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Friday, February 7, 2014

Stationary Bike Generator from Washing Machine

Stationary Bike Generator from Washing Machine





When our old washing machine died, I couldn't bear to throw out the motor. So I did some digging and it turns out that they make ideal power generators. This instructable documents how I made an excersize bike that can power any household electrical appliance (depending of course on how hard you can pedal). It can hold up my old 21" CRT TV and a 50W pedestal fan without too much effort.
I either had all of the parts or was able to scrounge them for free, so the whole project cost me nothing. It requires basic soldering and welding skills, but no fancy circuitry knowledge is needed.

Materials:
  • old washing machine motor
  • old bicycle
  • bridge rectifier
  • old UPS and battery
  • 20 ga wire
  • angle iron
  • cheap multimeter
Tools:
Links:
The washer I already had, but can be easily found for cheap or free if they're broken. The motors are quite robust, so it is usually another part of the machine that breaks first. The brands that may have the right kind of SmartDrive motors in them are: Fisher & Paykel, LG, and Whirlpool. The most common (in NZ) are the F & P and they say "SmartDrive" right on the button panel. 
 a helpful resource for identifying types of washers
 how to tell what kind of motor you have
 how to get the motor out of the washing machine. Note: I didn't remove the shaft or seals/bearings from the drum, I just cut out the section of the drum that housed the shaft assembly. See 1st photo.

The bike frame I picked up for free at the Green Bike Trust

The UPS and batteries I got for free from my local computer repair shop. It is often cheaper for companies to buy a whole new UPS rather than replace dead batteries, so old ones can usually be found in abundance. This is how to rejuvenate old UPS batteries.

The bridge rectifier I pulled out of an old car alternator I had lying around.

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