I have thought about a hand crank solution, however I would think that with no power for an extended period of time, my hands would be full (no pun intended) enough with other things that need attention and would not have the time required to also hand crank our own power for whatever needs.

For the 2 cell phones (same brand/model) we have, I have ordered 2 spare batteries and a standalone charger which should take care of any future phone battery concerns.

Fie on hand cranks! I am a hard core cyclist and I have a stationary cycle for those times when there is bad weather or something in my schedule that prevents a bike ride. I hope on the seat and crank away. I have long thought that I might as well be charging some sort of battery while I am keeping fit. Anyone have any notions about some kind of conversion kit for a stationary bike? Seems like a no-brainer......

hikermor...you could DIY rig something like this from an auto alternator with a friction wheel, storage battery and inverter...this gizmo claims 300W for an experienced cyclist



http://www.econvergence.net/The-Pedal-A-Watt-Bicycle-Generator-Stand-s/1820.htm

Les, thanks for the lead - looks promising!

You can take any dc motor and couple it to a spinning wheel to generate electricity. If you had the right motor and gearing then you could generate the proper voltage without having to go through inefficient voltage conversions.

I am surprised at the claim of 125-300 watts from the pedal a watt. I've heard numbers around 100 watts for a normal person. Remembering how much the old flip down bike generator lights slowed me down when i was younger, I think now I'd be lucky if I could power the tv remote with my bike, let alone the tv.

Alternator? No, no, far too inefficient. Think generator -- a DC motor with permanent magnets. Apply juice and you get torque; apply torque and you get juice, even at very low speeds.

And ideally, you should also have a gear or pulley setup to increase the speed to the generator and absorb all the weird directional forces that might cause premature wear.

And even more ideally, if you could find a common, mass-produced source for such items, designed to run in the 12-18 volt range, and often available for free when the batteries konk out, you'd really be in the sweet zone.

And if you said "hey, that sounds like a cordless drill," give yourself a gold star.

dougwalkabout... ok...bearing blocks on each end of a 3/8" shaft, friction wheel in middle, enough clearance to attach the shaft to the drill chuck...alignment bracket to support rear wheel of bike.....I think you have given me something to play with for a week or two... thanks, hadn't thought of it, though others have mentioned using a drill to energize a generator's field windings...

Take a look on Youtube with the search terms "bicycle generator". There are a few slick ideas and some right down to redneck level. Many utilize a treadmill DC motor as they are more effecient but there are some using an alternator with good results also.

That's in fact cranking amps rating, not Amp/hours as you might be thinking. So, it's not that impressive, as some trucks may need 900 Amps for jump starting. As for the capacity, I have found that it's never posted for the cranking batteries like that at all. Including the manufacturer web sites. I doubt it's more than 40 A/h