Introduction: Bike That Charges Your Cell Phone As You Ride!

My friend Jack and I wanted to make a bike that charges his cell phone as he rides, so we decided to use a small DC motor to power it!

For the peeps who don't know why it saves energy: 1st, you charge your phone without electricity from a power plant, obviously, because you are creating electricity by riding. 2nd, it gives you a reason to ride to wherever you want to go, reducing your carbon footprint drastically.

Note: the video is on the last step

Step 1: Get Your Parts!

OK, so the parts list is pretty basic.

1 Bike that you are willing to do some stuff to (every thing is reversible)
1 Small gear that will fit into your chain
1 Small piece of wood
1 Smallish DC motor
1 Cell phone
1 Cell phone charger that you are willing to destroy
1 Solder
A crap load of duct tape
Hot glue
Assorted washers, nuts, and bolts

Tools:
Soldering Iron
Socket wrench
Hot glue gun
Coke and Dr. Pepper
Good music to listen to
A friend to help you out

Step 2: Mounting the Gear Onto the Motor

OK, now you need to mount your gear onto the motor. Our axle was little too small to fit into the gear, so we wrapped it in some duct tape. We then used a copious amount of hot glue and some washers to hold it in place.

Step 3: Mounting the Gear and Motor Onto the Bike

Gee, we sure are doing a lot of mounting today! OK, this part is easy, you just need to put the motor setup on the bike in a way that the chain will catch on the gear and spin the motor. Its easy to do this with some hot glue, zip ties, and duct tape.

Step 4: The Wires!

OK, now for the electronics, just cut the head off of your charger and strip the wires off of it, and then solder them to the motor. You may have to use some resistors depending on the voltage that your cell phone takes. You can also wrap the finished product in some colored tape to match the bike like we did!

Step 5: Connect the Cell Phone and Ride Off Into the Sunset!

OK! You are done! Just put your chain on the gear and ride off into the sunset! Thanks for reading!


Earthjustice United States of Efficiency Contest

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