hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV April 05, 2010, 05:08:34 PM hey- as i was fixing my charging system this past weekend (see thread under Electrical) it dawned on me that in order to force myself to exercise while watching TV, I should figure out a way to power my TV with my exercise bike and a car alternator. I can handle setting the bike up to spin the alternator with a pulley............but does anyone know how i would run the alternator into one of those power invertors they sell? you know- the units that plug into your cigarette lighter so you can run household items from your car. When I put the meter on the main alternator terminal it made upwards of 40 volts. I am a little confused about how to configure the wiring from the main terminal and the voltage regulator terminal in order to get 12 volts to the power invertor. I'm thinking in terms of a ford alternator with the voltage regulator attached.............but if you think there is a better combination i'd love to hear about it. Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #1 – April 05, 2010, 05:13:36 PM Unloaded it likely will read a high voltage and produce some nasty surges, you really should use a small battery or maybe a 1f cap... Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #2 – April 05, 2010, 05:14:35 PM I saw a segment on the news just a couple of days ago about some prison that does this. The inmate is allowed to watch TV but has to pedal the bike to power the TV. Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #3 – April 05, 2010, 05:26:01 PM Just exercise.Will power can go a long way.Get outside and ride a real bike.TV isn't needed during a work out.That's holding you back. Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #4 – April 05, 2010, 05:59:34 PM Quote from: mattg;317135hey- as i was fixing my charging system this past weekend (see thread under Electrical) it dawned on me that in order to force myself to exercise while watching TV, I should figure out a way to power my TV with my exercise bike and a car alternator. I can handle setting the bike up to spin the alternator with a pulley............but does anyone know how i would run the alternator into one of those power invertors they sell? you know- the units that plug into your cigarette lighter so you can run household items from your car. When I put the meter on the main alternator terminal it made upwards of 40 volts. I am a little confused about how to configure the wiring from the main terminal and the voltage regulator terminal in order to get 12 volts to the power invertor. I'm thinking in terms of a ford alternator with the voltage regulator attached.............but if you think there is a better combination i'd love to hear about it.The voltage regulator controls the alternator field current so that it "sees" 14.5 volts on the reg "A" terminal. When you disconnected the alternator output, the reg "A" terminal only saw the battery voltage and cranked up the field current to max trying to raise the voltage to 14.5 volts. Thats why you saw 40 volts on the alt output.For your bike setup you can hook the alt output directly to the reg "A" terminal. Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #5 – April 05, 2010, 06:18:38 PM Take the output from the alternator and set it up into a big-ass capacitor that releases the charge when you stop pedaling. Then connect the output from the capacitor onto your figs. There's your motivation. Your legs will look like tree trunks after two weeks. Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #6 – April 05, 2010, 06:26:39 PM In order to get any appreciable power from it you'd need legs like tree trunks anyway. Alternators take a LOT of energy to spin when they're charging (as anyone with a loose alternator belt can attest to). As in several horsepower. Much more than any human would be able to provide for more than a second or two (if at all)...That being said, you can get small generators for just such a purpose (think bicycle generator) but they only put out a few watts. Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #7 – April 05, 2010, 08:33:53 PM Couldnt you adjust pulley size or adjust the gearing on the bike? Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #8 – April 05, 2010, 08:51:51 PM You could certainly adjust the pulley size, but the faster you want to spin the alternator (and they have to spin quite fast, hence their small pulley when compared to the crank pulley) the harder you'd have to pedal Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #9 – April 05, 2010, 09:16:33 PM Why not get a exercize bike that has one of those fan-type wheels... Then just hang curtains in front of the tv. Pedal the bike, the curtains blow open, you can see the TV. Stop pedaling, and the curtains close. :hick: Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #10 – April 05, 2010, 10:39:40 PM i suppose the best way is Vinnie's suggestion. Just stop the procrastination and commit to not watching TV until after i spend some time on the bike / or other form of exercise. I chase my 2 year old around alot..........but i guess not enough to lose the 15 or 20 pounds i need to lose!! Quote Selected
Been watching "soylent green"? Reply #11 – April 06, 2010, 05:03:43 PM You're going to be surprised (in a bad way) how much work that would be. The Ford Museum has a hand crank to demonstrate how much work it takes to generate electricity for an incandescent light.Here are some relevant numbers: 1 HP = 746W 1 W = V * Amps 1 Amp = W/V where W= wattV = voltagehttp://www.unitconversion.org/power/watts-to-kilocalories-it--per-hour-conversion.htmlOTOH, the exercise will do you good. Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #12 – April 06, 2010, 05:13:32 PM Here is a link to the story I saw. http://www.redlasso.com/ClipPlayer.aspx?id=fece6dc9-19de-4514-b669-c3d9dfb51045 Quote Selected
hook up alternator to exercise bike / TV Reply #13 – April 06, 2010, 05:28:53 PM Chase the 2 year old. Were close to the ability to make electric that way, Then what would the power co.'s do! How many jobs would be lost? Quote Selected
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