MadSci Network: Engineering |
Actually, both the bike light and the thing you are talking about are two different manifestations of the exactly same thing: they're both generators. The bike light is a low voltage light that is turned by the bike wheel; the faster the wheel runs, the faster the shaft on the bike light runs and the higher the bike generator output voltage and current are. The thing that you pedal (or, where I live, crank by hand) is also the shaft of a generator. The faster you crank (or pedal) the more power you put out. About the only difference between the bike and the pedalling machine is that the machine probably has an internal relay that only turns the light on when you reach a certain minimum cranking speed. OK, so what happens to the power you generate when you're cranking the thing too slowly? The power is routed either to a light bulb you don't see or perhaps a bank of dummy resistors; either dissipates the power and the fundamental laws of the universe (thermodynamics) are not violated. Hope this helps.
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