Interactive Pedal Powered Lighting Rigs
Let us bring our years of experience with Pedal Powered lighting to craft something special for your event. For fun or education (or both), the possibilities are endless!
The latest example of our interactive lighting: New York Power Authority at the 2019 State Fair:
Read testimonials from our previous clients.
The sLEDgehammer
The sLEDgehammer, an interactive Pedal Powered lighting rig. More LEDs light up when you pedal harder, converting your peak power output on an efficient bicycle generator to beautiful light. Click here to watch the video!
The sLEDgehammer’s display can be customized for your event, like a one-person powered courtyard installation (above), or as a group-powered display, like the Christmas Tree at Boston Winter below!
Powering LEDs with Rock The Bike Generators
The Svelte or Sledgehammer generator wheels or DC Roll Up stand produce variable DC voltage. The faster you pedal the higher the voltage. We try to optimise the gear ratio and electrical activity to be around 24volts when pedaling at a comfortable speed. The Load or wattage of your activity (LEDs) will determine the difficulty.
The variable DC voltage of these generators is a good match for custom interactive LED activities and is fun and beautiful when done artfully.
Strips of 12V LEDs can be put in 24V series, 36V series, or 48V series or a combination of these. When used in combination, the lower voltage lights turn on first, and then the higher voltage LEDs. Brightness of the LEDs will increase with voltage. To prevent overvoltage from damaging the lights, you have to use enough that pedalers are sufficiently tired out by trying to keep them on. Keep in mind the age and ability of your pedalers. Rolls of flexible LEDs often consume about 1W per foot. Pedalers may be able to create up to 200-400W of power. If you want to challenge them and keep your LEDs cool, you may have to use that many feet of LED. If you choose 36 or 48V series wiring, this is less of a concern. Measure with a voltmeter and try to keep the LEDs under 150% of their rated voltage, especially for extended periods of time (more than a few seconds). You can also reduce the voltage spikes by pairing them with a capacitor.
The “Off The Wall” generator wheel and Roll Up stand produce a higher variable voltage, closer to that of wall power. LEDs will need a switching power supply, usually with an input of 100 to 240volts, an output that matches the voltage of the LEDs (12v), and sufficient current for the number of LEDs. The interactivity of the LEDs is slightly less because they simply turn on and will not change in brightness, but will stay on over a wide range of pedal speed. Incandescent bulbs can be directly plugged into the Off The Wall and used as a comparison to the LEDs. They require much more energy and are usually less bright, but will glow brighter the faster you pedal. Make sure to match the wattage of the bulbs to your pedalers ability… bulbs can burn out!
Warning: Power supplies and other equipment can be over-voltaged and damaged when load / resistance is not enough and a pedaler is able to pedal really fast, producing a high voltage for an extended amount of time. We are developing a safety circuit that reduces the voltage if it gets over 240volts, which may help in some situations.
More Light Displays
Above: Illuminated sign for Tourism Vancouver. Powered by a Generator Pro and the What Watt?! system, which tells you exactly how much energy you are creating as you pedal. (If you are interested in ordering a What Watt?! or finding out more about it, call us!)
Above: Lines of light come from the generator bike, extending further (up to 300 feet) the harder you pedal.
Above: More lines of light on our 18′ tall Bamboo Tripod.
Above: Pedal Powered Stage LED lighting: 1 pedaler per panel.
Above: The large light-up Wattage Display shows the instantaneous power use of our Pedal Powered Stage. It averages readings to show you the power use over the last 5 seconds.
Above: the pedaler gets illuminated in this “Dance With Lance” challenge, in which riders go head to head with a powerful sound system. Each rider takes a turn pouring their all into the sound system while a DJ keeps great music going. The crowd roots on the pedalers, who last as long as they can.
The Light Bike
Above: Sir Richard Branson pedaling the Light Bike comparison station at the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore, 2008.
Switching back and forth allows the pedaler to feel the energy savings of CCFL bulbs over traditional incandescent bulbs.
Soul Cycles
We have integrated Pedal Powered Lighting into several of our custom Soul Cycle rigs, including El Arbol, the Bike Tree:
The Blue Whale:
If you’re looking for applications to use Pedal Power, there are two main types: Mechanical and Electrical.
Mechanical applications generally have the advantage of being simpler, cheaper, and with simpler maintenance. They include Bike Blending and Spin Art.
Electrical applications are more limitless. The options include, but are not limited to, audio amplifiers, AC Power, and light.
