Get a “charge” out of getting some exercise

Much to the dismay of us solar advocates, the sun does not shine 24/7, and here in New England where the winters shorten our days down to around 9 hours of maximum sun, we need to think of alternative ways to keep those batteries charged. Well, while flipping through a Home Power magazine I came across an ad for a stationary bike connected to a small generator. Upon seeing that, I knew I had a solution to my low-sun problem. Here is how it works (or at least the one that I have):

You place your bike into the stationary bike stand and align the back tire with the generator. After locking everything in place you hook up the two wire of the generator to a battery that you want to charge and start pedaling. Since the batteries I was trying to charge are deep cycle 12 volt batteries, I don’t need to worry about a charge controller since I have yet to pedal fast enough or long enough to worry about it.

So, how much power am I generating with this ‘human-powered’ generator? Well, typically I can pedal for about 30 minutes at a time at a decent pace. If I do this about 5 times a week, I am able to raise the voltage on a battery enough to charge it from ¾ charged to fully charged in about 2 weeks. I will admit that this isn’t great but if all you are trying to do is maintain your batteries, this is all you need. Obviously, the more you pedal, the more power you create so, in an emergency situation you might be able to keep the batteries charged if you really needed to.

So, before you renew that yearly gym membership, think about getting some exercise that is not only doing your body good, but is also generating some electricity in the process, and thus saving you some money. Here is a link to where I got my generator and bike stand (you use your own bike): Pedal-a-Watt.