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Speed, Cadence, Distance and Power Measurement For $60? Two Students Made It Happen To A Mongoose

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Student-Power-Meter

As  a class project, two students decided to build a bike computer that could measure distance, speed, cadence and power output. With a bunch of normal off the shelf sensors, an LCD screen, and the knowledge of how it all works, they assembled a device that can do all that for $60. But before you run off to Radio Shack, know that it may not have the same simple user interface as your Garmin, and has a bit of a DIY appearance.

Why did they do it? Simply to show it could be done for a whole lot less than commercially available products as a class project.

Click past the jump to see Mark and Brian explain their device, and hit 500+ watts on a rusty chain…


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19 Comments
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Sam
Sam
9 years ago

reminds me of early prototypes of stages power meters

yoyo
yoyo
9 years ago

Run it through R&D, make it presentable and reliable and it will soon be a $1000 item to the consumer. But if you like to tinker that is very cool! I wouldn’t mind just having the power measurement to simplify things.

adam
adam
9 years ago

Just add an ANT+ transponder and you’re set!

Timbo
Timbo
9 years ago

You know you’re a cyclist when: your power meter cost more than your bike.

Timbo
Timbo
9 years ago

by that measure, these guys have succeeded with their ‘goose.

DRC
DRC
9 years ago

$60 power meter on a $25 bike haha. Check out that wheel wobble! Impressive setup though. Insane that they can get all that info without spending the industry standard $1500 on equipment.

cleo
cleo
9 years ago

why would you want to measure a small carnivore?

Colin M
Colin M
9 years ago

Make it wireless and BOOM profit!!

bart
bart
9 years ago

Love the weight saving they did by removing the suspension. thinking like true roadies!

Rico
Rico
9 years ago

I love to see kids tinkering with hardware in creative ways instead of writing apps. These little project circuit boards are a great way to learn. Take a look at the Zwift blog to see a cool post about how one of the founders started tinkering in a similar way, modding one of those garmin ant+ sensors.

Ace
Ace
9 years ago

Nice to see new engineers trying to simplify and cut costs .Thanks guys!! Keep up the good work.

Robert W
Robert W
9 years ago

It’s a good start. Needs more strain gauges and better filtering. They didn’t say if it was calibrated or temperature reliable.

jon
jon
9 years ago

Cool project but hardly realistic. 500 watts free spinning without the resistance on on the trainer? I think not.

Nathan
Nathan
9 years ago

Jon: Resistance is on. That’s the terrible hum noise, the knobs on the roller. No clue what the guy filming was talking about.

Rico
Rico
9 years ago

I think they were just trying to see what it took to get a basic prototype working. Obviously you won’t really use that, but at their young age it’s cool to dive in and make the parts. It’s those little early steps and successes that can lead to greatness.

Mark
Mark
9 years ago

Robert W: We did our best with software calibration but temperature variances made that harder and werent accounted for. This could be made better easily though.

jon: I was fairly certain the resistance was on when we filmed

Eaton
Eaton
9 years ago

Love how the wheel is el-straight

Ronin
Ronin
9 years ago

My Elite turbo trainer rarely ever gets the cadence correct, this is better.

Good work from a these electrical engineers…shame they didn’t minor in mechanical engineering too, they would have spent an extra dollar for some chain oil.

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