9:41 PM Too busy to update…. Brewery is packed.
3:32 PM The inverter apparently blew. The good news is, we’ve got $30 in donations. So we’re going to buy a new one… We hope to be back on-line in 30 minutes.
2:20 PM The bike is cranking. Lots of people riding… Check out the video:
1:07 AM Lots of people riding the bike and making power, but not too many donations yet… Come On People!
10:58 AM The Cycle Powered Cinema website is now live, thanks to the heroic efforts of Anjanette Bunce, Linette Lao and Caleb Brokaw… And the vendor across from me appears to be selling knitted beard warmers. So, if you come to the Shadow today, you might very well leave with a dashing tinfoil hat, knitted beard warmer combo.
10:10 AM Andy and Dave got here early to start setting up the Cycle Powered Cinema booth. Other vendors are starting to show up now. And it looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day in Ypsilanti. I don’t know if I’ll succeed, but my hope is to keep updating throughout the day. I can also try to answer customer questions and complaints in the comments section. So, if you come to the Shadow and have an issue, let me know.
And don’t the graphics look cool the Cycle Powered Cinema booth? Andy made them last night, with the help of his wife, Patti.
So, come on out, give the bike a shot, and donate a few bucks so that we can start building more bikes and power some movies here in Yopsi this summer.
17 Comments
ypsi cycling comrades, good luck today!
Let the mayhem begin.
Is there some way those of us who didn’t bring a lot of cash today can donate to this, post-Shadow Art Fair?
Must meet Andy’s wife…people with our name & spelling are a) rare and b) always cool :)
If I don’t make it out, I still want to donate something!
I hope I was right when I said that her name was Patti. I think that it is. Should could be a Patty, though. Wait, I’ll ask her husband….
Yup, it’s Patti. I was right.
And, yes, there will be numerous opportunities to give. Thanks.
Got a chance to swing by the Shadow briefly – lots of neat stuff! I was being good & shopping for others on my list, so I did not get one of those sparkly big butterfly hairbands for myself…
Anyway, cool art fair as always!
Home today with the best collection of soaps, more fragrances this time, delectable. Many cards, T-shirts (but dang I meant to get a SAF shirt, love the colors), Art Kits, and more. A great SAF, as usual. Wish I had gotten to the Dreamland Theater to see that puppet show. Was a little pressed for time at showtime. I’d love to hear about it.
Thanks, Mark and everybody.
Sorry for all the swearing. I was just messing with Mark and had no idea he was gonna post it.
olivia: the puppet show will be playing all throughout december, check the dreamland’s website for details.
Thanks, Rex. Very much.
9:57: The brewery is packed and some pathetic girl just refused to buy my wife’s magazine because she “didn’t bring any money” so I insulted her. Seriously if you don’t have any money don’t come to my art fair.
Andy C, that was my favorite part.
Ypsi Citizen filmed the inverter explosion. We have a rider who could ride pretty hard. Since filming was happening I didn’t go thru the details of how hard to ride or in this case not to. He pushed too much DC voltage into out DC to AC inverter and down it went. We tried different inverters bur they had no tolerance for fluctuation by the riders. We really needed a voltage regulator to keep from over loading the inverted but Mark and I were already pretty deep in the hole on this thing. We unfortunately didn’t even make enough to pay our selves back for the generator. It still was a lot of fun.
Thanks to our friend Mandy, who rode the bike for 6 hours fueled solely by beer, who managed to raise way more money that I did when it was running.
Have you looked at the numbers on this? At the gym, I found generating 100 watts on a rowing machine took a sustained effort, but generating 20 to 30 watts for extended periods was possible at a comfortable pace.
A projector, such as my XR-11C, requires 350 watts (high lamp mode), then add a suitable audio system and DVD player (Probably 100-150 watts), and you need close to 500 watts BEFORE you factor in losses from DC to AC inverter efficiency. An inverter is only 75 to 95 percent efficient, so you may have to generate as much as 170 watts more, just for a low efficiency converter. The sum is probably around 600 or 700 watts, so that might require 60-70 mildly committed rider/viewers, or 30+ motivated riders, or two or three super-hero bicyclists on steroids. As always, YWMV (your wattage may vary).
Then float the whole DC system on a motorcycle or car battery (or better yet, a deep discharge marine battery). Each generator should have a diode as well. That will smooth out the surges that kill inverters, and carry your projection system past those scenes when people might not pedal as much, such as some heart-felt romantic love scene or when the bad guy jumps out of nowhere.
Hope this helps. I’ve always wanted to try this!
Congratulations on another swell event. Everyone involved with a creative project from at least 100 miles in each direction was there.
I stopped by the Shadow Art Fair to take a look, and as far as I could see, it was just another excuse for people to drink beer. I am not a big beer drinker…
No, I usually just drink a whole lot of little ones.
I owe you all some kind of recap – especially on the bike-power thing – but I’m overwhelmed with other stuff at the moment. I’ll try to get to it this weekend, though. OK?
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[…] For those of you not familiar with the Cycle Powered Cinema initiative, you can find background information here and video of our first test run here. […]
[…] with the normal craft fair dynamic of buyers and sellers. In the past, we’ve had people powering shit with bikes, documenting people on video, writing live haikus, drawing hideous live portraits, and serving […]