Dynamo Powered rechargers Various

[Somnolent]

Thanks for that Kim, very useful.

Having now received the dahon recharge, and looking at the wires provided with a view to implementing Feline's suggestions, I had similar questions to PpPete. As I'll probably put both the rectifier gizmo and battery in my bar bag, and only wanting one wire from the dynohub (to avoid the fugliness seen above), it meant some kind of branching connector/switch arrangement on the wire to the light. I think I can live without a switch if the connectors are conveniently placed.

If I understood Kim's arrrangement correctly, one side of the Tamiya has wires to both light and hub.  The other side just goes to whatever you have in your bar bag.   

[Kim]

If I understood Kim's arrrangement correctly, one side of the Tamiya has wires to both light and hub.  The other side just goes to whatever you have in your bar bag.

Indeed.  They're designed for relatively hefty currents, so there's no problem fitting two wires in each pin.

[Feline]

I am astounded by the fugliness of the hub connection above! My piggy back spades with heat shrink on them look pretty much identical to single spades 

[Kim]

I must confess that I'm slightly confused by how four spade connectors attach to a Shimano lego-brick in the first place...

[Frere]

function over form, init?

Frere

[Somnolent]

I must confess that I'm slightly confused by how four spade connectors attach to a Shimano lego-brick in the first place...

via the use of what they call a piggy-back spade, not very wel illustrated on this page: http://www.pedalpower.com.au/page22.html - but essentially there's a Shimano lego-brick to male spade converter, then a female spade with a "side-arm" that is a male spade.

I am astounded by the fugliness of the hub connection above! My piggy back spades with heat shrink on them look pretty much identical to single spades 

Probably because I put a chunk of sugru over the back of each male spade to give something for cold wet fingers to grab hold of.  I'd like to see a picture of your arrangement though, if not too much trouble.

Off to my local R/C model shop later to look at Tamiya connectors.

[L CC]

I've been trying to find a descent alternative to the B&M cache battery, but all the ones I tried so far fail to provide charge whilst being charged.

I even started to make a spread sheet, which tells me I should next try the Tekkeon TekCharge MP1860A. Apparently this will give at least 3x more mAh per gram and per £ than the B&M.

The battery with my dahon will kick out as it's receiving, but my pebble doesn't. Mr Smith uses his
TeckNet with his e-werk.

[Aushiker]

via the use of what they call a piggy-back spade,

You can maybe see them better in this photo.



BTW does anyone know the size of them or where to get some spares online?

Thanks
Andrew

[Somnolent]

BTW does anyone know the size of them or where to get some spares online?

A new piggyback set is €15.
Honestly don't know if they are a standard size, the male blade is about 4.8mm wide and I guess that is the crucial dimension, but all the ones I've found online are quoted at 6.3mm size .

[MattH]

SJS do them, but not particularly cheap (£9.60 for a box of 20).

FWIW I'm using 6.3mm connectors on one of my bikes onto a SON, because that's what I had to hand

[Somnolent]

Off to my local R/C model shop later to look at Tamiya connectors.

Bugger... all the convenience of a shop for R/C models, trains, scalextric nerds about 1/2 mile away... and they only stock the pre-wired connectors.  Now ordered on-line.

[Aushiker]

Thanks for the suggestions and sizing information.

Andrew

[Deano]

I saw Evans are off-loading the Dahon Recharge for £30.... so I clicked 'buy'. Perhaps a decision I'll regret in time (given all that's been said about the unit) but I figured I'd give it a go anyway since there are reports of people having had no problems with it.... perhaps they don't descend at speed though?!

Anyways, are there any suggestions simple enough for idiots (I.e. me!) to follow that might preserve the life of the recharge?

Mine has survived a month in India (tempting fate, anyone?). The trick seems to be careful management: making sure it's actually charging, which is an art in itself. As Kim says, it's a decent USB-chargeable battery in its own right, which you can clip to your handlebars.

[Andrew]

The trick seems to be careful management: making sure it's actually charging, which is an art in itself.

Yes, that appears to be half the trick. I'm going to have to devise some sort of mental note/reminder thing to ensure I remember. And then to turn it off for descents!

[Feline]

The trick seems to be careful management: making sure it's actually charging, which is an art in itself.

Yes, that appears to be half the trick. I'm going to have to devise some sort of mental note/reminder thing to ensure I remember. And then to turn it off for descents!

I do the opposite and turn mine on during the descents! Make sure the green light is showing on the battery pack (receiving current) and it will be fine. I turn mine off via my own switch on ascents to minimise drag when I don't want it. Downhill the power comes for free 

The flaw with the Dahon is that they put an on-off switch on the battery pack at all, since they categorically tell you never to have it turned off when the rectifier is connected to the hub. I never turn mine off for receiving power ever, I use my home made switch to basically disconnect the whole thing from the hub instead which is why mine is still going strong after months of use (so far).

[Kim]

I assume (and it is only an assumption) that the on/off switch prevents the charging electronics from slowly discharging the battery when it isn't doing anything.

[Feline]

I assume (and it is only an assumption) that the on/off switch prevents the charging electronics from slowly discharging the battery when it isn't doing anything.

I don't think it does, at present I am using the battery pack only on my non-dyno hub new bike, and I charged it up from the mains about 3 weeks ago. I'm doing mainly 100k rides at the moment so the Garmin doesn't tend to need recharging much during rides unless I forgot to charge it fully beforehand. The Reecharge pack still has full power according to the 3 LEDs and is permanently set to 'on'. The green light only shows when it is actually getting current though, not all the time. I'm pretty impressed at its ability not to discharge when not used.

I've always assumed that they designed the on-off button so that people could turn it off when they didn't want any extra drag, then they later realised that this just burns out the rectifier so then added the instructions never to leave it off when moving 

[Andrew]

I do the opposite and turn mine on during the descents! Make sure the green light is showing on the battery pack (receiving current) and it will be fine.

Yes, sorry, I meant turn off the rectifier gizmo thing itself (with the diy fitted switch) rather than turn off the battery. My intention was to (try and) leave the battery on all of the time.

[Feline]

I do the opposite and turn mine on during the descents! Make sure the green light is showing on the battery pack (receiving current) and it will be fine.

Yes, sorry, I meant turn off the rectifier gizmo thing itself (with the diy fitted switch) rather than turn off the battery. My intention was to (try and) leave the battery on all of the time.

  I was just checking you weren't heading for a burnout!

[Somnolent]

Separate review of Pedalpower SIC posted in the reviews section:
http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=57190.0

Some of it repeats stuff posted upthread here, but thought it was worth a stand-alone review now I've actually used it, and investgated behaviour "on the road", if only briefly so far.

[Feline]

I mentioned the Softhema on the Thorn forum. A chap there had his die on him after a few days http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=3802.msg17208#msg17208

I am planning on buying one just for fun to test it out given the low cost. Because it's output is to a mini USB connector I have already bought a female mini-USB to female-USB adapter for £2 so I can connect it to my Pebble 5000wotsit battery pack. I like to keep these kinds of devices a battery pack away from my Garmin and iPhone in case of epic phailz and so they don't suffer from a constant on and off current. I will put it through it's paces a bit and let you know how it performs in the wild.
It has the advantage of being cheap enough to have one on each bike, a built in switch, and a connector that will be easy to disconnect the stuff from when it is not needed leaving nothing very unsightly on the bike.

OK I can now report on using the Softhema thingy with a battery pack (the Reecharge one) on a multi-day ride. We did 536km riding to the Brevet Cymru and back over a 44 hour period. I wired up the Softhema cable direct to piggyback spades on the SON dynamo hub using a twin core wire from my tool box (I think it was the one you get with the hub for adding a rear light) as an extension because the front hub is a long way from where I want my Garmin on the back of the tandem.

The Softhema has 3 wires as it's maker intends you to put it in the lighting circuit and the USB circuit so that it's switch selects between dynamo light and USB (and never both or neither). I didn't want mine wired like that for 3 reasons:
1. In the event of a problem with the Softhema wire I want to be able to disconnect it and use the dynamo light. I feel this is less risky when you are really reliant on your dynamo light. This means I want the dynamo light to have it's own 2 spades at the hub and be unmolested by the extra wiring.
2. I want to have the option of turning the USB charging circuit off. My switch does USB on or off with how I've wired it.
3. I want to be able to have light (all be it dimmer) and USB charging at the same time in certain situations. I've done this on occasion at dawn where the Garmin has finally used all the battery pack juice overnight but the ambient light is still a little dim and I want to keep my front light on to be seen so I'm not too bothered by it being a bit dimmer than usual.

So what I did was simply connect the green and white Softhema wires to the 2 terminals of my dyno hub leaving the 3rd wire end insulated and unused. I covered the join with heat shrink and zip tied it along the middle frame tube of the tandem.

Now the Softhema wire ends in a mini-USB connector which would plug directly into your Garmin. I don't like this system because you are really trusting the thing not to allow current spikes through that could cause damage, and in any case things like garmins hate getting stop-start external power and would keep bleeping and giving 'external power lost' messages every time you stopped at a junction. So I bought a female mini-USB to female USB connector very cheaply on ebay. I have a USB cable that fits the Dahon Reecharge current in hole which I plug into that. These wires and the battery pack sits inside my small frame bag, and I tied the Softhema switch to the frame where I can reach it.

I left home with the Garmin and Reecharge pack full. We rode the 3 hours to Chepstow and the first few hours of the Audax on the Garmin's internal battery with the Softhema switch off. In the afternoon I turned it on and achieved a fully charged up Garmin and a full battery pack at dusk. I then turned the Softhema off Simon turned the Edelux on. I ran the Garmin with the backlight on constantly at 5% all night as I always do. At 6am the battery pack had just fully discharged and the Garmin was at 3/4 full. By the time we got home the Garmin was still half full, but I could have charged everything up again during the daylight riding if I had wanted to. It all worked exactly as planned and gives me confidence to know the system will work on a 600km or multi-day tour so long as we do enough riding each day to recharge it all 

In summary, the Softema wire is neat, quite cheap and it works. You just need to work out how you are going to connect it's mini-USB end to whatever it is you plan to connect.

[bikey-mikey]

aaaaargh...

I've just read this whole thread in one go - it makes sense for a while, then it blanks me with electronics jargon that I have never learned (don't laugh) such as regulator, male / female spades, etc etc etc - wish I still had a brain...

I'm running a SON dynamo with Supernova light, connected directly together with the Supernova wiring.

Separately I use a Tecknet iEP380 to top up/recharge the Garmin(s) - the Tecknet gets charged up in MacDonalds or hotels or home..... it does 30 plus hours on the Garmin(s) so not really a problem...... however..... I have often wondered about using the dynamo to recharge the Tecknet, but my LBS don't have experience of, ahem, the stuff on this thread......

I do have issues with the cables between the Tecknet and the Garmins breaking, so am forever buying new ones, but we are talking extremely high mileage, and mainly on audax style rough roads, so there is a lot of vibration which it is convenient to blame.

What I need is for someone to tell me what to buy to tie this all together, neatly, so I can recharge from the dynamo as well, keeping the dynamo / light connection hard wired, with the rest plugged into / removable from it, a la Feline solution, .......... or preferably to buy the gubbins for me, and then come along and fit it, and teach me how to use it......

I have a great coffee machine, and can provide lots of CAIK....   

[Feline]

...it makes sense for a while, then it blanks me with electronics jargon that I have never learned (don't laugh) such as regulator, male / female spades, etc etc etc - wish I still had a brain...

This bit is easy, you just need to think of the male terminals penetrating the orifice of the female ones and the terminology then makes perfect sence 
The regulator is just a small blob thing in the wire from the hub to the battery to do things to the current to make it suitable (like remove big spikes and stuff like that you don't need to know about).

Separately I use a Tecknet iEP380 to top up/recharge the Garmin(s) - the Tecknet gets charged up in MacDonalds or hotels or home..... it does 30 plus hours on the Garmin(s) so not really a problem...... however..... I have often wondered about using the dynamo to recharge the Tecknet, but my LBS don't have experience of, ahem, the stuff on this thread......

Technets are fine with one caveat, they cannot be charged up themselves and charge the device at the same time. This means on long tours or rides like PBP where you won't have access to a power socket for the whole 90 hours there are logistical problems with working out when to connect what and for how long. Not what you need when you're riding. This is where the Dahon Reecharge battery pack is pretty unique, because it can do both at once. I don't know of any other USB chargeable battery pack that can do the same.

What I need is for someone to tell me what to buy to tie this all together, neatly, so I can recharge from the dynamo as well, keeping the dynamo / light connection hard wired, with the rest plugged into / removable from it, a la Feline solution, .......... or preferably to buy the gubbins for me, and then come along and fit it, and teach me how to use it......

I have a great coffee machine, and can provide lots of CAIK....   

I could certainly show you my set up, and/or help you fit and fettle your cables. However you need to decide which system to order first!

[L CC]

I don't know of any other USB chargeable battery pack that can do the same.

The pebble doesn't, but the teck-net does.
The reecharge battery has a feeble capacity compared to either of them.

[Feline]

I don't know of any other USB chargeable battery pack that can do the same.

The pebble doesn't, but the teck-net does.
The reecharge battery has a feeble capacity compared to either of them.

Which Tech-net have you got? I have a 7000mAh one and it can definitely not do both simultaneously (nor can the pebble as you say).