Generator ?

K

KDC1956

New Member
As some of you know I am building a trike/bike all chrome.I am also looking for a job but that may have to wait
too I have to go back in the hospt.again.My health has went a little down on me thats life for me.Now to my ?
If I was to put a bicycle generator light generator and ran it to a small motorcycle battery would that not keep
it charge or would it not work at all.I am trying to be cheap here lol.Any input on this is welcome.laff
 
KDC1956 said:
As some of you know I am building a trike/bike all chrome.I am also looking for a job but that may have to wait
too I have to go back in the hospt.again.My health has went a little down on me thats life for me.Now to my ?
If I was to put a bicycle generator light generator and ran it to a small motorcycle battery would that not keep
it charge or would it not work at all.I am trying to be cheap here lol.Any input on this is welcome.laff
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As with all electrical/electronic items they are usually application specific.

The lamp that the generator was intended to power has a maximum current draw that is well below what the generator can produce...in addition the generator is intended to spin, (and make power), within the range of 5-15 MPH . A battery will draw full potential from an unregulated generator. If the generator is not capable of producing what the battery wants...the smoke will escape from the generator.

Jim
 
On another note about the generator I thought about is how badly it could chew through the tires at 20+ mph. They seemed like a good idea until I started contemplating about that.
 
motor_head said:
could you use a belt where the tire would usually be?
Click to expand...

Now that`s a good idea....Yes anything to spin the gen.,,I`d find out what watt/amp/volts bulb is in those lights that the gen. powers....6volt-12volt gen., get corresponding battery, and as long as you are generating at least the same or more to what is being drawn should work....What do you want to power with the gen.???A verry small battery might be feasable, IMO....Please someone chime in as I`m not an expert in electronics by any means....
Paul....
 
jburr36 said:
On another note about the generator I thought about is how badly it could chew through the tires at 20+ mph. They seemed like a good idea until I started contemplating about that.
Click to expand...

There are a few 5hp lawn mower engines with rollers on vertical shafts scrubbing tire sidewalls on motorized bicycles. If the tire can handle that, bike generators at 20 mph shouldn't be a problem.
 
I don't have a specific answer, but here are some things to think about.

One might be able to put a small rubber wheel on the generator's roller, and thus make it larger in diameter so it would turn more slowly; for instance find an 'O' ring of the right size that would slip over the generator's roller with a tight fit? The rubber wheel is cheap to replace, and will save the tire.

If it's true what I read, the white wire puts out about 7.5 volts at .5 amps. That is enough to charge a small 6 volt sealed battery. Radio Shack had some 6 volt lantern batteries, the kind where the terminals are like small springs; and they also had sealed rechargeable batteries like that. I bought one several years ago, and it's still good.

But, I haven't checked the output of my white wire yet, so I'm not sure if the output is AC or DC. If you want to charge the battery, it has to be DC. But, Radio Shack has some small cheap diodes in a little cube, less than an inch square. The diodes will change the AC to DC and charge the battery. The diodes need a heat sink to stay cool. Take common scissors and cut some aluminum from a pop can, and make your own heat sink, nothing to it.

(I burned out the factory diode rectifier on a small older Honda one time by putting the battery in backwards. Lots of smoke, melted wires, and cuss words; and Honda wanted 31 dollars for the rectifier. The tiny modern Radio Shack rectifier made me want to throw rocks at the crummy Honda rectifier.)
 
I was walking through WalMart today and saw some battery`s 6 volt that they use in childrens electric 4X4 trucks, CARS, ect.ect that run on battery power....They were just the right size...They come with a charger also...We have to find out what kind of power those wheel generators put out....
 
The best I can tell, the bottle and bottom bracket type generators or dynamos put out either 6 or 12 volts at between 2.4 and 3.0 watts. The amperage is probably negligable. I dont know if they would recharge a small battery or not, but would surely increase run time between re-charges.scratg
 
I bought a 12v bike generator. My hopes are just to keep a small trickle charge to a small battery I use , for lights. I plan on using about a 20 watt diode on the feed line. I want to use a roller board wheel (that my boss has a lot of) as a drive for the gen.
I don't plan on keeping up with my light (a 35 watt HID), just prolonging the battery life. Even a few watts will help.
Have no idea if it will work!
 
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I think the intent is to run a bilb of higher wattage(brighter) from a battery and use the bottle generator/dynamo to help increase the length of time between re-charges. Id like ti find some LEDs that I can run from the generator and skip the battery completely, but such is life, right?
 
If the generator puts out AC, then the diode is necessary. If the generator puts out DC, then no diode is necessary.

In reality, Generators all put out DC, and Alternators put out AC. AC stands for "Alternating Current". Sometimes people refer to Alternators as "Generators", and that's where the confusion is.

Some alternators have built in diodes, and put out DC; cars are like that.

I have a bicycle generator and lights, but I haven't checked it out yet. Lights will work on AC, but batteries will not charge with AC.
 
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