Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ok so I saw this idea and I think it would be awesome to have a set up like this, but what I am wondering is how practical it is. How long would it take to charge up a battery system to run say an air pump (12v) or even a pond pump(16w) for like 36 hours. Obviously theoretical here but its like speed "if you don't pedal your fish will die!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX71O449AQ0

Ok so what I am finding is you can charge a 12v 200ap battery in 3 hours of biking. So now how many amps would an avg water pump and air pump draw. I have been trying to figure out the draw of an air pump and not having luck. I mean how realistic is this idea?

By "200ap" do you mean 200AH?

A 12V 200AH battery will hold 2.4kWh of energy, if you can charge that from flat to full in 3 hours on a pedal generator, you would be a world champion cyclist! ... by a very, very long way!

A typical fit cyclist can mange 200W when pedalling reasonably hard. TdF riders might maintain twice that on a good day. I can do about 280W for half an hour before I need to slow down, when I'm fit, and something over 1300W for a brief burst.

The 560lph air pump I have in my hand ATM draws 5W.

Lol wow yes I ment AH ...and but 200ah I ment 18ah. Yeah miss remembered the info. Ok yeah I have seen 5 watt pumps but nothing about volts or amps

This one is 220/240V, so probably only 25 or 30mA. A 110V 5W unit would be twice that current.

Ok so on a 18ah battery how long cold you run the pump? Sorry this is not my forte

If it was a 12V DC pump and you had a 12V 18AH Lead-acid battery, which you don't really want to discharge much more than 50% too often, if you want it to last, then:

5W/12W = say 450mA allowing for a little loss

9AH @ 450mA = 20 hours pump time (and almost twice that to flat, but that will quickly kill the battery)

12V 18AH Lithium battery could safely get you over 30 hours

Hmm I might really have to think about this. Need to get my butt into shape and would love something like this. Even if I use as a back up deal only. My friend who is more knowledgeable than I am said to think about using it for lights. And set up the batteries in a series that you have two sets of 18ah or more batteries and charge one one day and the other the next and so on. That way I always have enough charge and so the usage only 50% or so. Because the lights are not on all day like a pump or air pump.

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