CHILDREN'S PEDAL GENERATORS In the days when we mostly ran pedal sound systems, these started off as an answer to the problem of children continually wanting to go on our adult generators which really needed adult power to keep the PA going. Initially disappointed that they turned out not to be suitable for battery charging, I soon realised that there were plenty of things which would run directly without a battery and show the children that they were generating their own electricity. They have become very popular as a separate attraction and have been booked as part of the children’s entertainment at Kingston Green Fair, Reading WOMAD, Swindon Forest Fair as well as Big Green Gathering, Northern Green Gathering and Devon County Show.
More recently, we are often asked to use them in schools in direct energy demonstrations such as comparing the effort needed to power old filament type and low energy light bulbs,
We have generators in all sizes from toddler to pre-teen, using various motors from car radiator fans and computer printers. Displays have a large voltmeter and a line of torch bulbs which light up progressively the harder they pedal. Applications include music keyboards and Nintendo Gameboys with no battery storage so that they shut down as soon as pedalling stops. More visual stuff includes inflatable binliner and carrier bag monsters five or six metres tall powered by old computer cooling fans stuck in buckets, and an attraction for indoor events is a pedal powered plasma globe.
All the applications are connected using standard colour coded plugs; the children soon learn to connect them up themselves which is quite safe. No fuses are needed as the generators can't produce enough current to burn out wires. The voltage produced depends on the speed at which it is pedalled but even if the children get off and turn the pedals very fast by hand it is impossible to make more than about 20 Volts which is too low to give a shock. The moving parts are guarded, the generators are supervised at all times and put away when out of use.