Energy savers/large rechargable batteries for lighting

iloveit

Well-Known Member
dankness, my dad once told me not to argue with an idiot....because in short time, nobody can tell the difference. i would like to see mr tree hugger peddle enough energy to grow a single blade of grass let alone real grass. and i want to hear about all mr treehuggers wonderful energy saving ideas in the works to save the planet...even though NOT A SINGLE hihgly educated electrical engineer worldwide has been able to figure out. lets hear about your "projects"........silence? thought so

jeff
I agree with your opinions 100%
The bit about arguing with an idiot...I was taught the same lesson.
 

cleef

Well-Known Member
I did some quick mental math just for shits and giggles and this is what I came up with.

IF his power costs him $.50 per KWh (almost 5 times what I pay in the midwest), and he was draining 20,800 watts per hour for a 48 period, that would result in a $500 electrical bill. 20,800 watts divided by 220 volts equals 94 amps so it is may be possible on a 100 amp service.

So technically it MIGHT be theoretically possible to run up a $500 electrical bill in two days IF he pays out the ass for power and IF he has a REALLY (20K watts? wow) nice grow room.

Sorry if I dicked up the math.

When I develop perpetual motion technology, I'll make sure you guys are the first to know.
 

macdadyabc

Well-Known Member
i know for a fact that it can be done. A car alternator can power a 7000 watt inverter, wether its in a car or not. A bike hooked up to an alternator can do the exact same thing with alot of gearing modifications, because alot more rpms are needed. Have any of you tried it? of course not. Once i get out of high school, and get some money, i will do it.
 

cleef

Well-Known Member
Mac, I like where your head is at. I'm just exploring your idea so please don't think I'm being critical.

Just because the inverter is rated at 7000 watts doesn't mean it requires that much to operate or that your car is capable of producing that. It will only draw enough current to power whatever you have plugged into it, and if you exceed the power that the alternator is producing, it will just draw off the battery. That is assuming that you have it wire directly to your battery. If it's plugged in to your cigarette lighter you'll be limited to the 15 amps or whatever fuse you have in there. In fact, your car is definitely not capable of producing 7000 watts. Let me explain.

My car, a civic, has a 55 amp alternator. 55 amps at 12 volts = 660 watts. Now you can change the voltage which will change the amperage and you can invert from DC to AC, but the wattage will not increase because the inverter doesn't produce more power, it just inverts the power that your alternator supplies to it. You also pay a tax with any of these conversions because none of them are 100% efficient.

Admittedly, I have a small car so I looked up a Chevy Silverado and they have alternators in the 150 amp range. Even with a 150 amp alternator at 12 volts you're only making 1800 watts.

For more reference, I looked up generators. Consider this. A DeWalt 7000 watt generator has a 13 horsepower engine. Do you think you can produce 13 horsepower? I know I can't.

And all of these alternator output ratings are at 3,000 RPM. Remember that your car alternator runs on a belt that spins it twice as fast as your engine. 100 RPM's is a pretty reasonable cadence, so you're going to need to gear the thing at 30:1 to get the alternator spinning at 3000 RPM's. With that gearing, it's going to be quite hard to pedal. I think you might be seriously underestimating how hard it would be to spin the thing at 3000 RPM for an hour. That might even be beyond Lance Armstrong hard.

But I still think you should try it. At least it's some green energy. See what you can do and how much power you can get out of it.
 

TheDankness

Well-Known Member
dankness, my dad once told me not to argue with an idiot....because in short time, nobody can tell the difference. i would like to see mr tree hugger peddle enough energy to grow a single blade of grass let alone real grass. and i want to hear about all mr treehuggers wonderful energy saving ideas in the works to save the planet...even though NOT A SINGLE hihgly educated electrical engineer worldwide has been able to figure out. lets hear about your "projects"........silence? thought so

jeff
Bravo...:clap:
 

gotot

Well-Known Member
Mac, I like where your head is at. I'm just exploring your idea so please don't think I'm being critical.

Just because the inverter is rated at 7000 watts doesn't mean it requires that much to operate or that your car is capable of producing that. It will only draw enough current to power whatever you have plugged into it, and if you exceed the power that the alternator is producing, it will just draw off the battery. That is assuming that you have it wire directly to your battery. If it's plugged in to your cigarette lighter you'll be limited to the 15 amps or whatever fuse you have in there. In fact, your car is definitely not capable of producing 7000 watts. Let me explain.

My car, a civic, has a 55 amp alternator. 55 amps at 12 volts = 660 watts. Now you can change the voltage which will change the amperage and you can invert from DC to AC, but the wattage will not increase because the inverter doesn't produce more power, it just inverts the power that your alternator supplies to it. You also pay a tax with any of these conversions because none of them are 100% efficient.

Admittedly, I have a small car so I looked up a Chevy Silverado and they have alternators in the 150 amp range. Even with a 150 amp alternator at 12 volts you're only making 1800 watts.

For more reference, I looked up generators. Consider this. A DeWalt 7000 watt generator has a 13 horsepower engine. Do you think you can produce 13 horsepower? I know I can't.

And all of these alternator output ratings are at 3,000 RPM. Remember that your car alternator runs on a belt that spins it twice as fast as your engine. 100 RPM's is a pretty reasonable cadence, so you're going to need to gear the thing at 30:1 to get the alternator spinning at 3000 RPM's. With that gearing, it's going to be quite hard to pedal. I think you might be seriously underestimating how hard it would be to spin the thing at 3000 RPM for an hour. That might even be beyond Lance Armstrong hard.

But I still think you should try it. At least it's some green energy. See what you can do and how much power you can get out of it.
is there anyway to capture static( from a tv or the pressure change in the air) into a battery?:-o
 

TheDankness

Well-Known Member
is there anyway to capture static( from a tv or the pressure change in the air) into a battery?:-o
Static electricity, regardless of the fact that its high voltage, will support almost no flow of current. This is the reason you don't die when someone shocks you, the voltage is high enough, but it only lasts a millisecond and the current is probably somewhere in the micro amps.

The point? Even though the voltage is high in static electricity, because there is so little flow of current you are really looking at almost no power in watts. Maybe even less than a watt of power there, idk. Not a bad idea though, that's forward thinking.
 

gotot

Well-Known Member
Static electricity, regardless of the fact that its high voltage, will support almost no flow of current. This is the reason you don't die when someone shocks you, the voltage is high enough, but it only lasts a millisecond and the current is probably somewhere in the micro amps.

The point? Even though the voltage is high in static electricity, because there is so little flow of current you are really looking at almost no power in watts. Maybe even less than a watt of power there, idk. Not a bad idea though, that's forward thinking.
what's the connection between nitrogen and electricity? because if when lighting strikes it deposits nitrogen in the soil then is there anyway to turn nitrogen into electricity? maybe i'm just real high and brainstorming but that shit sounds really expensive:hug:
 

macdadyabc

Well-Known Member
Mac, I like where your head is at. I'm just exploring your idea so please don't think I'm being critical.

Just because the inverter is rated at 7000 watts doesn't mean it requires that much to operate or that your car is capable of producing that. It will only draw enough current to power whatever you have plugged into it, and if you exceed the power that the alternator is producing, it will just draw off the battery. That is assuming that you have it wire directly to your battery. If it's plugged in to your cigarette lighter you'll be limited to the 15 amps or whatever fuse you have in there. In fact, your car is definitely not capable of producing 7000 watts. Let me explain.

My car, a civic, has a 55 amp alternator. 55 amps at 12 volts = 660 watts. Now you can change the voltage which will change the amperage and you can invert from DC to AC, but the wattage will not increase because the inverter doesn't produce more power, it just inverts the power that your alternator supplies to it. You also pay a tax with any of these conversions because none of them are 100% efficient.

Admittedly, I have a small car so I looked up a Chevy Silverado and they have alternators in the 150 amp range. Even with a 150 amp alternator at 12 volts you're only making 1800 watts.

For more reference, I looked up generators. Consider this. A DeWalt 7000 watt generator has a 13 horsepower engine. Do you think you can produce 13 horsepower? I know I can't.

And all of these alternator output ratings are at 3,000 RPM. Remember that your car alternator runs on a belt that spins it twice as fast as your engine. 100 RPM's is a pretty reasonable cadence, so you're going to need to gear the thing at 30:1 to get the alternator spinning at 3000 RPM's. With that gearing, it's going to be quite hard to pedal. I think you might be seriously underestimating how hard it would be to spin the thing at 3000 RPM for an hour. That might even be beyond Lance Armstrong hard.

But I still think you should try it. At least it's some green energy. See what you can do and how much power you can get out of it.
thank you very much for the info, and not bashing my idea. I know that the alternater would have to be going around 3,000 rpm to make enough charge, so ITS NOT IMPOSSIBLE. The only limiting factor on this idea is the human element, because yes, it would be extremely hard to pedal that fast on an unmodified gear bike. I know i can build a machine with gears and long levers for lots of leverage and have it put out 3,000 rpm. I have built, fixed, and restored alot of different engines from cars, boats, and motorcyles and taught myself to weld, construct, and basically everything i know about creating. If i can draw a blueprint of my idea in my notebook, then i can build it. I dont pay attention to the useless stuff in highschool( about 80% useless shit i will never need to think about in my life ever), but instead, i like to learn hands on stuff and life skills . + rep for being nice.:weed:
 

cleef

Well-Known Member
thank you very much for the info, and not bashing my idea. I know that the alternater would have to be going around 3,000 rpm to make enough charge, so ITS NOT IMPOSSIBLE. The only limiting factor on this idea is the human element, because yes, it would be extremely hard to pedal that fast on an unmodified gear bike. I know i can build a machine with gears and long levers for lots of leverage and have it put out 3,000 rpm. I have built, fixed, and restored alot of different engines from cars, boats, and motorcyles and taught myself to weld, construct, and basically everything i know about creating. If i can draw a blueprint of my idea in my notebook, then i can build it. I dont pay attention to the useless stuff in highschool( about 80% useless shit i will never need to think about in my life ever), but instead, i like to learn hands on stuff and life skills . + rep for being nice.:weed:
I'm not saying you can't build it, I'm saying it's not possible for the power of a single human to generate 7000 watts, with a bicycle or otherwise.
 

macdadyabc

Well-Known Member
Static electricity, regardless of the fact that its high voltage, will support almost no flow of current. This is the reason you don't die when someone shocks you, the voltage is high enough, but it only lasts a millisecond and the current is probably somewhere in the micro amps.

The point? Even though the voltage is high in static electricity, because there is so little flow of current you are really looking at almost no power in watts. Maybe even less than a watt of power there, idk. Not a bad idea though, that's forward thinking.
so 0 watts is not a bad idea, but 200 watts is inneficient and not forward thinking? wtf? hypocrite
 

TheDankness

Well-Known Member
so 0 watts is not a bad idea, but 200 watts is inneficient and not forward thinking? wtf? hypocrite
Duuuuuude give it a fucking rest...:wall:

Maybe you should spend your time building that Schwinn power plant you've been raving about. I bet all those 10' plants in your greenhouse are just starved for that massive 200 watter you plan on lighting them with.

I'm just saying, you might as well do something productive, you know, other than continually pestering me.:finger:
 
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