• On mySimon: Remington Ms2-390 Electric Shaver
September 4, 2009 1:05 PM PDT

Charger lets you bike for power, not just health

by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore
  • Font size
  • Print
  • 29 comments

The BioLogic FreeCharge comes in a tiny silicone-encased box that hooks to your generator hub to transfer your body's power into your iPhone.

(Credit: Dahon)

Every year at the Multnomah County Bike Fair in Portland, Ore., someone brings a bike hooked up to a blender and lets people pedal their way to their smoothie of choice. Sometimes the simplest, most obvious ideas are also the most brilliant.

So it comes as no surprise that far lighter, more portable charging devices are being designed to fit on bicycle generator hubs. Folding-bike maker Dahon has just unveiled its Biologic FreeCharge at the Eurobike Fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and it has the cycling world all atwitter.

The FreeCharge connects to any dyno hub on the market and charges a small gadget (iPod, cell phone, GPS unit, etc.) by transferring some of the energy your body generates pumping away on your bike to a high-capacity battery, which in turn directs a steady current to said small gadget. A simple silicone casing both secures the unit to the bike and seals the charger (although being zapped by the charger might give one that extra push to continue powering the device).

It remains unclear whether the FreeCharge has the capacity to power these devices as quickly as a 120-volt outlet does--a rate that likely also depends on how fast one pedals. Regardless, an iPhone takes around three hours to fully charge, so unless you're touring the countryside (for which this gadget would be perfect), it's more likely that this has more practical use for smaller top-off charges.

The BioLogic FreeCharge should be available for around $99 in March.

Elizabeth Armstrong Moore is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Ore. She has contributed to Wired magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, and public radio. Her semi-obscure hobbies include unicycling, slacklining, hula-hooping, scuba diving, billiards, Sudoku, Magic the Gathering, and classical piano. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET.
Recent posts from Crave
Kid-friendly headphones
Moto Cliq gets software update
A necktie for music-loving commuters
Everything you need to know about buying a laptop this holiday season
Gimmicks are the new megapixels
On Call: All about the Droid
Twitter founder formally unveils 'Square' project
AT&T now has 'voice mail to text'
Add a Comment (Log in or register) (29 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
by Jourdy288 September 4, 2009 1:46 PM PDT
It's about time! I love to hear about technology like this- why plug it into a wall? Plug it into yourself! I think that human powered is going to be the way to go, you won't have to worry so much about losing power, looking for an outlet, you ARE the outlet. Again, ingenious.
Reply to this comment
by jaguar717 September 4, 2009 8:27 PM PDT
These are gimmicks, not actually viable pursuits. Plugging into "yourself" isn't going to be the way to go because we happen to be pretty efficient machines--there just isn't that much excess energy available, even when we're exhausting ourselves at our physical limits (and almost none when we're at "idle").

Contrary to what the article states, it's not unclear at all whether this thing can power devices like an outlet can. The basic facts say it's no comparison. A seasoned athlete is lucky to sustain a couple hundred watts of output for any legitimate amount of time, so your typical rider probably struggles to do 100. At any cruising speed that would generate that, 90%-95% is going towards wind resistance, and you still have to overcome all the friction of the bike itself.

I'd be very surprised if you could take more than 5 watts of mechanical power away without it becoming a serious drag on your biking, so you might have a fraction of that left (2 watts?) once the conversions and efficiency losses are factored in. If an iphone pulls 6-10 volts at 1amp from the wall, that's 6-10 watts. That would probably take 15-40 watts of mechanical drag to generate, which would be like riding with a flat.
by wangbang September 4, 2009 10:29 PM PDT
jaguar717, you make no sense. You're a perfect example of the typical dweeb who tries to prove his points solely from book examples rather than real world experience. If you're going on a bike ride, why not keep your iPhone charged? Your riding the friggin bike anyway. And your idea that somehow this little charger will cause so much resistance that it would be like riding with a flat tire is sheer stupidity.
by jaguar717 September 4, 2009 11:31 PM PDT
I didn't say you couldn't charge it. There are bike-mounted generators out there, but they're generally used to run very low power devices like LED headlights. That means, short of some fantastic breakthrough, this is another human-powered TRICKLE charger.

I'm not disputing that you can generate a very tiny current; I'm disputing you'll get anywhere near the power a wall outlet provides.

If you want "real world experience", look up some of these devices and you'll find that, even at a couple volts and a fraction of an amp, you do in fact feel the drag from them. If you want "sheer stupidity", how about statements like "your riding the friggin bike anyway". There's no free lunch or free energy--you sound like one of those NPR callers who says we should just put mini windmill generators on our cars. You're driving through the wind anyway right?
by cnettr September 5, 2009 2:42 AM PDT
@jaguar717: standard USB power maxes out at 2.5watt (5 volt, 500ma) This is the technology that iPhone uses. It matches well your conservative estimates of 2% efficiency of the generator :) It looks like according to your numbers the devices will charge even at a rather relaxed pace!

Here's a few numbers estimating human body power production during different activities:

"Broken into usable terms, waiting to be harvested are 81 watts from a sleeping person, 128 from a soldier standing at ease, 163 from a walking person, 407 from a briskly walking person, 1,048 from a long-distance runner, and 1,630 from a sprinter, according to the center."

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/body_power_011128-1.html
by jaguar717 September 5, 2009 7:07 AM PDT
The iphone may slow charge via usb (which was never made for charging), but its normal draw from the wall is a full amp at 6-10 volts.

The article you reference is a future-tech hypothetical that just multiplies a theoretical yield by your body's total metabolic output. That makes little sense because the vast majority of that energy is simply heat, and the only way to capture that would be to surround yourself with a Carnot engine.

The amounts of actual mechanical energy a person can generate are well studied, and much much lower. Again, if you read about any of the bike generators that already exist, you'll find that what seems like "too little to notice" actually equates to quite noticeable drag to get enough of a trickle for low-power devices like LEDs.

As a kid I was always fascinated by "free" power in the form of wind up radios, those nifty flash lights you shake back and forth, and portable solar panels. Then I learned some physics, and realized that when you're dealing with multiple orders of magnitude, you can't just assume that a continuous tiny output will add up. The whole point of the industrial revolution was the ability to do 100, 100,000, or 100,000,000 times the work any person could ever do manually, even if he never slept.

That's why your bike charger won't ever approach the output of an outlet, or cover the portion of your electric bill your workout costs, and why those shaky flashlights take 90 seconds of vigorous shaking for 5 minutes of miserly runtime.
by steve5200 September 6, 2009 6:55 AM PDT
Jaguar, you are right on with your analysis. When I was a kid back in the seventies, my dad had a little generator on his bike that ran the headlight. (This tech is not new or exciting to me). This little generator produced a very noticeable drag. So much so in fact that I rarely used it because it made you work so much harder to keep the bike going. Using one of these to charge your ipod is not particularly exciting. Charging it at home uses such a negligible amount of energy that this is not going to make any real difference at all with energy conservation. I am all about conserving energy (my wife drives a prius and I drive a yaris) but give me a break. This is not going to help anything.
by abundantsnotbob September 6, 2009 4:16 PM PDT
@jaguar717
Humans are inefficient
by Ryan_Phx September 4, 2009 2:53 PM PDT
There will be a certain group of green activists that love things like this, but they just aren't practical. They simply don't generate enough power to be worth it for most people. It will be a niche item at best--and there's nothing wrong with that.
Reply to this comment
by nixermac September 4, 2009 4:07 PM PDT
you don't really see the benefit , do you? I want to have charger on my elliptical so that when I am burning them calories, i can use it to power my iPhone while watching CNBC, CNN and all other channels while on it. And when I go mountain biking, I want my iPhone to be juiced up for the the GPS tracker so that I can track back. Why should I have to depend on a huge battery when I am out there biking. And believe me there are hundreds like me in my town. I wouldn't call that niche.
by chlimouj September 4, 2009 4:58 PM PDT
"hundreds" like you in your town? Yes, that is a niche market.
by jaguar717 September 4, 2009 8:02 PM PDT
And even if you're watching CNN's coverage of the latest "green" fad on a tiny LCD tv, it's still using far more power than it would take to fully charge your iphone. Ditto for the lights in the room and your AC.

When you're talking about orders of magnitude, "every little bit" just doesn't count.
by DrAlexJ September 4, 2009 2:54 PM PDT
Agreed. I'm amused by this. Now there needs to be one for just running/walking or something. Technology that supports less sedentary lifestyles are usually approved of in my book.
Reply to this comment
by jaguar717 September 4, 2009 9:59 PM PDT
You can get watches that have a one-way winding mechanism so that your body movement keeps them running, but you'd be hard pressed to power much more than that.
by EvanSei September 4, 2009 11:28 PM PDT
this is great for people that already do allot of cycling, but one concern I have is does this generate enough power to actually charge your device or at least maintain the battery if not how much does it slow the battery discharge. I want them to install something like this in pants so when you are walking you are generating power, that way no matter what you do weather it be walking,jogging,cycling or whatever as long as your legs are moving and your pants are on power is generated that would be neat but still it would have the same concerns
Reply to this comment
by scifitechgeek September 5, 2009 12:02 AM PDT
Really don't care about the real bike or bicycle charger, what I want is an exercise bike at home that stores and recycles the burned calories into electricity efficiently. Not necessarily to a battery only, maybe back into a home's power, or some other innovative system. I'm not an engineer so the issue whether the power generated is worth something in terms of lowering the power bill needs to be worked out.
Reply to this comment
by jaguar717 September 5, 2009 3:03 AM PDT
If you're in reasonable condition (not obese or a pro athlete), and you're talking about producing power for a long time vs. just a burst, call it 100 watts. Let's use 200 as an upper estimate for shorter workouts or down the road when your workouts have been paying off.

3 hours of working out will buy you 3 hours of a single 100 watt light bulb, minus the efficiency costs of converting mechanical work to electrical energy, transporting it, storing it, converting it to the correct phase, etc.

If you want to translate it into money saved, we need kilowatt hours. 100 watt workouts will give you a kilowatt in 10 hours; 200 watts would give you that in 5. Electricity ranges in costs from about 6 cents/kwh in the free states to about 14 in the most regulated urban ones.

So every 5-10 hours of workouts might earn you a very optimistic 3-7 cents of electricity after efficiency losses. Put another way, you could keep a radio running during your workout, but not even keep the room lit or cover the energy it took to make the coffee that got your awake enough for your daily workout session.
by nicmart September 5, 2009 5:49 AM PDT
Don't these "top-off" charges -- more shallow charging cycles -- actually reduce the life span of a battery? If so, that would mean more energy used for battery production.
Reply to this comment
by sharpestsharpy September 5, 2009 6:57 AM PDT
I've wanted one of these for years. I go on cycling and camping holidays and can be away from mains power for days, even weeks. I'd love to take a gps on holiday with me, but the battery just won't hack it. If the gps was running off my generator then battery life wouldn't be an issue.

My generator powers my front light, which has a 3 watt bulb, and it's at full brightness at about 8mph, so I recon that there is plenty of power for a gps or an iPod.

That said, I can't see any point in having this kind of charger if you have regular access to another power source.
Reply to this comment
by camp88 September 5, 2009 1:56 PM PDT
I want one to run my iPhone's bikelite app.
Reply to this comment
by crunkykd September 5, 2009 8:23 PM PDT
I do not think this device was intended to be an alternative to your wall socket power in your home. Nor was it intended to reduce your electric power bill. It was intended to solve power needs while out and about riding your bike. As such, I think it does it quite well. Your typical bike dynamo produces 3 watts power. Your cellphone consumes 1 watt while you're talking, and near nothing otherwise. Your GPS unit requires about 0.125 watts. Your MP3 player requires 0.025 watts. And pretty bright LED headlights for your bike need 3 watts. Yes, you do feel some drag while pedaling. But so what? You're pedaling a bike, not twisting a hand throttle. You're supposed to be putting out effort - it's called exercise.

Dynamo bike lights are mandatory in europe - intended to reduce collisions at night. If we can make the biking experience more pleasant by enabling more comfort activities like running the latest electronic gadgets, then I'm all for it.
Reply to this comment
by dredgerie September 5, 2009 9:14 PM PDT
if someone could build one of these to withstand the extra abuse caused by a motorcycle, I would buy one.
Reply to this comment
by fritter36 September 6, 2009 10:10 AM PDT
How about someone makes one that charges only when you're braking or coasting downhill? No extra work, and you still get something out of it.
Reply to this comment
by freemarket--2008 September 8, 2009 6:40 AM PDT
That's called regenerative braking. Most electric vehicles these days have it.

I'm not sure how cost effective it would be on a bike, but perhaps just a remote engage cable for the normal dynamo would work. Perhaps you could even tie it into the brake controls.
by jskrenes September 7, 2009 10:01 PM PDT
I'm interested. If they did a BOGO, I'd get one and hook it to my front wheel to power my phone, and one for the rear wheel to power an antenna booster. For the record, I do bike touring, so this would be perfect for me. It would either do a slow charge or slow the rate of discharge. Either way, on a tour that could make the difference between having enough juice in a pinch and not.
Reply to this comment
by rgweiss September 8, 2009 5:31 PM PDT
With all the iPhone APPS available for Bicyclists such as Bike Computer or any of the GPS navagation APPS which suck juice out of the iPhone in a 4 hour ride, I think this is a neat idea. However, I would like to see a solar panel in lieu of a generator. :-)
Reply to this comment
by keyesheidi September 23, 2009 1:21 PM PDT
spuds anon.
Reply to this comment
by gelthotic October 19, 2009 12:32 PM PDT
New GelThotic Orthotic Designed For Cyclists Reduces Foot Pain

Most cyclists have encountered pain in the buttocks, back, knees and legs, but increasingly, foot pain is on the rise. There is growing evidence that the downward pressure exerted in cycling can encourage such foot problems as plantar fasciitis, a painful irritation and swelling of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot. Today?s cycling shoes are largely ineffective in addressing foot pain, and available insoles aren?t much better.

For various reasons bicycling shoes are structurally minimal and have been designed to be tight fitting, offering little room for support additions. Most cycling shoes today have removable insoles that are designed for what the manufacturer would call a perfect fit, but provide little, if any true or functional support. They are almost always the lowest cost materials that could be used, and lose what little support they do have in a very short time.


Maximum shock protection in a minimal profile
Orthotics specialist Michael Kendall has studied foot dynamics for more than 20 years, with an emphasis on creating an effective shoe insert that would be effective in the reduction of foot pain while fitting in more types of shoes than almost any other orthotic. His work has included focusing on the relationship between cycling biomechanics and foot pain. The result of 10 years of study is the GelThotic, a revolutionary orthotic designed to authentically support the foot but still fit in bicycling shoes. The GelThotic, constructed of a medical-grade silicone, combines an unparalleled combination of shock absorption, memory and resilience.

In his research, Kendall has discovered that hard surfaces are always detrimental to the human foot, so inserts made from carbon graphite can damage the soft tissue of the foot. The reason is that it cannot be completely or directly matched to the foot, such as in a custom orthotic, so the foot is susceptible to irritation and pressure sensitivity. A foam insole does not deliver enough protection since it will compress, affecting the perfect fit of the adaptive, non-compressible gel. Kendall?s GelThotic is the preferred intermediary since it creates a perfect fit directly against the foot using soft medical grade Silicone. In this way, the power transfer on the downstroke is completely optimized and enhanced.

The cobra-shaped GelThotic insert provides one of the highest levels of shock reduction ever tested, and is designed to fit into the limited space of a bicycling shoe. Its design is the essence of support, yet unlike full insoles that take up the "floor" of the orthotic and the shoe, the GelThotic fits under the existing insole. This allows the studied fit of the shoe and the support of the orthotic to work in tandem.

Cycling and foot pain
The patented minimal design of the GelThotic alleviates pain in the heel, arch and forefoot while controlling pronation (the tendency for the sole of the foot to face more laterally than when standing in the anatomical position). But the GelThotic has been designed to encourage the foot to be held anatomically and biomechanically in a position that minimizes foot pain and pronation.

Most orthotics have little effect on foot correction because the support characteristics are oriented for the heel and ankle which has diminished effect in the toe clip or on the pedal. A fundamental part of its patented design is that the support extends all the way to the forefoot (first ray extension) making it much more effective in the bicycle?s clip.
Further, hard surfaces seem to cause irritation to an already inflamed injury. Typical orthotics or supports may actually further the injury, not only from the poor fit of the shoe holding the orthotic but also from the hard surfaces which aggravate the injury.

The GelThotic is made from pure medical grade silicone which is soft against the skin but has been engineered to have functional medical structure. Placing the GelThotic under the footbed in cycling shoes or on top of the footbeds, prevents toe crowding while creating the shock absorption so important to preventing foot pain. The GelThotic fits both men's and women's shoes. The SRP is $69.95 and is available at many locations or can be purchased directly from FootCare Systems by calling 858.350.1129 or online at footcaresystems.com.
Reply to this comment
by tmiddlem November 10, 2009 1:41 PM PST
What about essentially turning your fork and front wheel into an alternator with copper wire and magnets? Granted someone would likely rip the copper wire off instantly...Also, the bike's front end would be ridiculously heavy, but no friction should be involved.
Reply to this comment
(29 Comments)
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement
advertisement

About Crave

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com

Add this feed to your online news reader

Crave topics

Inside the Apple, er, Microsoft Store

Although Redmond's foray into retail bears a big resemblance to Apple's approach, Microsoft has added some distinctive features to draw casual PC buyers and techies alike.

Big marketing budget drives Moto Droid sales

Verizon and Motorola are spending big bucks--$100 million--on marketing the new smartphone, and it looks like it will pay off with 1 million devices sold by year's end.