How to Build a hamster wheel to power your PC

Systm is the Do It Yourself show designed for the common geek who wants to quickly and easily learn how to dive into the latest and hottest tech projects. We will help you avoid pitfalls and get your project up and running fast.

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From the inverter you plug into, to battery banks used to store energy, a Hamster Wheel Powered PC has a lot in common with other alternative energy sources like Solar, Wind, Water or Bicycles!

From Revision3:

Watch us build a human powered PC on this episode of Systm!

No. Seriously. David and Patrick borrowed the ten foot high hamster wheel that powers The Disgusting Spectacle (Thanks you to the ever charming Tracy and Don!), pulled a couple motors from David's stockpile, one of Patrick's inverters and his Giant Box of Wire, and got busy in the ridiculously cool NIMBY Space in West Oakland.

With a bit of running, a pair of DC motors generated 14V, pushing 6A when connected in parallel... and, yes, we managed to generate enough juice to charge the battery. At least in between having to stop running and catch our breath!

A more practical arrangement would be to power the inverter from deep storage batteries, using your alternative energy source to charge the batteries... generally speaking, you'd want a regulator in between the power source and the batteries, whether you're going solar, wind, water, bicycle or Hamster Wheel!