Smart People- I am wondering if there is a Hand Cranked Generator I Could buy or build?

Question

Okay so in light of the falling economy, 2012 approaching, and the inevitable chaos about to erupt in America, I have been preparing and getting supplies for the possible Armageddon to come.

First of all I'm not some nut. I just to do a lot of reading and research and connected some dots. I like to be prepared and I would love the idea of the governments fall. So I was wondering if there was some kind of generator out there that is manually charged, or doesn't need any fuels to power. Or If there is any way I could build one (designs please). I would like it to be powerful enough to power a TV for some short period of time, same with a fridge. And Be able to charge boat and truck batteries. Also multiple light powering would be great.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Answer 1

Saw a web article recently about someone using a home make bicycle attached with a 36v DC generator to charge batteries and then connected to a DC inverter to get house current AC.  He was able to generate 100 Watts, so if your pedal for an hour, you can power your notebook computer for 2 hours.  That's about it that you can get out of a human.

Answer 2

The flaw in this scheme (beyond the end-of-the-world nonsense) is that a human being can only generate a very small amount of power - maybe enough for a radio or to charge a small flashlight battery.

I think you can buy hand cranked flashlights at camping supply stores.