Watch Video Demonstration here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiWwXp95doY

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UP to this point, the bicycle generator has not been hooked up.  That is why the Green line has been at  about zero.  The green line is telling us there has been no current flowing in the generator part of the circuit.   This is because the generator was not connected. 

At this point I connect the pedal power bike generator which is just a permanent magnet DC motor acting as a generator.  The motor has a rubber roller mounted to it which is mounted firmly against the rear tire of a mountain bike.   If you want to know generator theory and see how a generator works, click here.   

Typically in this situation you would want to put a large diode in the generator circuit.  This would prevent current from flowing back into the generator causing it to start spinning on its own.  However in this demonstration, it was left out for the purpose teaching basic behaviours of this system.

You can see the that the blue line and the green line are a near mirror image of each other.  The big spike that occurs is the inrush current to the motor.  It spikes at about -12 Amps.  Then levels off at about -2.5 Amps.  The reason why this value is negative is to indicate that it is consuming power.  

Note at this point, the battery is now providing power to two things, the TV through the inverter, and the DC permanent magnet motor which is just free spinning now against a bike tire.   The battery is providing power of about 120Watts.  If we wanted to stop the voltage and current from going into the permanent magnet motor, then we would put a diode there.  (I left it out just for the sake of discussing the theory of this system).