yuandrew
Flashlight Enthusiast
One of the members of the Alternative Energy club at my community college, a physics instructor, has a cabin up in Big Santa Anita Canyon that he shares with his friends on some weekends.
He would like to add some lights and a pair of cigerett lighters for powering a laptop and recharging a cellphone. The original plan was two 18 watt DC powered RV flourescent lamps plus the mentioned power outlets for the laptop and charger. He plans to have a 50ah SLA battery that will be topped off with a 20 watt Solar panel.
The human powered part we want to incorporate into the system is a bicycle trainer stand with a generator attached to it. We are still deciding on what the generator part will be; probably a DC motor although we've also though about using a motorcycle alternator. What I have trouble finding is some sort of inexpensive charge controller or voltage regulator to use since he is afraid to pedal too fast and fry something or overcharge the battery.
I've used a bicycle generator before on a demonstration by Socal Edison which shows how compact flourescent lamps use less energy than incandescant bulbs (Obviously, it took less effort to power all four 13 watt CFLs than two 50 watt bulb) I could probably run two incandescant lamps at most for a few hours but lighting up all four incandescant bulbs (200 watts) took a lot of effort (like going up a hill on a one speed bike). I didn't remember the generator used but I noticed a large capicator in the circuit which then goes directly to the panel with the switches and light sockets.
Being a cyclist as well, our professor said he could probably do 200 watts for an hour and around 100 continously average. Idealy, a workout in the morning will be used to fill up the battery then the solar panel will top off the charge the rest of the day.
Think this system will work or do we need to add a little more capicity? The cabin is a 4 mile hike from the nearest point accessable by car and he prefers not to replace a 43 pound lead acid battery too often once we set it up.
He would like to add some lights and a pair of cigerett lighters for powering a laptop and recharging a cellphone. The original plan was two 18 watt DC powered RV flourescent lamps plus the mentioned power outlets for the laptop and charger. He plans to have a 50ah SLA battery that will be topped off with a 20 watt Solar panel.
The human powered part we want to incorporate into the system is a bicycle trainer stand with a generator attached to it. We are still deciding on what the generator part will be; probably a DC motor although we've also though about using a motorcycle alternator. What I have trouble finding is some sort of inexpensive charge controller or voltage regulator to use since he is afraid to pedal too fast and fry something or overcharge the battery.
I've used a bicycle generator before on a demonstration by Socal Edison which shows how compact flourescent lamps use less energy than incandescant bulbs (Obviously, it took less effort to power all four 13 watt CFLs than two 50 watt bulb) I could probably run two incandescant lamps at most for a few hours but lighting up all four incandescant bulbs (200 watts) took a lot of effort (like going up a hill on a one speed bike). I didn't remember the generator used but I noticed a large capicator in the circuit which then goes directly to the panel with the switches and light sockets.
Being a cyclist as well, our professor said he could probably do 200 watts for an hour and around 100 continously average. Idealy, a workout in the morning will be used to fill up the battery then the solar panel will top off the charge the rest of the day.
Think this system will work or do we need to add a little more capicity? The cabin is a 4 mile hike from the nearest point accessable by car and he prefers not to replace a 43 pound lead acid battery too often once we set it up.
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