Can anyone suggest which newsgroups I might lurk to find information 
 about linking together a fitness device and some kind of small 
 alternator capable of being wired into common house wiring in such a 
 way that any current generated would be available for household 
 consumption. 
  
 I'm thinking of a human cranked alternator attached to some kind of 
 fitness device such as a rower, treadmill, stationary bicycle or the 
 like.   A setup were ones fitness efforts are channeled into 
 generating electricity which would be passed into the house wiring. 
  
 I have no expectation of significantly reducing my electric bill but 
 would like to build a device like described above and at least let my 
 fitness work do some small amount toward the electric bill. 
  
 I'm pretty handy with the construction part and would guess there are 
 small alternators that could be adapted for such use. 
  
 For me where the rub comes is first locating such an alternator and 
 then finding or building the necessary crossover switching or whatever 
 its called to get the generated current into the house electrical 
 system. 
  
 There may well be some kind of switch just for such a use but I'm not 
 sure where to start looking. 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)