I’ve been dreaming for several months of modifying a Kickr Core to work as a generator (primarily to charge my portable CPAP battery during off the grid camping trips). It seems like it should be relatively easy mod from a project standpoint, there’s just one problem - I can’t find a cheap (or better yet, free) broken kickr to prototype it.
Which leads me to two questions:
Has anybody here done this before?
Does anybody in the Bay Area have a dead kickr core just gathering dust?
A quick Google search says a CPAP requires 50ish w/hr. That’s going to require 2 hours at 200 watts on the trainer to charge, without accounting for charging losses.
Yep. FWIW, I’ve build dozens of off grid and grid connected solar electric systems both for stationary and mobile homes, and am extremely familiar with the draws of various pieces of equipment, charging efficiencies, etc. I’ve determined that 60-90 minutes of spinning at 180 watts would be quite helpful for my use case.
I had a similar idea, not for CPAP but for general off-grid living in a cold climate. But in my case neither the skills nor the tools no implement it, then I moved somewhere hot & very much on-grid.
@leocbuc, does the trainer actually produce any electricity or does it simply convert all the cyclist’s energy to heat?
My thought was a dumb trainer with the magnetic assembly removed & the axle connected to a car alternator. That way the output is also regulated to ~12V.
Definitely let us know how you get on. Surely & hopefully someone has something lying around.
