USB Dynamo?

greedy86

Morning all,

I've been doing a little research into a suitable dynamo usb charger?

Basically I'm thinking about taking a week off and doing a cycle tour of the western isles of Scotland. I was looking into possible options for charging my phone on the go?

I've researched it a fair bit but I'm finding it hard to find a good USB specific dynamo? I'm not looking at spending a lot of money nor am I all that interested in lights as i'm not planning on being out at night.

If any of you have any suggestions/recommendations/advice it will be greatfully received.

Thanks

Kind Regards

warpcow

These do the job, and are at the cheaper end of the market (then there's the dynamo cost to factor in too):

http://tomsbiketrip.com/biologic-reecha ... ones-more/

Cheapest Shimano dynamo hub (fully functional, just heavy) and you're away.

Edit: just done a bit of reading about the SunUp thing mentioned at the end and it seems to be pretty good value: spoke-mounted dynamo, cabling and USB converter for £80 sounds good. Pretty positive stuff on other forums too.

greedy86

Mhmm....

Having a Dynamo to charge my phone is a luxury rather than necessity.

As I mentioned though....money is tight, or at least, I am! ha!

I don't want a hub dynamo....that would mean a new wheel, wouldn't it?

I was just hoping for something to convert my pedal power to charge my phone - nothing more, nothing less....

But I haven't come across anything suitable yet. Even just the old style dynamos....that have a usb adaptor.

Chunkers1980

I too did some research. A few of your questions are answered in here.

http://tomsbiketrip.com/biologic-reecha ... ones-more/

TBH I would just get a battery power pack and charge that where I could via mains.

arthur_scrimshaw

Why not get a decent sized backup battery - I used one of these on a jogle and only recharged it once. Recharged my phone, garmin and lights with it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TeckNet-PowerZe ... power+bank

greedy86

Funny....I read that article too.

Mhmm...I don't know about you guys....but surely a bike is a perfect way of generating electricity, right?

With all the smartphones, tech etc etc available....surely someone should have come up with a cheap/efficient dynamo type product?

Hmm....there's a gap in the market for someone to exploit....

Chunkers1980

I agree. There're so many moving parts and wind on a bike that there must be other and better ways than a hub based dynamo.

Ber Nard

Chunkers1980 wrote:

I agree. There're so many moving parts and wind on a bike that there must be other and better ways than a hub based dynamo.

Problem is none of them move as much or as fast as the wheels. If it's a drive train based dynamo you'll lose charge when coasting but the wheels are still tuning so they could keep generating power.

Ouija

Disk brake based dynamos? Have a two ring rotor. The outer ring for brake pads and an inner ring consisting of embedded neodysium magnets and a combined (or seperate) caliper/dynamo.

Just a thought....

After all, you can get things like the BikeCharge dynamo for charging mobiles that fits between the wheel and fork on most wheels...



so why not kill two birds with one stone and merge disk brake rotors with dynamo rotors?

paul.skibum

Worth asking in the touring section over on the road forum - people on there might have extra knowledge/experience.

Man Of Lard

It's not rocket science - you need the output of any dynamo rectified, smoothed and voltage regulated - when I was a lad that would be approximately 6 discrete electronic components (bridge rectifier, voltage regulator IC & a big capacitor).

A very cursory glance at eBay shows item 141047869109 where some enterprising chap has packaged it all up for you. No idea what his circuit design looks like or the quality of any of his components...