Electric generator excercise bike project

It was first just a test and as it worked as intended we decided at work to continue with it and make it more interesting. The intended target groups are  mainly schools (in City of Turku) and also various sustainability events.

It has gone forward nicely, all basic functionality has been now implemented. The device has 3 main functions:

1. 12V, 5W incandescent light bulb
2.  12V, 1.5W LED light bar
3. Generic 12V plug for anything else you can think of

For option 3 we provide a 5V USB charger and a 12V travel kettle for boiling water. The kettle is 100W, it should take 20 minutes to get it to boil, I'm a fat-ass so almost died after pedalling for a couple of minutes... :)

That was the basics, there are some parts that are still work in progress. Installed are already a current sensor and an LCD screen but they are currently unused. The bike itself also provides a RPM sensor (aka "a switch") that we can also use.

The idea is to show the load in Amps, the Voltage and from there the Watts produced and of course RPM. One ideas was to also add a temperature sensor that could be put in the kettle to see if the water gets any warmer.

It currently still needs manual activation to magnetize the alternator, but that could be made automatic.

Check out the video below for a quick look: