DIY Friday: People Powered Prime Mover
If you feel like there is no point to working out — no weight loss, no fun — and if all you enjoy is watching tv, there may be a way to make television your motivation:
Couch Potatoes of the world rise up! (Or at least reach for the remote.) Your nemesis nears. David Butcher is an over 50 year old who has your lazy days in his sights. David has constructed what he labels the ‘Pedal Powered Prime Mover’, and uses it to power all manner of appliances, including the venerable TV. No more loafing about on the sofa watching the tube. David is offering plans, so you can build your own power generator. Got a screwdriver, hacksaw, wrench, hand drill, and wood chisel, plus a spare day? Perfect. A bit of galvanised water pipe, and some particleboard later, you’ll soon be consuming both The Simpsons and calories. David lost 8 lbs over 5 months, pedal powering his own needs. The trick to his design is the huge timber disc, which acts as a flywheel “creating torque where human legs/pedals cannot generate any.” Curious?
Plans for a “pedal powered prime mover” (PPPM) are available for purchase here ($50). They claim it isn’t too tough: “You can assemble the Pedal Powered Prime Mover (PPPM) with standard hand tools (drill, hacksaw, wrench, pliers, screwdriver, etc.). No welding, brazing or machine-shop work is required.”
Instead of using the PPPM to power a battery, you can also connect it directly to you device. They claim that “even the most efficient batteries “lose” 10-15 percent of the power they receive.”
To power a tv?
Our 27 inch television draws 45 watts when the screen is showing a dark picture, and 90 watts when the scene is brightly lit, according to my “Watts-up?” 120 volt AC power meter (same name as the meter on the pedal generator, but it measures AC instead of DC). I’ll bet you never thought of that, but yes, it takes more power to show brightly lit scenes on a television than is does to show dark. If you were pedaling the TV directly, you would have to constantly be adjusting your pedaling speed as the picture changed to keep the voltage at a safe level for the TV.
This isn’t unreasonable. A “sprint” would generate 110 to 150 watts, while a steady ride can generate from 50 to 110 watts.
Why not wash your gym clothes with the PPPM? This user couldn’t quite keep up with the spin cycle.
Conclusion: One person could pedal this machine all the way through the wash. They could not power the spin directly from the Pedal Generator – it just requires too much power. However, with the help of a battery, it would be possible to pedal this washer. In my physical condition, I would have to pedal for about 1 hour and 45 minutes to generate enough power to wash one load.
(There is an explanation at the end of the video.)
