Which Bike Generator is right for you?
There are 3 types of bicycle DC generators to choose from
Belt drive style - using a pulley and a belt around a rear bike wheel with the tire removed.
Rubber roller style - used on exercise bikes.
Metal roller style - which is driven by the rear wheel of a bicycle. No need to remove tire.
Belt Drive
Rubber Roller
Belt Drive and Rubber Roller Specifications
BENCHMARK / TEST DATA
This data was recorded using a WattsVIEW power monitor while charging a 12V Deep Cycle Duracell Battery Powerpack during a one-hour charging session.
For more information see the FAQ WEBPAGE. If you want to buy a generator stand ready to go out of the box then go HERE.
BENCH MARKING / TEST RESULTS
The data below shows actual data from a belt – pulley generator during a one hour bike riding session. Remember that Watts = Volts X Amps. So the 2nd chart below (green chart) is Watts which is simply the product of the red (Amps) and white (Volts) lines of the first chart.
What some people do not realize is that a DC bike generator dynamo can be used to charge a solar generator. The tricky part of it is finding out the maximum Voltage allowed into the solar generator and setting up your generator so that it DOES NOT EXCEED that maximum Voltage. An easy way to find this out is to opne a search on Amazon or Google or your favorite search enginer and type the model of the solar generator along with the words Specifications PDF. Then look for Input charge Voltage There are three ways a pedal power bicycle generator can be configured to charge a solar generator :
If you do a search for the phrase “Solar Generator” you will see hundreds of options like these shown HERE. A solar generator is just a fancy name for a (usually Lithium) battery portable power station that has a built in charge controller that can handle a wide input Votlage from a solar panel. A normal portable battery powerpack power station just takes a 12V DC input.
OPTION 1 – A single 300W PPG-R300 or 300W PPG-B300 generator will put out a max Voltage of about 50VDC. So to be safe you would do a search for a solar generator that could handle a charge OCT or maximum input Voltage of 60V DC or higher and connect your bike generator to it. HINT: The higher the charge Voltage then the higher the cost of the solar generator. An example of a high input Voltage For example the 1500WH Bluetti Maxoak can handle a max input charge Voltage of 68VDC. It costs $799. If you go with a two way dual 500W generator it can hit a peak of 100V DC so you would need something like the Bluetti AC200 Max that can handle a max input charge Voltage of 145V DC. This costs $1,899
OPTION 2 – Use a much less expensive solar generator along with an over Voltage protection module.
This will open up the connection between the bike generator and the solar generator power station whenever you start to pedal too fast and exceed the max Voltage of your solar generator. For example I purchased the FlashFish 200W for $129.00. It has a lot of power for such a small size. It takes a max input charge DC Votlage of 24V. To protect it from being damaged by the bike generator I installed an NC25A-12V unit which opens up the relay connection at about 16V DC When pedaling at 50V DC Output on the bike generator. The reason why the NC25A is so special is that handles a max input Voltage of 140V DC so that when it opens up to protet your solar generator it does not get destroyed by a huge Voltage spike. This means the Voltage going into the FlashFish will never go over 16V DC.