Charging battery while pedalling
- Thread starter Dominik
- Start date
It might be, but why would you want to? You have a Bosch system so you are used to electric assistance to cycle. If you turn the system off then pedalling becomes much harder work as you are of course not getting any electrical assistance. If you now try and put power back in to the battery then you would have to pedal even harder to move - you would be riding a sort of inverse pedelec! A bike which you not only need to pedal to move, but which adds the additional burden of requiring significant energy input to start charging the battery as well.
Michael
Michael
Ah I see - when you said "while cycling" I assumed you would be cycling along rather than having the bike up on a stand like in the video. I doubt it would be possible using the Bosch motor as it is proprietary and has very little scope for modifications indeed.
I have a 2 wheeled drive system on my diy bike & wattsup meters to check voltages it will put some charge back in but its not going fully chargedThe aveage speed of my bike is 19/20mph so if you gonna pedal that hard to recharge to battery you don't e-bike you need a Velodrome
You'd be amazed at the sheer effort involved in pedal generation. It has been tried and demonstrated, even on TV, but the return has always been negligible.
It's not possible with your Bosch since it's motor is internally freewheeled, disconnected while pedalling without power, and this is true of nearly all e-bike motors. Only some direct drive motors have regeneration, but none would boil water using that.
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Also I remember what happened when car kettles were first introduced. People would park up for a picnic, boil the kettle for a cuppa for the family and then find they couldn't start the car again since they'd flattened their large car battery!
Now they've been replaced with one cup boilers, but even those need to be used with care only on well charged batteries.
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Now they've been replaced with one cup boilers, but even those need to be used with care only on well charged batteries.
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That Zehus all-in-one wheel doesn't make any sense at all. Website is www.zehus.it. It is an all-in-one hub in the same vein as the Copenhagen Wheel, except it doesn't ever require plugging in to charge. It states "helping when you need it and recharging the battery where your body can deliver it". It seems to provide power at some points and sap power from you at others.
In other words you go from A to B under your own power, as per a normal bicycle. However as well as moving yourself you are also hefting a 3kg motor/battery with you, and undergoing significant efficiency losses in converting battery power to motive power and back again all through the ride. So you get from A to B but having used more energy!
In other words you go from A to B under your own power, as per a normal bicycle. However as well as moving yourself you are also hefting a 3kg motor/battery with you, and undergoing significant efficiency losses in converting battery power to motive power and back again all through the ride. So you get from A to B but having used more energy!
An averagely fit person can produce around 100 watts, so to generate that 90Wh would take almost an hour. That's a lot of work to get a cup of tea! I think I would prefer to boil the water using my solar panels at home and take it on the ride in a flask! Better still stop at a cafe.
It's all a matter of definition. People are best at producing hot air and getting into hot water.
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A good few years ago now I saw a segment on a TV programme where an American bloke had rigged the kids TV up to a static bicycle electrical generator. So whenever they wanted to watch they had to pedal. His theory was that they would only watch what they really wanted to and would avoid being turned into couch potatoes.
I bet they grew up to let their own kids do exactly as they wanted.
I bet they grew up to let their own kids do exactly as they wanted.
I wouldn't be confident of that. My brother was convinced that TV was a thoroughly bad influence and wouldn't allow one in the house when his two children were growing up. They were also forbidden to watch in friends houses, in a rural district so not as difficult to monitor as it might seem.
Both grew up very active and still are, never showing any interest in TV. They had two children each, all four also becoming very active people. Two are captains in the British army often being abroad, another spends her time roaming the world and picking up work and friends wherever she lands, and the last is always on the go socially in England.
Altogether a TV executive's nightmare.
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