After testing the current with the fuses last night, I figured there was no way I could possibly be producing more than 10 amps of output from the alternator with those resistors in place, so put my multimeter inline (ammeter mode) and started cranking. I worked out for about a half hour keeping my heart rate at about the 85% level again. Throughout that time I produced no less than 0.85A of current. So in sum I was able to harness about 1/10th of what I should be able to produce, or about 0.425Ah. At this rate it will take forever to recharge the car battery. I was however able to charge my iPod while riding. Producing enough juice to rock out was definitely cool, even if the amount of juice was tiny.
Next up, decreasing the resistance by adding more resistors in parallel. RadioShack, here I come. I totally love that RadioShack is also sponsoring Lance's team this year. It makes buying parts for this project extra fitting. I'll probably pick up a few more of these, which will get the total resistance down into the low 1Ω range and should also help to cool the dissipation of the heat (even thought he three that are on there now don't seem to get hot). I also need a way to wire these up a little cleaner, I've got these resistors seriously kludged together right now. Hopefully they will have some euro-style terminals at The Shack too.
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