I find adding a crank to anything quaint and hilarious. Even if just photoshoppedtm

A steam whistle that required a good crank and verifying subscrrription overrr dialup would end me

Edit: it must be a crank and it has to play the all around the blueberry bush progress song like the Sid’s handy jack in the box in Toy Story 1

  • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    11 hours ago

    I considered getting a crank-operated bread cutting machine, mainly so I wouldn’t need a wall socket to use it…

  • OddMinus1@sh.itjust.works
    3·
    23 hours ago

    As cars become more autonomous, it leaves room for you to do other things. So why not add something to let you work out while driving? Like a cycling machine or treadmill which generates power to drive the car.

  • psx_crab@lemmy.zipEnglish
    4·
    1 day ago

    Crank-to-charge torchlight/small device would be nice, but that would need to purposely made and optimised to be as efficient as possible, which device these day just aren’t i presume.

  • mesa@piefed.socialEnglish
    6·
    1 day ago

    It would be neat, but a solar panel and small battery would probably do better in the long run. Less moving parts.

      • Sibbo@sopuli.xyz
        15·
        2 days ago

        A laptop with a 45W power source probably. But it would be quite exhausting. And at that power, there would not be much for thinking left. Given that gaming is a head activity, that would probably not be very fun anymore.

        • gressen@lemmy.zip
          2·
          1 day ago

          I’d say that a fit person can sustain up to 150W, so with a low power PC and some battery to even out the flow of power it’s more than possible to power the device and do some actual work, although perhaps it’s not the best idea to pedal while working on a computer.

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
            1·
            1 day ago

            Annoyingly, I can’t find that NASA paper now (no, I don’t know why they were considering pedal powered rockets /s). I did read it, and it had other interesting tidbits, like that you really need to include a fan or overheating becomes a major limit. Maybe that’s obvious to other people, but I wouldn’t have thought of it.

            If it’s going to be an all day session, you’ll probably want to halve that to 75W. More recent research suggest that if you need even longer output maximum power continues to drop, with your ability to digest enough food eventually being the limiting factor. Furthermore, pregnant women reach right around that level towards the end of their gestation.

          • Sibbo@sopuli.xyz
            1·
            1 day ago

            Yeah no doing work or gaming won’t be possible at that output. Your brain also needs oxygen and sugar. If you max out your muscles, then there is not much left for any creative brain tasks.

      • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
        4·
        1 day ago

        Can a human even make enough energy when cycling to power a PC?

        How do you define a “PC”?

        A CR2032 button cell will run a wristwatch for maybe two years. It looks like a CR2032 stores maybe 730 mWh.

        https://sustainability.stackexchange.com/questions/4391/how-much-power-can-a-bicycle-generator-produce

        BBC1’s “Bang Goes the Theory” demonstrated a human-powered home in a TK programme. In this segment, 8.5 kW of power required 70 cyclists, of fairly typical fitness, or about 107W per cyclist.

        So, if you include a wristwatch, then clearly yes. Someone doing 107W for an hour would produce 107Wh. That’d be about 146 fresh CR2032 button cells, each of which could run that wristwatch for maybe two years.

        If you count a wristwatch as a personal computer, then clearly it’s possible and even practical.

        If you want my Linux laptop at its current power draw…

        unplugs laptop

        $ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/voltage_now 
16920000
$ cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/current_now 
-783000
$

        That’s 16,920,000 µV, or 16.92V and -783000 µA, or 0.783A. 16.92 volts times 0.783 amps gives about ~13.2W.

        So a cyclist could power it, at least at its present draw. But that’s also at a fairly idle state, and I don’t have the screen brightness really ramped up.

        An easy way to do the above in short form on a Linux laptop would be this:

        $ echo "$(cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/voltage_now) * \
  $(cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/current_now) / 10^12" | bc

        Could a single cyclist power my desktop under load? No. The GPU alone has a TDP of 355W.

      • tomkatt@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        1 day ago

        I have a Bells of Steel Blitz Airbike and it indicates effort in watts generated. I’m able to generate 700-800 Wh… for about a minute, before feeling like I’ll die.

        So technically possible in bursts. I can sustain about 200 Wh of effort for several minutes. Whatever you’re powering would need battery storage. No way you’re putting in that physical effort and using the device at the same time (plus the airbike uses arms and legs).

        This would be feasible for low power devices, but probably not long term power for a full fledged PC, outside of something like a 25w mini PC.

        I’d love to be able to use pedal power to charge things like my small handhelds and eReaders though. That’d be pretty cool.

      • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        1 day ago

        Very, very rough numbers:
        A recreational cyclist might average 150 Watts for 20-30 minutes.
        A world tour pro cyclist would average 300-400 Watts over a few hours.

        And then account for the inefficiency of the generator they are spinning.

        Your average person could power a laptop, but not for very long. The battery in the laptop would help manage the inevitable spikes and dips in power output, since people are not consistent engines.

      • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 day ago

        You could probably get a dc motor and hook it up to a really small solar generator battery. Size the solar panels small enough and you’ll have to pedal somewhat to make it through the day.

  • hedge_lord@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    1 day ago

    I am in full support of this. Even if the crank does not actually do anything other than function as a switch or something.

    Alarm sounds in the morning. Crank to turn it off.

    Want to open a door? Turn a crank to do that.

    Turning on a light? Yep, just turn the crank a few times.

  • emb@lemmy.world
    61·
    2 days ago

    Shoutouts to the PlayDate. The crank doesn’t power it, but it does have one! I think you’d love it op.

    Haven’t played one myself, but they seem pretty cool.

  • expatriado@lemmy.world
    2·
    1 day ago

    pulling a cable qualifies? push mowers, chain saws, generators, etc commonly start with the help of human muscle