CCAT's Pedal Power Television/VCR
Project by Bart Orlando and HSU Students, Written by Ben Erickson

The Pedal Power TV/VCR consists of a recliner style bike hooked up to a 24V DC generator that feeds electricity into a small motorcycle battery. The DC/AC TV/VCR (built for RVs and trade shows, it uses 60-75 Watts) draws its energy from the battery, thus ensuring that the electricity is "clean," not "dirtied" by the variation in voltage one would get from pedalling harder and softer with each stroke and drawing the juice directly from the generator.

There is an amperage meter that tells you the difference between the Amperage going into the battery and the amperage used by the TV/VCR. The TV/VCR uses about 65 watts or 5.5 amps. Two people pedaling in turns can comfortably run the TV/VCR during a full length movie. A lone person can operate it for approximately thirty minutes, but your butt starts to hurt and you build up quite a sweat. Again, design are on their way, but it is a relatively simple set-up if you know how to wire equipment. If you can't tell a positive from a negative lead, you should proceed with caution.

This image shows a converted excercise bike, which is mounted to a platform. While a person pedals, the energy is transfered from mecahnical to electrical energy via an alternator.