Generate Your Own Electricity with A Bicycle (DIY) Survival

Hurricane Sandy left 7 million people without power. Chris Hackett, a Brooklyn-based artist who converts trash into useful objects, wants to help people prepare for the next power outage by teaching the finer points of homemade generator construction. In just under six minutes, he explains how to convert a bicycle and a deep-cycle battery into an electricity source. The author Chris Hackett has been turning trash into treasure for over two decades now.  He’s the co-founder of the Madagascar Institute that was founded in 1998.  The Madagascar Institute has around twenty members who specializes in salvaging abandoned parts by using the as mechanized art pieces.  Mr. Hackett is the current host of the Science Channel’s television show Stuck with Hackett and has been on television shows such as B.I.K.E, Breaking Point and JunkYard Wars .

In the video below Chris walks you through on how to successfully convert the pedel-power of a Bicycle into usable electricity.  Below is a list of material you’ll need to get started.

Materials Required:

1. Deep-cycle battery
2. Inverter
3. Permanent magnet DC motor (scavenged from an electric wheelchair or something similar)
4. Bicycle
5. Metal spindle (to attach to the motor)
6. Scrap-metal frame
7. Charging circuit (Hackett uses the design found here, but also mentions commercial models work fine) 

Note: It may be easier to acquire these materials if you operate an artist collective dedicated to salvage and metalwork, as Hackett does. The whole instructional has a delightfully apocalyptic tone to it. Hackett jokingly recommends the generator because, “there’ll be another hurricane, or snow storm that cuts out our power.