On May 11, 8:36 am, "Shaun Van Poecke"
wrote:
Thinking that nothing is ever gained or lost in a system, only transferred
and typically at a loss, Ive often thought of what sustainability is in a
nuts-and-bolts kind of way. Something Ive been thinking of, off and on over
the last few years is how much electricity a human being can generate.
Using running water as a source is all good, but lets say you were to build
a simple machine consisting of maybe some parts of a bicycle including the
peddles, gears, chain etc, then instead of the wheel, you could have the
alternator out of a car. Or, if tha was too much to peddle, you could use
the wheel (or a substitute) as a pulley then another pulley going to the
alternator. How many amps can a person generate at 12V?

Something like this would be simple, dead cheap, and would provide an
excellent backup when all else has failed in the middle of nowhere and your
generator/solar/engine/wind power have all died and you need to charge your
batteries. Beyond that, I wouldnt feel at all bad about pedalling for a
couple of hours a day on a long voyage as opposed to running the engine for
a couple of hours. Sort of earning your daily bread, if you like.

Thoughts?

Shaun

Car alternators spin pretty fast compared to what you would probably
do running it with a bike. Anyone know if there is a speed (slow) that
it will not produce enough to spark up the diode triode? Anyway, you
may have to consider/ponder a different lower output generator. Just
guessing here, maybe someone else knows.

What I've read says car type alternators need a minimum of 1000 rpm to
produce usable voltage.
Could you put magnets directly on the wheel and pickup coils around it?
Kinda like a big old synchronous motor?

Shaun

Car alternators spin pretty fast compared to what you would probably
do running it with a bike. Anyone know if there is a speed (slow) that
it will not produce enough to spark up the diode triode? Anyway, you
may have to consider/ponder a different lower output generator. Just
guessing here, maybe someone else knows.

On May 12, 8:50 pm, "Shaun Van Poecke"
wrote:
Not mentioned as an alternative is a piece of rope with a propeller on
the end dragged behind the boat and fastened to the shaft of a DC
generator. The "rope" must be of sufficient size and material to be
up to the job and the propeller should be on the end of a 3 to 4 foot
metal shaft so as to give it stability.

thats absolutely brilliant! did you hook it direct to the shaft, or via a
pulley? Thats so simple it almost hurts that i didnt think of it first ;-)

Shaun

The flexible line is connected directly to the shaft and directly to
the alternator. It has to be a low speed alternator. There are
designs for making an alternator low speed in places like The Mother
Earth News and other "back to the earth" publications. They do it for
direct drive wind generators. Any non geared wind generator motor
should do. The alternator is mounted on the aft rail or thereabouts.
I have a surplus 12V DC motor. I use the same motor on the wind
generator so there is only one set of spare bearings to carry.

"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in message
...
Thinking that nothing is ever gained or lost in a system, only transferred
and typically at a loss, Ive often thought of what sustainability is in a
nuts-and-bolts kind of way. Something Ive been thinking of, off and on
over the last few years is how much electricity a human being can
generate. Using running water as a source is all good, but lets say you
were to build a simple machine consisting of maybe some parts of a bicycle
including the peddles, gears, chain etc, then instead of the wheel, you
could have the alternator out of a car. Or, if tha was too much to
peddle, you could use the wheel (or a substitute) as a pulley then another
pulley going to the alternator. How many amps can a person generate at
12V?

Something like this would be simple, dead cheap, and would provide an
excellent backup when all else has failed in the middle of nowhere and
your generator/solar/engine/wind power have all died and you need to
charge your batteries. Beyond that, I wouldnt feel at all bad about
pedalling for a couple of hours a day on a long voyage as opposed to
running the engine for a couple of hours. Sort of earning your daily
bread, if you like.

Thoughts?

Take a look at http://www.los-gatos.ca.us/davidbu/pedgen.html --
pedal-powered DC generator, hooked up to an inverter to run lights, TV,
laptop, etc. The inventor has done a great deal of work on output,
efficiency, etc., and has a worksheet for computing capacity and load
compared to solar cells, etc.

Shaun Van Poecke wrote:
Not mentioned as an alternative is a piece of rope with a propeller on
the end dragged behind the boat and fastened to the shaft of a DC
generator. The "rope" must be of sufficient size and material to be
up to the job and the propeller should be on the end of a 3 to 4 foot
metal shaft so as to give it stability.



thats absolutely brilliant! did you hook it direct to the shaft, or via a
pulley? Thats so simple it almost hurts that i didnt think of it first ;-)

Shaun





Been around for decades. Called (among other things) a tow-behind
generator.

bob
s/v Eolian
Seattle

On Sat, 12 May 2007 10:27:26 -0400, "Dave W"
wrote stuff
and I replied:

.....and then most of the animals are millions of years old! G

is 746 watts with out losses. We are a pretty puny species! No wonder we
got animals to do the hard work followed by wind, water and finally steam
and electricity.

Sorry, you are too late. This vessel already exists, Wilbore Hubbard
owns it.
He built it last week with only a toothpick and a swiss army knife for
tools.
It would be the perfect boat, if it wasn't for the color scheme he
picked.


On May 12, 6:26 am, "Shaun Van Poecke"
wrote:
More just looking at options... My boats only 26 feet, but im dreaming of
the day when i win $100million and build the 75 foot catamaran that I've
always dreamed of ;-)

Having pedal power generation would be just another arrow in the quiver, to
go allong side a standalone generator, alternators on the dual engines, twin
windmill power generators, solar, and of course electronic motors capable of
hybrid modes....

Of course it goes without saying that the boat would have numerous
redundancies, like either one, or both twin engines could be used to
generate electricity to power the twin electric motors turning the props,
but those same props would also have electronic clutches on the electric
motors and a second set of drive gears that could be run directly off either
one, or both the diesel motors by hydraulics. And that same hydraulic
system could be used to run winches, and even the refrigeration system whose
compressors could be run hydraulically or electrically. There would also be
electric motors capable of driving the hydraulics, giving you numerous
redundancies of driving anything on the boat off the batteries by
electronics, or if electronics had failed then by hydraulics, or directly
off the motors once they were started, and many options for charging the
immense battery bank. It goes without saying that said vessel would also
have retractable wings, and be capable of flying albeit at sub-sonic speeds.
naturally it would also be capable of diving down to a depth of 1000metres
below sea level and would also shrink down to the size of a ferrari and
sprout wheels so that you could drive it to work and impress all your
colleagues. Im still working on the colour scheme, which would be pivotal
in impressing said colleagues.

Shaun

" ray lunder wrote in message

...

In the film, "soylent green" actor Edward G. Robinson pedals an
exercise bike driving an automotive alternator to charge batteries so
we know it's possible in the movies. I heard of someone doing it on an
off-the-grid island too. Maybe a folding bike would save space. You
must have quite a large boat to be considering something like that. If
your craft sails at 5 or 6 knots you can tap off the prop shaft and
get it for free unless you need the exercise. Some systems use a
larger wheel on the shaft to drive the small pulley on the alternator.
Bon Voyage.

On Fri, 11 May 2007 12:36:15 GMT, "Shaun Van Poecke"
wrote:

Thinking that nothing is ever gained or lost in a system, only transferred
and typically at a loss, Ive often thought of what sustainability is in a
nuts-and-bolts kind of way. Something Ive been thinking of, off and on
over
the last few years is how much electricity a human being can generate.
Using running water as a source is all good, but lets say you were to
build
a simple machine consisting of maybe some parts of a bicycle including the
peddles, gears, chain etc, then instead of the wheel, you could have the
alternator out of a car. Or, if tha was too much to peddle, you could use
the wheel (or a substitute) as a pulley then another pulley going to the
alternator. How many amps can a person generate at 12V?

Something like this would be simple, dead cheap, and would provide an
excellent backup when all else has failed in the middle of nowhere and
your
generator/solar/engine/wind power have all died and you need to charge
your
batteries. Beyond that, I wouldnt feel at all bad about pedalling for a
couple of hours a day on a long voyage as opposed to running the engine
for
a couple of hours. Sort of earning your daily bread, if you like.

Thoughts?

Shaun