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Goald | 10-02-2008 01:14 AM
Possible Power Source Investment http://www.modernoutpost.com/gear/details/fp_weza.php The Freeplay FreeCharge WEZA is a versatile, robust energy source providing totally dependable power for emergency situations & everyday use in remote applications. The Freeplay FreeCharge WEZA features a memory-free internal rechargeable sealed lead acid battery capable of jump starting a range of vehicle & boat outboard engines, as well as powering a range of other devices. The Weza can be recharged from either an AC or DC source (ie. wall, solar, wind, automobile - AC wall adaptor included). In emergency situations, use the step treadle to generate power. The Freeplay FreeCharge WEZA has a battery output rating of 400 amps, and can jump-start a wide range of automotive & marine engines. The WEZA can also be used to power electronic equipment, including navigation devices, via its 12V DC cigarette-style outlet socket. The foldable stabilizer arms make it easy to take with you, easy to use, and easy to store. The WEZA is a very handy emergency power solution for homes, boats, RVs, motor homes & campers. Does anyone have one of these? Is it a good power solution for prepping? :wub:

Fullpower | 10-02-2008 01:32 AM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment well it's "Versatile and Robust" sounds a lot like Chinese Slave labor export grade prepackaged landfill nuggets. See if you can get customer service to give you the country of origin, and also see if they will tell you how many returns they have had on them. ( they will probably lie, but it's worth asking.) for about 650 you can get a 130 watt solar panel, makes 7 or 8 amps, and will last the rest of your life.....

Glass | 10-02-2008 04:30 AM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment Quote:
Originally Posted by Fullpower (Post 1327124) well it's "Versatile and Robust" sounds a lot like Chinese Slave labor export grade prepackaged landfill nuggets. See if you can get customer service to give you the country of origin, and also see if they will tell you how many returns they have had on them. ( they will probably lie, but it's worth asking.) for about 650 you can get a 130 watt solar panel, makes 7 or 8 amps, and will last the rest of your life.....
agreed and you could buy a jump starter pack or something that you would trickle charge with your panel. It would include a lighter socket for phone and radio charging, light attachement, jump start connections (of course). something kind of a bit like this: http://www.remybattery.com/Products/...ck__RP950.aspx that one seems to be missing a 12 power socket but you get the drift from that.

jamesfrancisco | 10-02-2008 07:49 AM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment I'd think it would take forever to charge using the treadle, if it has any useful power capacity. Which it doesn't - 7Ah? Pretty useless.

jaybone | 10-02-2008 09:13 AM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment I have a 60Ah battery and it does not run very much for very long. Upgrading to a couple golf cart batteries to 440Ah.

still afloat | 10-02-2008 09:46 AM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment couldn't a person take an alternator from a car or truck , "possibly free" weld a pedal from a bike to the pully on the front mount it in a wood or metal frame and use it as a power source and battery charger , higher amp and next to free if you scrounge the parts . with the bike pedal it could be hand cranked easily and the higher amp output would charge the batteries faster and could even run dc powered devices directly or with a power converter run small ac devices directly as well ?

Fullpower | 10-02-2008 12:36 PM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment standard golf cart battery is 6 volt, 220 amphour. a series PAIR will give 12 volts nominal and 220 amphour, of which a long term user may try to use one half of. an approximate 50% depth of discharge will prolong the overall cycle life of the bateyr bank. so the smart thing to do is size your battery bank for double your anticipated power load, leaving a 50 percent reserve still in the batteries.

damoc | 10-02-2008 01:33 PM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment Quote:
Originally Posted by still afloat (Post 1327590) couldn't a person take an alternator from a car or truck , "possibly free" weld a pedal from a bike to the pully on the front mount it in a wood or metal frame and use it as a power source and battery charger , higher amp and next to free if you scrounge the parts . with the bike pedal it could be hand cranked easily and the higher amp output would charge the batteries faster and could even run dc powered devices directly or with a power converter run small ac devices directly as well ?
tried that it didnt realy work that well the car alternator needed to much power to work effectively a dc permanent magnet motor would work much better. http://www.damoc.com/data/pedgen/pedgeni.html automotive alternators need a lot of power to excite the coils before they can even start making electricty.

still afloat | 10-02-2008 10:43 PM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment What if you dropped back a few years to a car that used a generator and voltage regulator in place of using a alternator.We had a '63 sport fury that used the generator insted of an alternator , not sure what the last year was that stopped using them though. I assumed the alternator may work after seeing one that had been setup to use a motor from a weed eater / string trimmer to power it .They used it as a backup for their trolling motor on their boat . if battery died on the lake , start the trimmer motor and it ran the trolling motor as well as charged the battery at the same time .It was still quieter than running an outboard motor , just ran it at an idol and it was sufficent.

damoc | 10-02-2008 11:11 PM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment i think some of your very early vehicals had permanent magnet generators which would probably work quite well but they are probably scarcer than hens teeth. one of the old posters from this forum sent me a old PM tape drive moter i think like they used to use on 60/70s era computers you can buy them on ebay fairly cheap it works pretty good and i think something like that would be a better choice for the pedal geni. i had a chev alternator hooked up to a 3.5 horse briggs and stratton that i used for battery charging the engine had trouble producing more than 20 amps i replaced it with a 6.5 horse from harbor freight and now it easily puts out 50 to 60 amps i dont think a weedeater motor could run the alternators i use i dont know?

jamesfrancisco | 10-03-2008 08:40 AM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment Quote:
Originally Posted by still afloat (Post 1329458) What if you dropped back a few years to a car that used a generator and voltage regulator in place of using a alternator.We had a '63 sport fury that used the generator insted of an alternator , not sure what the last year was that stopped using them though. I assumed the alternator may work after seeing one that had been setup to use a motor from a weed eater / string trimmer to power it .They used it as a backup for their trolling motor on their boat . if battery died on the lake , start the trimmer motor and it ran the trolling motor as well as charged the battery at the same time .It was still quieter than running an outboard motor , just ran it at an idol and it was sufficent.
1964 was the last year Ford used generators. An alternator doesn't need much power to excite the field coil before it generates - a tiny amount, in fact. Ever had a car with a dead battery, and push-started it? That amount left in the battery is enough to excite the coil. On the other hand if you've ever had an alternator equipped car with a TOTALLY dead battery, not even enough left to light the "battery" light on the dash - no amount of pushing it will start it. It's still a very labour intensive way to charge a battery - say you have a 100Ah battery, that is 100 amps for one hour to charge it -which is 1200w for an hour. You would be pedalling at full speed for around 9 hours just to charge the battery, and lead acid batteries like to be kept full, otherwise they die on you. I have over 1000Ah of battery storage at my BO place - kept topped up when I'm away by a small solar panel, and kept charged by an old Onan generator when I am there (the whole place runs on 12v). Go with wind power or solar power, and an old Ford voltage regulator for a reliable system.

jamesfrancisco | 10-03-2008 08:47 AM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment Quote:
Originally Posted by damoc (Post 1329537) i think some of your very early vehicals had permanent magnet generators which would probably work quite well but they are probably scarcer than hens teeth. one of the old posters from this forum sent me a old PM tape drive moter i think like they used to use on 60/70s era computers you can buy them on ebay fairly cheap it works pretty good and i think something like that would be a better choice for the pedal geni. i had a chev alternator hooked up to a 3.5 horse briggs and stratton that i used for battery charging the engine had trouble producing more than 20 amps i replaced it with a 6.5 horse from harbor freight and now it easily puts out 50 to 60 amps i dont think a weedeater motor could run the alternators i use i dont know?
The weedeater motor won't do it - I've tried with a chainsaw motor years ago. You start the engine, get it nicely warmed up, flick the switch to "charge", and it'll stall out every single time! Also, those motors are not meant for extended use and will wear out pretty quickly. Get yourself an old style 12v petrol driven generator about 40 amps or so (ex-army WWII stuff is very good, and easy to fix, no PCBs or anything) - it will run forever and keep your storage system healthy!

nub | 10-03-2008 08:55 AM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment Quote:
Originally Posted by Fullpower (Post 1327949) standard golf cart battery is 6 volt, 220 amphour. a series PAIR will give 12 volts nominal and 220 amphour, of which a long term user may try to use one half of. an approximate 50% depth of discharge will prolong the overall cycle life of the bateyr bank. so the smart thing to do is size your battery bank for double your anticipated power load, leaving a 50 percent reserve still in the batteries.
I know you know this, this is for the novice........ A 12 volt battery will be around 14 volts when fully charged ....then just don't draw it down past 12-11.5 volts to stay around 50% We don't let our 48v system get below 47.5v.

Hellsbane | 10-03-2008 07:34 PM
Re: Possible Power Source Investment Why not just buy a cheap power generator and rerig it with pedal power. Power generators have gotten small, effeciant and cheap.

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