Anotherpower.com Forum

Transportation => Human Powered => Topic started by: Norm on January 07, 2012, 07:45:48 am

Title: New member
Post by: Norm on January 07, 2012, 07:45:48 am
Hi Everyone most of you probably know me from otherpower,
as Norm ....anyway, was a real effort on my part gettng
climbing on board.....those icons and letters! I'm a real
dummy when it comes to navigating on the internet !  ::)
You'll probably see me a lot on human power and NiCad
batteries.
I got some kind of crap in my left eye right before Christmas
and ....well it got scratched and infected....taking some kind
of drops small bottle 1 drop 4x a day figure @$45 a bottle
(small bottle) probably 25 cents a drop.
So I'm not going to be doing too much for awhile on the computer....
 Yesterday was real agony dialating drops at
the Dr.'s and the sun was bright! hardly a cloud in the sky....
second day this week . Even with sunglasses things were
too bright....like welding without a helmet...good grief!
.....had to do some driving.....

Glad to be aboard / :)
Norm.

Title: Re: New member
Post by: bj on January 07, 2012, 07:55:53 am
Hey Norm!!  Take care of the eye, been there (welder)  Hope all is better soon.
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Wolvenar on January 07, 2012, 08:16:24 am
Welcome aboard, hope your eye heals quickly, I've been there too so I feel for ya.
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Norm on February 06, 2012, 08:30:06 pm
I can't believe that a whole month has gone by since I had trouble with my
eye...well to make it a short story it started feeling better by the next day.
I got busy doing things and a couple days later I forgot that my eye had
even been bothering me.

......be nice if all my ailments would go away so quickly and easily....
but doubt if that will ever happen.

in the meantime I've added to my exercise equipment....a Weslo Pursuit E-26
which will give me a workout with my upper body.
Norm
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Wolvenar on February 06, 2012, 10:56:31 pm
I have noticed your nick on another forum, but unfortunately I never looked into your projects much. I'd love to find out more.
Title: Re: New member
Post by: birdhouse on February 07, 2012, 10:32:11 am
good to see you here norm!  i always enjoy reading about your pedgens! 

i'm constantly having issues with getting stuff stuck in my eyes, so can feel your pain!  the thing that keeps me going while my eye(s) are hurting is that i know it won't last forever.  kinda keeps my spirits up!

adam
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Norm on February 08, 2012, 11:15:54 pm
I have noticed your nick on another forum, but unfortunately I never looked into your projects much. I'd love to find out more.
Will do....I'm used to pedaling along leisurely like 10 - 20 minutes per session and a
total of 100 minutes yields a satisfactory 50 watt/hrs.
.....but right now I got a flat tire after an equivalent 1000miles or so....that's a 12 inch
diameter tire...not too bad.
.....but the new tube and tire just keeps going flat and I don't understand why :(
I water test it and no leaks install it and everything looks fine like even overnight
....but then all of a sudden it's flat....water test it again and still no leaks not even
from the valve stem.....so I'll try and *slime* it.
all the time I have for tonight....will keep you posted.
Norm.
Title: Re: New member
Post by: wilfor03 on February 09, 2012, 07:22:56 am
Hey Norm....

Welcome to the "Better" board.  8) Glad you're here...........

Bill
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Norm on February 09, 2012, 07:43:54 am
good to see you here norm!  i always enjoy reading about your pedgens! 

i'm constantly having issues with getting stuff stuck in my eyes, so can feel your pain!  the thing that keeps me going while my eye(s) are hurting is that i know it won't last forever.  kinda keeps my spirits up!

adam
I know it's hard to resist the temptation to rub your eyes and for me...I do it when
my eyes feel dry and scratchy ....I told the eye doc about it and they gave me a
couple of bottles of eye drops .....artificial tears.....so that might help in case you've
never tried it?

Yep ....I enjoy the exercise bike especially when I'm gradually losing weight (not as
much as when I first started) substituting it for snacks that drive my sugar level up...
I lie to myself and keep saying ..maybe I'll have a snack after this 10 minute session
and finally the urge goes away.  half the battle is staying away from bread....
one whole sandwich , 2 slices leads to another....and another and then I just give up
and say maybe tomorrow....breadaholic ?

(like pedal faster...harder Norm   that urge is slipping up on you again)
Know what I mean?
Norm.
Title: Re: New member
Post by: tomw on February 09, 2012, 09:47:45 am
Hey Norm....
Welcome to the "Better" board.  8)
Bill

Bill;

Glad you thing so! I haven't spent much time on things here lately but the other guys are working daily to get it up to snuff and running smooth.

Been a few glitches but overall I think this place is shaping up nicely.

Very active and very interesting stuff going on here.

So hoist a beverage of your choice and give three cheers for the crew!

Tom
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Norm on February 09, 2012, 01:43:41 pm
Hey Norm....

Welcome to the "Better" board.  8) Glad you're here...........

Bill
Better board....certainly seems to be Bill and thanks .....and Tom.


Oh by the way went to K-Mart to get some *slime* for the little tube
of the tire on the PedGen $7 for 4 times what I need? No thanks !
So I run across CFLs 13 watt lowered to $1.99 from $4.99 got 2 for
my shed....Ah ....but then the wife was all tee d of because she couldn't
find me....so forget that....then casually glanced at 13 watters in Giant Eagle
at $5.99?  Wow ! getting more tee d off as I look at all these big Yellow signs
Sale ....Sale   like 4 for $5  you save etc. etc.  hard to believe back in '57
A&P  had cans of stuff on sale for 10 cents a can.   
What a bunch of malarkey they try to get you to believe  and to top it off....
some people actually believe they're saving....
I'm not mad just sad how things are going....
Title: Re: New member
Post by: WooferHound on February 09, 2012, 01:56:43 pm
Norm
You should go ahead and get a $2.oo innertube
Title: Re: New member
Post by: tomw on February 09, 2012, 02:33:30 pm
Norm;

I had a very similar issue with my ATV trailer tires / tubes.

Bought 3 new tubes before one actually held air. Cheap Chinese stuff just seeped air out but no actual "holes". Inferior rubber that is not a true barrier to air. Tire guy says that is not an uncommon thing.

As always "NEW" does NOT mean "GOOD". So many companies use the customer as quality control and that is simply not fair Cheaper to replace than inspect. Wonder how many just buy another without seeking warranty replacement?

Tom

Title: Re: New member
Post by: bj on February 09, 2012, 02:43:14 pm
   Went through the same thing with our (my wife's) riding mower.  Went through it from one end
to the other, and one of the jobs was to put new back tires on it.  So, spring comes, grass grows,
and away it goes.  Next day, flat back tire.  No nails etc, couldn't see bubbles even at 15 lbs.  Long
story a little shorter, ended up putting in tubes.  In brand new $50 a piece tires.  Should have sent
them back, but didn't.
    Good part?  Wife is happy, therefore I am happy. ;D
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Norm on February 09, 2012, 07:24:35 pm
Well bj....making the wife happy....yeah #1 priority....
and mine made me happy by finally consenting to get the
new exercise machine....and I remark after we get it put
together.....well that's that ....just got to figure how to
hook it up to a generator.....
"What do you want to do that for? can't you just use it to
exercise?"
  So right off I think....oh oh better not go there
so I'm just going to duplicate the arms on my PedGen
and after making a more comfortable seat and some
rollers for the front end so we can roll it around. I'm done
with the idea of making the Weslo p-26 into a PedGen.

Okay my PedGen now has a solid rubber tire and direct
chain drive....no coaster brake....came off a kids toy bike
next step up from a tricycle.....I expect 5000 miles from
this one....it's a grown-up's toy now !

So Tom no flats now !  and Woof I got the whole bike for $1
LOL !
Norm









Title: Re: New member
Post by: Wolvenar on February 09, 2012, 07:33:30 pm
As one that did not do much on FL, I guess I am not aware of these projects, so.. What is your PedGen project?
Can you repost your work in a new topic, or at least link me up?
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Norm on February 10, 2012, 11:17:42 pm
Took a lousy dim blurred pic of my PedGen....will take a couple pics of my
newest PedGen tomorrow and post an update  past my bedtime for now....
Norm
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Norm on February 11, 2012, 09:56:10 am
1st photo

This is the PedGen as the latest version, I plan on putting small roller
wheels on front so when I grab that back support ( which also serves as
a handle and I can roll it around....a spring gets attached to the middle of
the board in back, up to the brace at top to positively engage the ECM's
red scooter wheel to the solid rubber tire.
2nd photo

This is the solid rubber tire that I was talking about, about 11 inches
in diameter, no coaster brake, the overall ratio from the crankshaft
pedals to the ECM is about 1:7....so a leisurely pedaling at 45 RPM spins
the ECM at about 300 rpm.
This gives me 1 watt/hr. for every 2 minutes of pedaling
this would be an average rate of 30 watts, I have been able
to hit a maximum of 95 watts ...but only for about a minute....one
of these days I plan to add a flywheel (disk brake rotor, they make
nice flywheels)
3rd photo

Here is the ECM probably capable of 300 watts, or maybe
much, much more.

One of Ghurd's products altho I don't know if he sells them.

I have a Shwinn digital bike speedometer hooked to this wheel,
I 'travel' at about 3.5 mph....If this was a bike a person walking
would be able to keep up with me and for 50 watt/hrs. I travel
the equivalant of 5 miles a day for a person walking ....total of
100 minutes....150 miles a month. I've been doing this for a few
years now used to weigh 228 lbs down to 190 trying for 175,
great for diabetics like me.....a motivation to eat less and exercise
more....a great satisfying feeling!

I didn't realise that I'm in better shape than most of my relatives.

.............."Here try it out"

( after about a minute or two...."Whew....that's enough for me ! ")

Well that's it for now.....it was easier for me to post this than to
look for my previous posting in that 'other' forum.

Norm.


 

Title: Re: New member
Post by: Norm on February 14, 2012, 09:37:14 am





As a quick example of what pedaling on my PedGen:
Last night glucose level 152
This morning 154
Had breakfast took 2 pills for diabetes (which will just offset
what I had for breakfast)
Pedaled my PedGen for 50 minutes total but 2 hrs. counting
the time spent switching batteries and on computer.
So for a total time workout of 50 minutes
and my glucose level is now 114.
So you can see pedaling does help.
I try to pedal 50 watt/hrs a day.
which takes a total time pedaling of about 100 minutes.
You can see what I do every day at....

http://www.los-gatos.ca.us/davidbu/pedgen/green_virtual_gym.html
also shows what I have done since I started there and how much I
have pedaled this month.
Norm.



Title: Re: New member
Post by: Wolvenar on February 14, 2012, 03:30:06 pm
Neat site concept!!  Would be a good thing for us chubby Americans to have really catch on. ;D
Title: Re: New member
Post by: Norm on February 17, 2012, 10:54:05 pm
  As far as I'm concerned you're welcome to join us....based on Dave's
approval and when you have a PedGen.
Norm.