Connecting the PedalPC to your Network

You control the PedalPC from your computer through your local area network (LAN), over either a wired or wireless (wifi) connection. A wired connection is the easiest to set up, but requires an ethernet cable and a nearby open ethernet port on your LAN. A wireless connection is a bit more work to configure, but allows you to set up your desk anywhere within range of your LAN’s wifi access point.

Create a Wired Connection (optional)

Plug one end of an ethernet cable into the empty port of your internet gateway, router, switch, or wall jack.

Plug the other end of the cable into the ethernet jack on the PedalPC’s computer.

Power Up the PedalPC

Begin pedalling slowly and gradually increase your speed until the indicator LED in the desktop is a steady green, like this:

If you pedal too slow, it turns red:

If you pedal too slowly for more than 5 seconds, the LED begins blinking red:

If you pedal too fast, the LED rapidly blinks red and green:

If you pedal too fast for too long, the generator will disconnect for four seconds to alert you, but the battery will continue suppying power to the power sockets.

If you stop pedaling, power to all the power sockets will be cut after 5 minutes, to prevent draining the battery. (You can adjust this setting later.) If you resume pedaling at any time during those 5 minutes, the shutdown timer resets. If you stop pedaling again, a new 5 minute countdown period will start.

Connect to the PedalPC

If you did not create a wired connection in the section above, connect your computer or phone to the access point created by the PedalPC by choosing ‘PedalPC_AP’ in the list of available wireless networks. (It may take a couple of minutes until it shows up on your computer’s list of available wifi access points.) The access point’s default password is ‘asdf1234’.

Once you are connected to the PedalPC’s access point, open your web browser and go to the address http://pedalpc.local:8081. (If you get an error, first double-check that your computer is connected to the ‘PedalPC_AP’ access point; if so, then use the address http://10.10.10.1:8081 instead.) You should see the following login page:

Enter your name and email address as a new user on the login page, then click the “Create New Account” button.

You should now see the dashboard:

(This is a screenshot of my current page. Yours will look different, since you have no history and aren’t powering anything yet.)

Click on “Settings” in the left-hand menu.

You will see a page like this:

If are not connected over a wired connection, choose your local wifi network from the dropdown list and enter your wifi password.

(If your wifi network is not listed, click the “Refresh List” button to perform a network rescan.) Press the update button at the bottom of the form and wait a minute while the computer connects to your LAN.

After it finishes connecting to your LAN’s wifi access point, you should see this:

After the PedalPC is connected to your network, you can reconnect your computer to the wifi network you normally use, then reload the dashboard page in your browser by typing Ctrl + R if you’re using Windows or Linux, or Command + R if you’re on a Mac.

Change AP Settings

To prevent unwanted users from accessing your network over the PedalPC’s access point, change it’s password to something more secure or turn it off entirely.

To change the PedalPC's access point settings, return to the settings page and either turn off the network, or change the password (_highly recommended_). You can also change it's network name (aka SSID) to something other than 'PedalPC_AP' if you desire. Click the update button at the bottom of the page to save the changes.