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by dripton 3442 days ago
>There was actually an alternator system attempted in the last five years,” he says. “It worked about 60 percent, but it never took off.

Generator hubs for bicycles are mature technology at this point. Including capacitors in the taillights so they stay on when the bike is stopped. Buggies could easily adopt them, but I guess it's not worth the bother if batteries mostly work.
3 comments
sbierwagen 3442 days ago
I've got a dual dynamo/drum-brake hub, the Sturmey Archer X-FDD. It works quite well-- but only at normal biking speeds. Below 10mph it's flickery and annoying.

If a horse isn't in a hurry, it usually travels at a walk, which is something like 5mph. So bicycle dynamos won't work well for a buggy.

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maxerickson 3442 days ago
It could be mounted with a belt (at a reduction). The horse probably won't be as bothered by the increased load as a human.
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gvb 3442 days ago
Generators or alternators driven off the wheels are not free - the horse is now powering your lights as well as your wagon. The relatively high efficiency of LED lights helps a lot, but your horse still with thank you for using batteries.

The article discusses the higher efficiency of steel tires compared to rubber tires and the emphasis on light weight. Tens of Watts of generator load on the horse is probably more than the difference in steel vs. rubber tires.

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wiredfool 3442 days ago
If a guy that rides 1200km on a bike in 50 hours prefers a generator vs batteries based on drag vs weight I'd say that the generator + lights is pretty much solved technology.
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dripton 3440 days ago
They're not tens of watts. More like 3W. See http://www.nabendynamo.de/produkte/son_28_en.html

If it's not enough to bother a human cyclist, it's not enough to bother a horse.

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ralfd 3442 days ago
How do Amish recharge the batteries though?
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