Instructions

Number references are still OFF. These instructions are a work in progress.

What you see

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Build the crank as you can, the objective being two-fold. First and most importantly, the crank allows you to turn the shaft of your internal generator and transform your energy into electricity. But the crank also serves as a key part in your show, allowing you to perform for your audience as you tell the story of the power cart.

This on is laser cut and designed using, mostly, a gear drawing plugin from Sketch Up.
Also using instructions from Leslie Flanigan's tutorial.

Price: undetermined (here, about 50$ + a laser cutter)

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Attach the solar panel in a way that you can close it when you're rollling around and tilt it open to catch as much sun as possible when it's time for power. The solar panel also hides the secret bar... The size of the panel was selected to be big enough to do some work but small enough that no charge controller is needed between the panel and the battery.

Got this specific solar panel from West Marine: Sunsei SE-400 (6W)
It's the biggest i could get for the battery choice selected without needing to control the charge with extra hardware.

Price: 100$

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Because recharging your electronics can take some time and every occasion is good to invite random strangers to share a drink and converse, don't forget your secret bar.

Price: 20$ (varies with wine tastes)

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Build your entire cart on a solid and compact hand truck. Make sure you'll put the biggest weight at the bottom and the power cart will roll itself.

Price: 35$

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The better your selection of connectors for cell phones, music players and other random electrical devices, the best service you can offer. Place your connectors well in display and proudly, they are your raw material, your point of interest to passer-bys.

Got these ones from Voltaics. Build some connnectors to connect with the connectors (yes) by hand..... More on this could come.

Price: 5$/connector

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Place the battery as close to the bottom as possible in a closed space (not show on pictures). This is an AGM battery, a bit more expensive, but ideal for mobile applications.

Currently, the power cart houses a 30A, 12V AGM battery. The battery capacity can be increased if you can afford it but this has done the trick so far for running small electronics. If the battery size increases, you can easily increase the size of the solar panel without having to get a charge controller.

Price: 120$

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Find a nice colorful umbrella to protect yourself from the sun, protect the cart if you have to run away from too much rain and attrack people to the cart at any given time.

Price: 10$ [after heavy negociations]

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Get yourself two confortable seats you can easily attach to the back of the cart when moving from place to place. And bring them out when sharing a drink, or for simple a little break.

Price: 10$ each

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What else is inside

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Bought a DC brush motor from Amazon.com. Most probably too big for what i can get from hand cranking. Would be more appropriate for a foot pedaling system or with a better set of gears. So smaller would probably be better, easier. I had to add a high amperage diode between the positive lead of the motor and the battery to insure that the motor would not run when not being used as a generator.

Permanent Magnet 12VDC Motor TENV 1/6hp 1800/3900RPM 31GS Frame
Leeson Electric Motor # M1120046 from Amazon.
175$

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Any old multimeter will do. Digital is better because you can monitor exactly the percentage of use of the battery by the tenth of the Volt.

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From West Marine. You need to get the shunt that goes with it for the type of currents you'll be drawing (small small). This one is fairly cheap considering what else is on the market. I haven't really gotten to use it per say so if you're planning on sticking with small electronics, it might not be necessary.

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Got big light-up switches from Digikey. Wish i had paid attention and gotten a 12V switch, these one have 120V small lights inside so they won't ever turn on on the Power Cart.

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400 Watts Schumacher PI-400 Instant Power DC to AC Power Inverter
Be carefully how it is wired up, it is a bit finicky but at least have given me good feedback as i figured out how to put everything else (it makes beeping sounds when a problem occurs).

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Straight out of the Inverter.

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2 solutions here. The most expensive one is to get a DC to DC converter that will give out anything between 3V and 12V (variable on demand). Make sure you pay attention to the amperage rating of the converter you get, 500mA will not last very long. 2A ones are recommended. Something like this, sold for double in Chinatown for not much more.

Option 2 is to build your own little 5V regulators using 7805. Follow wiring specs here and add a good heat sink. Most small electronics in circulation right need specifically 5V so no need for the variable DC converter above.

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How it works

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PowerCartNotes

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The Power Cart is developed with the help of Andy Doro!
+ additional support by Sean Salmon & Fady Atallah Produced at Eyebeam's Openlab.