I made a bicycle generator that makes?

T

thinktankthing

New member
2000watts a/c. Am I allowed to hook it up to the grid from my building? Will we get credits from the electric company if we start turning the meter backwards. I ask this because there is only information on solar, wind, and hydro grid connections and credits on the web. I live in New Jersey by the way.
Funny how people snort rather than congratulate when a breakthrough is made. I built a permanent magnet alternator that only need 200 rpms to generate 2000w and 15mph on a multi geared bike with a 26" rim makes 278 rpm which is easy to do especially when off the ground. It also generates electricity for some time after you stop peddling because of the momentum it generates on kick ass bearings, which means that it can be done in shifts without stopping electric production. One person who wants some exercise after the other.
Jeff that is some good info. It is three phase but I built it myself. So you are telling me there is no way to hook it up to a house?
 
I am astounded. Lance Armstrong could not produce 0.25 HP on a bike for any sustained period of time. .25 HP is 186 Watts! How are you getting 2000 Watts out of a bike? You must be superman.
By the way I actually did this when I was 35 and I found it very hard to keep a 75Watt bulb lit for a long time. I am no wimp.
 
The 2000 watts sounds a bit extreme for pedal power. I think you are going by the rating of the motor, I susepct the most you will ever get is just above 500 watts, and that's if you rig it right. Direct pedaling into the generator would be less than 100 watts unless it's a flywheel.

As for the idea of putting electricity back into the grid you will only get a fraction of the money back if you can spin the meter backwards. You will not get the price you pay, as most of this goes to pay for labor and supplies of the generator company or operation.

The electric company will try to compensate you about a third of penny per kWh, but remember watts is not how the measure energy, as they calculate time as well so it goes to kilowatt hours, so if you could pedal your bike solid, never slowing down for whole hour, at 2000 watts, you would generated 2 kWh, or shy of one cent in most cases.

It might be better to become a pedal courrier if you are trying to make money with your bike.

Many pedal power types find it more rewarding to recharge laptops and run tv's while they workout, where you could really see your effort paying off. Pedaling into the grid would not be that rewarding...
 
Cool. Kind of tricky to connect to the grid. The output voltage has to be appropriate, it has to be "in phase" with the grid, and the connections might be an issue. Also, I believe a different power meter is needed.

- connections : if output is single phase, no problem. If you used a car alternator, it has three sets of windings/ three phases. Houses don't have three phase power. Industries do.

- in phase. you'd have to turn it at the same speed as the grid generators. It should tend to fall into phase, because the effort to turn it will increase as you "lead" the phase. It'd still have to be geared about right, and have some way of monitoring/ adjusting speed - maybe just indicator lights and increase/decrease pedalling.

I've thought about doing this too. Using a car alternator. One idea would be to charge a battery, and use that to power 12v lights. Or you could use the AC output of 1 phase to power loads like a washing machine? Or air conditioner? Or use all three to power small electric heaters/ large light bulbs? Or connect the battery to an inverter, and shut off the house main breaker before connecting?

Try reposting your question under engineering, in the science category. Someone there might have more specific advice. Mention what generator you're using .Good luck

PS - when I build electric gadgets, I always remind myself "NOT U.L. listed" I won't leave homemade devices plugged in if I'm not there, and I don't consider them safe. Use fuses. First time you connect to a load, is called the "smoke test" for a reason.

PSS- just because it CAN put out 2000 watts, doesn't mean it has to. 2000w sounds like heavy pedaling. A strenuos sprint, rather than a marathon?
 
excuse me, but what army is going to help you turn this generator?

turn on the Tour de France some time.
it's going now.
when those riders are riding far harder than you could ever hope to, they're producing something like 300 watts.
are you going to claim that you're 7 times stronger than they are?

quite clearly, there are electronics that would allow someone to attach electricity they produced to the electric grid.
the electricity doesn't care where it came from.

however, you're really not about to create 2,000 watts riding a bicycle.
 
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