If you like to see some real backyard hacking have a look at this video by kurtscottage. He is spinning an old car alternator with a gas motor and with a bit of rewiring and connecting through some home made transformers he is able to generate 120 VAC. Now the frequency is not always 60 HZ so I am not sure I would connect my laptop charger the the make shift power source but some resistive lights won’t be bothered by the non standard frequency.