hand powered Linux box

[Brian Densmore]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Leo Mauler
> 
> ("bicycle power" is inadequate to the task of charging
> car batteries, though it might run a laptop) and use
Says who? Bicycle power can be used to power a wide range
of devices. I would be willing to bet that the average
bicyclist could easily put out 1/10HP and quite probably
more depending on a number of factors (including gear ratios).

> directly, but stepping down the car battery to the
> laptop battery power level might require enough
> complexity that just an inverter with the existing AC
> adapter might be more workable.
This should be easily accomplished with a resistive series
and resistance added in parallel with the laptop portion of 
series of the entire the circuit. The most difficult part
being figuring out the effective resistance value of the laptop.

Of course, one could always go the route of using the cigarette
adaptors spoken of earlier, and forego the calculations.

And on your latest post. The fact that your light wasn't steady
might not have as much to do with constant power output as with 
other conditions and factors. A stationary bicycle that is properly
configured should produce better output than a moving bicycle that
is varying in angles relative to the road surface, rattling,
bumping, climbing, descending, friction, etc. Don't forget you can 
get a lot more energy from a stationary bike than one that also has
to power forward motion. But all that aside. A proper configuration
would be for the bicycle to be used as a charging device, and the power
drawn from a battery/fuel cell.