.

I have a belt drive + nuvinci on the back of my bike, and I'd love to swap that out for a GMAC, but I can't imagine making single speed work on a heavy cargo bike that I might sometimes ride above 25mph. The approach that the electrom uses, where you spin out the low gearing and then move to resistance from a generator motor would actually be pretty cool in my situation.

What you're trying to do with your bike, having no mechanical drivetrain at all, is what Arcimoto is doing with their new e-trike: https://www.arcimoto.com/mlm

 

[Chalo]

I've been wondering whether I could do pedal by wire using an old Stokemonkey that I have laying around - the thing that I don't know how to do is "fix" the freewheel on the DD Stokemonkey and just have the chain going directly to the axle on the motor.

Use a fixed gear sprocket (called "fixed cog" by people who don't know what a cog is) and a bottom bracket lockring to wedge it tight. You probably want a larger fixed sprocket than the freewheel that came before, so the motor runs at a higher speed when you pedal.

 

[TrotterBob]

Its definitely doable.

[youtube]7hfClQh3rxM[/youtube]

 

[Borntodive]

I've been wondering whether I could do pedal by wire using an old Stokemonkey that I have laying around - the thing that I don't know how to do is "fix" the freewheel on the DD Stokemonkey and just have the chain going directly to the axle on the motor.

To me, the reason that it seems like an interesting experiment isn't for the power that you'd generate, but for the pedaling resistance that doesn't rely on having gearing wide enough for whatever range of speeds you travel, and doesn't have extra maintenance needs.

I have a belt drive + nuvinci on the back of my bike, and I'd love to swap that out for a GMAC, but I can't imagine making single speed work on a heavy cargo bike that I might sometimes ride above 25mph. The approach that the electrom uses, where you spin out the low gearing and then move to resistance from a generator motor would actually be pretty cool in my situation.

What you're trying to do with your bike, having no mechanical drivetrain at all, is what Arcimoto is doing with their new e-trike: Market Fest! - Arcimoto

I've been wondering whether I could do pedal by wire using an old Stokemonkey that I have laying around - the thing that I don't know how to do is "fix" the freewheel on the DD Stokemonkey and just have the chain going directly to the axle on the motor.

To me, the reason that it seems like an interesting experiment isn't for the power that you'd generate, but for the pedaling resistance that doesn't rely on having gearing wide enough for whatever range of speeds you travel, and doesn't have extra maintenance needs.

I have a belt drive + nuvinci on the back of my bike, and I'd love to swap that out for a GMAC, but I can't imagine making single speed work on a heavy cargo bike that I might sometimes ride above 25mph. The approach that the electrom uses, where you spin out the low gearing and then move to resistance from a generator motor would actually be pretty cool in my situation.

What you're trying to do with your bike, having no mechanical drivetrain at all, is what Arcimoto is doing with their new e-trike: The Mean Lean Machine - Ultra Efficient Electric Vehicles

Hello Kevin,
I am a Grad School student in Marmara University working on my final thesis on "Charging stations by cycling pedal power".
I have seen a post on Facebook regarding charging stations by pedaling power at Utrecht Library in Netherlands.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0YNARQxYuewGJ28Sb96eKijwfUC4MeBqzHhZuij74MyBmHyJmYPKovsyaE7Hbprvbl&id=100075919276737

And also I have seen that you have looked into the matter some time ago writing at endless sphere. I would appreciate if you could share your aspects on the matter. I plan to build charging stations at public places like university rest areas & cafeterias in order to start public awareness for alternative energy sources.

Thank you.

 

[From-A-To-B]

As it’s been said: yes, it’s possible, but the losses make it a silly choice. If you want to do this project because you’ve fallen in love with the idea, bless you, go for it, and be sure to let us know how it goes.

Big, round numbers, here:

My bicycle drivetrain is something like 95% efficient between my legs and the wheel. So 100W of input gets me 95 watts of output and I’m moving down the road at 14mph (or wherever.)

Regen charging is like 60-70% efficient. Then when the power comes back out of the battery it’s 75-85% efficient. So you’re looking at a system that’s 45-60% efficient. Half of all the energy is wasted. If you can sustain 100W of cycling power, it would take you close to twenty hours of pedaling to charge a 1kwh battery.

I’ll just pedal my bike, and then plug in and pay my thirteen cents to charge the battery, thank you.

 

[glennb]

Efficiency isn’t everything.

Anyway, you could break even with a chain drive if your commute involves 50% of the time waiting at traffic lights, during which time you track-stand or drop the kickstand and continue to pedal.