PedalPower

PedalPower originally derived from an article I read a long time ago, I remember that this individual had pedal power projects that powered washing machines, lights, saws...just about anything that you could imagine.

I've often thought that it would give a person more incentive to use an exercise bicycle if it was was hooked up to something like a generator, that charged a battery or lit a light it would be a lot more interesting.

There have been times when the power went out that I was glad to have a charged battery/s that I could use to light a few emergency lights....several years back I was satisfied with just shining a sealed beam headlight on the  ceiling....indirect lighting.

This 88 cent Calculator can be used as a counter

.* Turn on calculator * Press + button. * Press 1 (to count in increments of 1).  * Now each time the = button is pressed  number on display screen increases by 1 * Pressing the . (decimal) button....Resets

A couple of links to go to concerning this Calculator:

the Otherpower.com Discussion Board || The 88 cent counter
the Otherpower.com Discussion Board || Cheapest anemometer

Now by making a cam on the shaft of a Coil Winder ....runni.ng a small spring tipped pushrod down to where the = button will be, you simply turn on the calculator, press +, press 1, slip the calculator into a wedge-shaped holder so the = button is underneath the pushrod and each time you turn the crank it counts the number of turns. Next coil, press the decimal button and it's reset. (remember that most calculators turn themselves off if they're idle for more than 5-6 minutes....so best not to take long breaks while winding a coil)

*If you have the new circuit that uses a Reed Switch you can of course eliminate the cam and pushrod ,replacing it with a magnet and the reed switch connected to the new modified version of calculator.

New!!

Hooking a reed switch to the equal's button
...no more button pushing to count turns or revolutions
  Here's one way to do it.......

First put masking tape over all the buttons this will keep the buttons from falling out.

On dis-assembling the calculator you will need a small precision screwdriver...
you may find that even the smallest phillips screwdriver may not fit , due to the poor
quality of the screws and their almost non-exsistant phillips slots...it might behoove
you to use a1/16th regular straight slot screwdriver, a #0 phillips doesn't fit.

It might be wise to find some slightly larger scr

You see arrows 1 and 2 are pointing to those black bars going to the ='s switch, those black bars are where we are going to tape lead wires onto.

Cut 2 pieces of wire about 6 inches long strip insulation about 3/4 inch and spread strands apart and place on masking tape as in the above left picture, flip it over and tape it onto printed circuit across the first black bar as shown in the center picture, third picture shows the underneath view......

Do the same on the second black bar, in the second picture above, you will see that 2 extra holes were drilled into the clear plastic backing plate exactly over where the wires emerge from the top of the tape... then the wires are brought straight up through the holes and laid over and taped, a groove is made in the top and bottom case halves to allow the wire to pass through....you'll notice where those 2 spots of tape are holding the alignment pegs.....

All parts must stay in alignment as you place the other half over this!

Below is the finished project with attached reed switch (from a bicycle speedometer)

Even as I published this I acquired a newer calculator that has a clear colored case, a dual powered by a solar cell and button type battery ...which would leave plenty of room at the top for a receptacle for the reed switch to plug into ...since auto-shut off feature of these little calculators shuts them
off after about 5-6 minutes ....there is room to also have a small extra timer that would close the
circuit ='s switch every 5 minutes to keep the calculator from shutting off.
Now this calculator also has a regular printed circuit board that you could solder the wires to, all of this
for $1 +tax.

Making An Anemometer

Well it appears that making an anemometer , using plastic Easter eggs for the cups is not a new one.....
http://www.otherpower.com/anemometer.html
We can make one similar to this but without the bearing ...it will look like this

(Under construction to be continued and updated)

Calibrating Your Anemometer

The best way to calibrate your anemometer is on a calm day ( which probably won't be for awhile...now that you need one).
Have someone else drive while you calibrate from the passenger side...turn the counter on (while the driver is driving 10mph), do the +1= preprogram.....stick it out the window and note what the counter reads after 10 seconds. The number that displays on your counter/calculator is the key number .

Now using the calculator press clear...enter 10 divide by the key number...
For Example: if your key number after 10 seconds was 150(revolutions in 10 seconds)
the resultant number would be .0666666 rounded off to 3 decimal places .067 this would
be the example calibrated number to use.

Whenever you want to use your anemometer ....you should be able to turn on your
modified calculator ...press + and the calibrated number...now if the wind is blowing
20 mph your modified calculator will display 20 in 10 seconds!

Here's a good link -----> http://www.fieldlines.com/  < -----