More on the Pedal-A-Watt

From the manual, which I have received today…

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The Pedal-A-Watt, creates 200 watts of power. If you pedal for 2 hours, then you have created 400 watt-hours ( 200 watts x 2 hours) of power.

This 400 watt-hours would power a 100 watt light bulb for 4 hours, a 200 watt
large screen TV for 2 hours and so on.

If I am pedaling and creating 200 watts of power and I keep pedaling for 2 hours, I create 200 Watt-Hours, or:

200 Watts x 2 Hours = 400 Watt-Hours

Now, with 400 Watt-Hours stored in the battery, I can power:

A 400 watt TV for 1 hour (400 Watts x 1 hour = 400 Watt-Hours)
A 200 Watt TV for 2 hours (200 Watts x 2 hours = 400 Watt-Hours)
A 20 Watt laptop PC for 20 hours (20 Watt x 20 hours = 400 Watt-Hours)
A 15 Watt fluorescent bulb for almost 27 hours (15 Watts x 26 hours = 400 Watt-Hours)

Power Consumption of Typical Appliances:

Small TV – 100 watts
Large TV – 200 watts
Laptop PC – 10 watts
Desktop PC – 75 watts
Stereo – 20 watts
Charging a cellphone – 5 watts
Hi Effic Desk lamp – 15 watts
Refrigerator – 700 watts
Dishwasher – 350 watts
Dryer – 400 watts

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Projectors, I think, are in the region of 200-300 watts. So a projector, stereo and laptop might be too much for one person to generate, unless I can find a relatively low power projector.

Pedal-A-Watt

The power behind this project will come via the Pedal-A-Watt (image below).

This should allow me to place a bicycle in the stand and generate electricity from pedalling. The main stand has arrived… once I have the inverter and battery I can start testing to see how much I will actually be able to power directly from a bike. There should be enough for a laptop, but a projector and then amplified audio output might be too much for the rider to generate… we’ll see!

Universe update – April 2008

The NRG Universe has spread to two pages – one to contain this blog, the other for the online bits I’m collecting that relate to the various themes in the piece. As well as some general definitions of energy, there are videos and definitions for wind, solar and hydroelectric power.

Blog – http://www.netvibes.com/chrisjoseph#NRG_blog
Bits – http://www.netvibes.com/chrisjoseph#NRG_bits

Bike film festival – Leicester, 27-29 June 2008

http://bikefilmfestival.org/

The 7th Film Festival is part of Ride Leicester 2008 – A week long festival of bike rides, film, photography and more!

Also, includes 2008 Film & Animation Awards Launch & Ride Leicester Photography Exhibition.

FREE Mobile Cinema Bike Film Screenings for Community Groups are available from May 23rd to June 29th – email cycle-city [at] leicester.gov.uk for details.