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Hand-Powered Hardware?
Posted by
timothy
on Sun Mar 07, 2004 07:33 PM
from the for-the-coming-apocalypse dept.
from the for-the-coming-apocalypse dept.
quiddity writes "Following the Goofy USB Devices post, one has to know what can be self-powered when the batteries all die. You can handcrank your Gameboy, recharge your cellphone or pda (even grandpa), wind up a webserver (with minions, a beowulf..), see in the dark, and project a movie. What else can we propel through the next blackout/apocalypse?" Some of these devices have have been on Slashdot before; what cool hand-powered tech hasn't been and should be?
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Masturbation (Score:5, Funny)
So that's what they're calling it these days...........
Re:Masturbation (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Masturbation (Score:5, Funny)
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Universal Battery Replacement? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not an academic question -- we lost power for 5 days last December and again for 4 days last January.
Re:Universal Battery Replacement? (Score:5, Informative)
There isn't much you can't power with this type of setup.
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Re:Universal Battery Replacement? (Score:4, Interesting)
I would also think about using voltage regulators with decent heatsinks rather than resistors, regulators tend to be more forgiving than resistors.
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Re:Universal Battery Replacement? (Score:4, Interesting)
But, the parent actually said a hand crank battery replacement... oops. I would think that a battery would be a better choice in this situation in order to "make the charge last". A typical cap isn't going to do much to keep something running if you step off the bike, right?
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Re:Universal Battery Replacement? (Score:4, Insightful)
One of the many things you could run is a battery charger.
> a hand crank battery replacement... oops. I would think that a battery would be a better choice
So your plan is to replace a battery with - a battery. Not exactly a "hand crank battery replacement" is it?
> A typical cap isn't going to do much to keep something running if you step off the bike, right?
No, it will help smooth the rectifier output while you are on the bike. Like the parent said.
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Re:Universal Battery Replacement? (Score:4, Funny)
sort of keep the magic smoke trapped in a continuing cycle.
Might have some loss to heat, and I would use REALLY good conducters, to avoid that whole "lightning bolt" problem.
it's not technically a battery, and as a added benny, you could do neat light shows.
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Re:Universal Battery Replacement? (Score:5, Funny)
You just need a coconut shell!
As a matter of fact, there are lots of things you can do with:
and of course, Some Basic Ingenuity... [russell-johnson.com]
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Re:Universal Battery Replacement? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Universal Battery Replacement? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Hand Power PC? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hand Power PC? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hand Power PC? (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally, I still want to get back to my childhood, and have an electronic device that was powered by a pull-string, like those little "The cow goes 'moo'" toys. Of course, I used to break the string in a month or so. Maybe if they used Spectra instead of nylon...
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Re:Hand Power PC? (Score:4, Interesting)
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I burn Beowulf to get energy.. (Score:4, Funny)
Every day, I toss in the pallets of discarded Beowulf pallets from geeks who though it told you how to build a redundant array of inexpensive computers (RAIC).
I remember... (Score:5, Interesting)
Apparently these countries suffer from a lack of information about weather patterns, which would greatly assist with the crop planting, and which is provided by the hand-cranked radio
An example of geeky inventing that actually has practial application, rare on slashdot
Re:I remember... (Score:5, Interesting)
The generator starts to sound like it's grinding itself to metallic powder in fairly short order. I gave away one of them, so I don't know its fate now, but the AM/FM/shortwave one sits unused. It didn't take very long for whatever governs it so that the spring doesn't immediately unwind to break, so that if you wind it up, the knob turns at amazing speed, the mechanism sounds like you should do a bad imitation of Scotty and yell "She's gonna blow for sure, Captain!", and it unwinds itself in about one white-knuckled minute.
The radio circuitry is constrained by the power source and the need to not consume it quickly. No doubt ingle-conversion, poor image rejection. Analog dial that you can't tune with certainty, just like in the old days! The sound quality, though is very nice (which for SW means wide selectivity--ouch...).
I hasten to add that Freeplay has some far more sophisticated radio products these days, vide the Summit [freeplay.net] receiver.
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Re:I remember... (Score:3, Informative)
Here is a link [techempower.net] to an article about the bike-and-linux powered computer they developed. It is pretty cool.
Here is a link [slashdot.org] to a previous slashdot story on the machine. There were a lot of dumb comments previously on this story for some reason.
Here is a link [jhai.org] to a page on the Jhai Foundation's web
Wired story about inventor (Score:3, Informative)
That radio was distributed in war zones and refugee camps.
By the way that's a great article on subject, i.e. personally powered devices
How many hands? (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe a power-generating keyboard and mouse, so the faster you type and move your mouse, the longer your hand-powered PC will stay on.
Re:How many hands? (Score:3, Interesting)
Reckon you can generate 420W through keystrokes though?
Freeplay (Score:5, Informative)
I have this radio [freeplay.net], designed by Freeplay that has a wind-up charger and solar panel. Works on FM, MW, SW and LW with a 30 station memory. Its not bad, works well and with good sound quality. It also doesn't look dorky like some of their earlier models.
MW still in use... (Score:3, Informative)
Where do you live? The US?
There are quite a lot of MW stations in the UK; BBC Radio 5 Live, some commercial stuff using old BBC frequencies (for BBC stations where FM coverage is now almost universal); and there are also local stations which nowadays use their FM and MW bands for totally different services (local MW tends to the MOR/retro stuff, FM for more modern music).
LW is... not much used
as in the blackout of 1977 (Score:3, Interesting)
What else can we propel through the next blackout/apocalypse? I'm going old school [abc.net.au] and cranking up the old 8 tracks with some Barry White and my wife fsck all that other stuff. I'm contributing to the kids... segment lub dem kids
Re:as in the blackout of 1977 (Score:3, Funny)
Real shame about that missing period...
Get paid to view porn! (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm... (Score:5, Interesting)
limitation (Score:4, Informative)
So don't even think p4 ok?
maybe an via mini-itx or something
Re:limitation (Score:5, Interesting)
Wrong: the average Jow Blow who doesn't smoke and exercise somewhat regularly puts out between 75W and 120W for 2 hours. Well trained folks can put out 200/300W, and extremely well trained people (thing Lance Armstrong rushing to the finish line) up to 1kW peak for a short time.
The Gossamer Albatros [rtpnet.org] for example, was powered by a 40Kg athlete woman who put out an average of 300/350W for more than 3 hours continuously, which explains why she was pretty knackered when she arrived.
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Someone ought to patent this idea! (Score:4, Funny)
I think it would be really cool if someone would invent a two wheeled electric scooter, with a seat, and add pedals, so you could charge the battery. That way, instead of constantly going home to recharge, you could just hop on, turn the pedals, and ride it all day...
Hand-Cranked Generator (Score:5, Interesting)
We were thinking of selling it on the street during the blackout last summer, but decided that its nostalgic value would end up outweighing any monetary compensation we would gain.
Re:Hand-Cranked Generator (Score:4, Funny)
Did you friend manage to get rid of the cramps in his arm?
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blackout/apocalypse situation (Score:3, Insightful)
2-and how many of these gizmos would be killed by a nuclear EMP anyway?
Low power budget (Score:4, Informative)
One problem is the low power budget [green-trust.org] for human-powered systems. The average fit adult can only crank out about 75 W. (No specs on the power output of the average computer user). Even a athletic cyclist only puts out about 200W.
A cyclist should be able to power a laptop, but running much more than that would be difficult.
Mice power (Score:4, Funny)
Considering how people flail and pound on buttons (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Considering how people flail and pound on butto (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Considering how people flail and pound on butto (Score:3, Informative)
oo difficult to convert energy in the form of pressure into something the device can use. This is the same reason we don't "hook batteries up to lightning rods", as many electricity novices suggest. The equipment required to convert from a megavolt spark to a sustained output at a reasonable voltage is too
primate power (Score:3, Interesting)
Not new technology... (Score:3, Funny)
And oh yes, hand-cranked ice cream freezers never fail to produce a product that beats store-bought hands down. :-)
Even Better Idea.. (Score:3, Funny)
oh.. hang on a minute..
Re:Hand Powered Computer (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Wind-up flashlight? (Score:3, Informative)
And then some (Score:3, Interesting)
While I'm on the subject, pretty much any device that you use infreqently and for short periods is a good candidate for cranking. IMHO, those noisy, em-field producing, plug stealing or battery eating electric toothbrushes they have these days are really good candidates for this - twist the handle until it stops, and it brushes your teeth for one minut
Re:Four (Score:3, Funny)
1 + 3 + 1 ?
*has a flash back to the movie Clue. "1 + 2 + 1 + 1"*
Re:Telephone line powered stuff (Score:4, Funny)
Love the anecdote though...
"Last time I was in LA, I had to walk down eight flights of stairs with two big bags to check out of the hotel that had been without power twice during my stay. The vibrator would have really helped my muscles after that stressful hotel stay!"
There's muscles down there, but c'mon, they weren't worked hard from carrying bags.
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Re:Hand Powered Fire Starter (Score:3, Informative)
It'll work if you have dry tinder, basically it is a iron and flint thingy. I remember using them as a kid trying to light paper; took awhile, but could be made to work. The flint wears out eventually, though. I think a Zippo would be easier.
And why does this thread remind me of a Prodigy song?
Re:Battery-less, shakable flashlight (Score:4, Insightful)
Sorry, I couldn't help but make fun of you for stating it like it's something interesting or uncommon. Virtually ALL of the world's energy comes from changing kinetic energy into electricity using a dynamo or generator -- which use, you guessed it, Faraday's principle of induction. There are a few exceptions, such as photovoltaic cells and thermocouples, but those are absolutely marginal at best. Grid-scale solar power doesn't use photovoltaic cells, but typically heats water into steam to turn turbines. Thermocouples have never been widely deployed.
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