D
Doug Goncz
Guest
After experimenting with a motor/generator and
ultracapacitor bank as an "electric flywheel" on my Peugot
mountain bike, I concentrated on generator operation to make
use of available Pocket PCs, laptops, cell phones, lights,
etc. No conventional generator offers more than around 6 W
at high downhill speed. (That I know of)
My generator is a six pound, four inch diameter, five inch
long Ametek low speed servo motor mounted behind the seat of
my Lightning Thunderbolt in a sleeve of plastic drain pipe.
It is suspended from the seat brace and positioned with ears
bent up from the pipe, drilled, on a bit of M5x0.8 rod
running between the seat stay clamps. Cap nuts on each end
secure the clamps. A hex nut adjacent each ear holds them
but they are not expected to be loaded torquewise.
I've got Nashbar brake/tail lights on the bike now in a pair
for use a brake lever operated turn signals. Soldering
proper length leads to the brake cable operated switches is
easy. Splicing those cables to the existing cables is easy.
Making up a whole new one piece lead set would be hard,
because the lights connect to little aluminum rivets crimped
on the ends of the leads, so I'll just splice them.
I mounted the lights on the motor mount rod. A hex nut is
adjacent each side of each light mount. I didn't use the
mating straps and bosses. I did ream through each mount 3/16
inch to make a tight fit to the rod. Each mount boss is to
the left of the corresponding light module center line. So
on the rod, they are asymmetric; relative to the frame the
lights are centered.
So there are two cap nuts, and six hex nuts in the assembly.
A pic of the prototype shell was sent to Lightning. However,
they probably won't post it as it doesn't really advertise
their bike.
It's at:
ftp://users.aol.com/DGoncz/Bicycle/GeneratorHousing.jpg
The second shell was made more carefully. The ears on the
first shell were under the clamp bolts. Bad choice. That
made for smashed ears and loose seat stays, and under back
pressure starting on a hill, the seat slipped, allowing the
motor to compress the fender against the tire. The fender
was pushed in between the seat back and tire, folding
_double_! but that Lexan Esge fender dinged out OK after it
was retrieved.
Now the cap nuts truly secure the seat stay clamps metal
to metal. One, the left one, is bonded to the rod with
read Lock Tite bearing mount, so with an electric
screwdriver, threading all those hex nuts and light mounts
on the rod is easy. I just put a 3/8 socket on an adapter
on the electric screw driver. Then, as the rod nears the
threaded section of the opposing clamp, I turn the thing
by hand without operating the power switch. The rack mount
bosses, slotted for use as seat stay clamps, are not
aligned, but who would expect Lightning to build the seat
stays in pairs? As far as I can tell, the left and right
seat stays are interchangeable. I push the end of the rod
into the hole while turning and it all draws up without
jamming the threads.
Maybe some 8 mm thumb nuts would have more bite on the rod
(they're thicker than hex nuts). I will order metric cap
nuts and thumb nuts and try that. As is, the mounts aren't
clamped firmly (plastic against steel, no rubber washer) and
perhaps it's best that way, as they could be damaged by
unexpected forces.
Like grabbing around while throwing the bike into Teri's car
after I pooped out on back roads and felt unable to climb
Spring Hill Road and International Drive over Ward's Hill to
the bus stop at Tyson's Corner. I have IGT and sugar does
not refuel my muscles the way it should. Long, easy exercise
is best for me. Hills **** me out and my legs shake. Before
Zyprexa, I wasn't this way.
Jeff and I are doing level laps on Brook Drive today and I'm
measuring my glucose before and after. I'm going to try to
stay in my fat burning zone for an hour.
Anyway, progress continues. There's an AC motor on the front
that will power an 80-135 VAC white LED traffic signal used
in railroads, made and donated by Dialight. The advertised
5/8 shaft is actually 17 mm, so off to Jensen it goes
Tuesday for lathe turning. The AC motor will also power the
cranks for transmission tuning at constant pedal rpm. That's
not necessary since by drilling two holes in a length of 2x4
wood, I was able to brace the ESGE kick stand so it can take
my seated weight. I can tune the FD from the seat, both
screws and the handlebar control cable adjust, and I can
adjust the RD cable from there, too. Adjusting the RD stops
will make use of that motor.
It's heavy with these mods but I did get it on the bus. The
driver helped me hook the front wheel stabilizer bar with
its padded hook over the frame. The front wheel is too small
to interface. We did ten miles with the bike on the bus. No
problems, no damage.
The rear generator, with its sleeve, removes fairly easily
for six quick pounds. The front, strapped to a Nashbar
adjustable stem set at 20 degrees up with a hose clamp, is
harder. The stem is clamped to the FD mount tube. They have
a bit of length above the FD.
There's a Busch and Muller mirror on that tube, too, and a
Nite Rider Universal Mount, with the FD shift cable housing
routed under the clamp screw. Both use rubber strips for a
solid grip.
A tiny, efficient DC-DC converter donated by TI as a product
sample may actually fit _inside_ the motor/generator and
provide 6 VDC on a 2.5 x 5.5 mm jack, which Nite Rider calls
their Sure Lock. I intend to use their Trail Rat with 7.2 W
rather than 10 W bulb as the converter is rated 1.5 A and
that is 9 W, leaving 2.8 W for the Nashbar taillight, more
than enough.
Each uses 2 N cells. The harness cannot deliver power to the
lights, since the lights have five modes and the switch
closure just toggles between five pairs of modes. There off
to on, on to blink, two kinds on blink to on, and I guess
the fifth mode is power off. I can't just install N cell
sized slugs in their battery compartments. I have to wire
them together and they will have to be mounted and removed
together, then plugged into the Sure Lock. I'll probably
have to mount two jacks since the way Nite Rider does it is
plug the headlight into the battery, plug to jack, then add
a jack/plug "tee" for the optional taillight. That tee isn't
available on any adapter cable. We'll see how I fit the tiny
regulator into that brush housing. It takes a small
capacitor as it operates at something like 60 KHz. So the
cap should fit, too. I shaved a four pin header to interface
to the regulator, so it can be glued to the housing on a
machined pad, and the wiring slipped on, without tricky
soldering to its pins.
Well, that's about all that is new on this bike. It's got
the wide range gears and the boom length / chain length
adjuster used for multiple riders will help the system work
right. All 21 gears are available with 10 duplicates. It's
24-35-51 / 34-28-23-19-16-13-11
The gear chart is at
ftp://users.aol.com/DGoncz/Bicycle/Gearing/DoubleStepGearin-
gPossibilities.avi
and is the first frame of that large AVI, but it's not a
standard gear chart. Each row is offset by two steps to more
readily compare the feel of the double shifts in the double
step gear possibilities shown. You may wish to plug the
above numbers into Sheldon Brown's calculator at:
http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/
I do have some trouble steering the SWB Thunderbolt in
24/34. That's a lot lower than their stock of, IIRC 28/28.
However I am still learning to ride this bike and still
changing handlebar and stem positions.
Yours,
Doug Goncz ( ftp://users.aol.com/DGoncz/ )
Read about my physics project at NVCC:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=dgoncz&scoring=d plus
"bicycle", "fluorescent", "inverter", "flywheel",
"ultracapacitor", etc. in the search box
ultracapacitor bank as an "electric flywheel" on my Peugot
mountain bike, I concentrated on generator operation to make
use of available Pocket PCs, laptops, cell phones, lights,
etc. No conventional generator offers more than around 6 W
at high downhill speed. (That I know of)
My generator is a six pound, four inch diameter, five inch
long Ametek low speed servo motor mounted behind the seat of
my Lightning Thunderbolt in a sleeve of plastic drain pipe.
It is suspended from the seat brace and positioned with ears
bent up from the pipe, drilled, on a bit of M5x0.8 rod
running between the seat stay clamps. Cap nuts on each end
secure the clamps. A hex nut adjacent each ear holds them
but they are not expected to be loaded torquewise.
I've got Nashbar brake/tail lights on the bike now in a pair
for use a brake lever operated turn signals. Soldering
proper length leads to the brake cable operated switches is
easy. Splicing those cables to the existing cables is easy.
Making up a whole new one piece lead set would be hard,
because the lights connect to little aluminum rivets crimped
on the ends of the leads, so I'll just splice them.
I mounted the lights on the motor mount rod. A hex nut is
adjacent each side of each light mount. I didn't use the
mating straps and bosses. I did ream through each mount 3/16
inch to make a tight fit to the rod. Each mount boss is to
the left of the corresponding light module center line. So
on the rod, they are asymmetric; relative to the frame the
lights are centered.
So there are two cap nuts, and six hex nuts in the assembly.
A pic of the prototype shell was sent to Lightning. However,
they probably won't post it as it doesn't really advertise
their bike.
It's at:
ftp://users.aol.com/DGoncz/Bicycle/GeneratorHousing.jpg
The second shell was made more carefully. The ears on the
first shell were under the clamp bolts. Bad choice. That
made for smashed ears and loose seat stays, and under back
pressure starting on a hill, the seat slipped, allowing the
motor to compress the fender against the tire. The fender
was pushed in between the seat back and tire, folding
_double_! but that Lexan Esge fender dinged out OK after it
was retrieved.
Now the cap nuts truly secure the seat stay clamps metal
to metal. One, the left one, is bonded to the rod with
read Lock Tite bearing mount, so with an electric
screwdriver, threading all those hex nuts and light mounts
on the rod is easy. I just put a 3/8 socket on an adapter
on the electric screw driver. Then, as the rod nears the
threaded section of the opposing clamp, I turn the thing
by hand without operating the power switch. The rack mount
bosses, slotted for use as seat stay clamps, are not
aligned, but who would expect Lightning to build the seat
stays in pairs? As far as I can tell, the left and right
seat stays are interchangeable. I push the end of the rod
into the hole while turning and it all draws up without
jamming the threads.
Maybe some 8 mm thumb nuts would have more bite on the rod
(they're thicker than hex nuts). I will order metric cap
nuts and thumb nuts and try that. As is, the mounts aren't
clamped firmly (plastic against steel, no rubber washer) and
perhaps it's best that way, as they could be damaged by
unexpected forces.
Like grabbing around while throwing the bike into Teri's car
after I pooped out on back roads and felt unable to climb
Spring Hill Road and International Drive over Ward's Hill to
the bus stop at Tyson's Corner. I have IGT and sugar does
not refuel my muscles the way it should. Long, easy exercise
is best for me. Hills **** me out and my legs shake. Before
Zyprexa, I wasn't this way.
Jeff and I are doing level laps on Brook Drive today and I'm
measuring my glucose before and after. I'm going to try to
stay in my fat burning zone for an hour.
Anyway, progress continues. There's an AC motor on the front
that will power an 80-135 VAC white LED traffic signal used
in railroads, made and donated by Dialight. The advertised
5/8 shaft is actually 17 mm, so off to Jensen it goes
Tuesday for lathe turning. The AC motor will also power the
cranks for transmission tuning at constant pedal rpm. That's
not necessary since by drilling two holes in a length of 2x4
wood, I was able to brace the ESGE kick stand so it can take
my seated weight. I can tune the FD from the seat, both
screws and the handlebar control cable adjust, and I can
adjust the RD cable from there, too. Adjusting the RD stops
will make use of that motor.
It's heavy with these mods but I did get it on the bus. The
driver helped me hook the front wheel stabilizer bar with
its padded hook over the frame. The front wheel is too small
to interface. We did ten miles with the bike on the bus. No
problems, no damage.
The rear generator, with its sleeve, removes fairly easily
for six quick pounds. The front, strapped to a Nashbar
adjustable stem set at 20 degrees up with a hose clamp, is
harder. The stem is clamped to the FD mount tube. They have
a bit of length above the FD.
There's a Busch and Muller mirror on that tube, too, and a
Nite Rider Universal Mount, with the FD shift cable housing
routed under the clamp screw. Both use rubber strips for a
solid grip.
A tiny, efficient DC-DC converter donated by TI as a product
sample may actually fit _inside_ the motor/generator and
provide 6 VDC on a 2.5 x 5.5 mm jack, which Nite Rider calls
their Sure Lock. I intend to use their Trail Rat with 7.2 W
rather than 10 W bulb as the converter is rated 1.5 A and
that is 9 W, leaving 2.8 W for the Nashbar taillight, more
than enough.
Each uses 2 N cells. The harness cannot deliver power to the
lights, since the lights have five modes and the switch
closure just toggles between five pairs of modes. There off
to on, on to blink, two kinds on blink to on, and I guess
the fifth mode is power off. I can't just install N cell
sized slugs in their battery compartments. I have to wire
them together and they will have to be mounted and removed
together, then plugged into the Sure Lock. I'll probably
have to mount two jacks since the way Nite Rider does it is
plug the headlight into the battery, plug to jack, then add
a jack/plug "tee" for the optional taillight. That tee isn't
available on any adapter cable. We'll see how I fit the tiny
regulator into that brush housing. It takes a small
capacitor as it operates at something like 60 KHz. So the
cap should fit, too. I shaved a four pin header to interface
to the regulator, so it can be glued to the housing on a
machined pad, and the wiring slipped on, without tricky
soldering to its pins.
Well, that's about all that is new on this bike. It's got
the wide range gears and the boom length / chain length
adjuster used for multiple riders will help the system work
right. All 21 gears are available with 10 duplicates. It's
24-35-51 / 34-28-23-19-16-13-11
The gear chart is at
ftp://users.aol.com/DGoncz/Bicycle/Gearing/DoubleStepGearin-
gPossibilities.avi
and is the first frame of that large AVI, but it's not a
standard gear chart. Each row is offset by two steps to more
readily compare the feel of the double shifts in the double
step gear possibilities shown. You may wish to plug the
above numbers into Sheldon Brown's calculator at:
http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/
I do have some trouble steering the SWB Thunderbolt in
24/34. That's a lot lower than their stock of, IIRC 28/28.
However I am still learning to ride this bike and still
changing handlebar and stem positions.
Yours,
Doug Goncz ( ftp://users.aol.com/DGoncz/ )
Read about my physics project at NVCC:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=dgoncz&scoring=d plus
"bicycle", "fluorescent", "inverter", "flywheel",
"ultracapacitor", etc. in the search box
