Does anybody use a dynamo to charge up a phone/gps etc?

[CycleTourer]

Not what you were asking for, but I bought one of these recently:-

http://www.powermonkey-explorer.com/

Hi Wallbyhunter,

Looks a good product, have you had chance to road test it? How well does the powermonkey explorer charge with the solar panel?

 

[wallabyhunter]

The version I bought was a mians charged on, only bought it recently, used it once. It gave my pda/phone 3/4 charge. I have never used solar chargers, looked in to them many years ago, got the impression they were ineffective. But things change.

gb

 

[Biking-Geordie]

I can recommend the Solio Charger. It has its own internal battery for storing a full charge so you can leave home with a full charge (or two) in your bag and top up without anyone noticing in pubs, cafes etc. and then charge your stuff up when your asleep in your tent afterwards. Of course there is always the option (which I have used when the sun shines) of strapping it to the top of a pannier or bar bag to get a bit of free juice to keep it topped up as well.

 

[PaulSB]

However on our recent tour to Iceland a couple of sites asked for a charging charge of about 300kr per item. This worked out as just over £2 per item which I thought was very steep considering the low current consumed by these items.

It has been estimated more than 50% of UK domestic electricity comsumption is now accounted for by all those little electrical gizmos we carry around, phones, iPods, PDAs etc. I think if I ran a campsite I'd consider a charging charge.

 

[Butterfly]

I've used a dynamo powered phone charger and a solar phone charger. The solar one I had didn't manage to keep a phone charged over a (not very sunny) week, but I think the dynamo one would. The main reason I stopped using it was that it worked loose and the conection was iffy. I think the newer solar chargers are probably better than mine is.

 

[andygates]

It has been estimated more than 50% of UK domestic electricity comsumption is now accounted for by all those little electrical gizmos we carry around, phones, iPods, PDAs etc. I think if I ran a campsite I'd consider a charging charge.

Rubbish. Just think about how much they consume. Source?

And, er, no I don't but I was going to build a Dynohub into my trailer wheel...

 

[CycleTourer]

It has been estimated more than 50% of UK domestic electricity comsumption is now accounted for by all those little electrical gizmos we carry around, phones, iPods, PDAs etc. I think if I ran a campsite I'd consider a charging charge.

I don't object to paying a fee if it is reasonable. At this site and many others camper vans and caravans were only being charged @300kr for electric hookup, were they could be running a fridge all night, charge their batteries, boil kettles, run microwaves TV's etc, etc. I was charged 600kr to charge a mobile phone and a PDA.

Just another example of proper campers, meaning those that use tents, being treated like second class citizens!

 

[PaulSB]

Rubbish. Just think about how much they consume. Source?

Apologies it was rubbish. Non heating and lighting appliances now account for more than 50% of domestic consumption. TV stand by, PCs, chargers etc account for 13.1% of consumption - still a sizeable amount.

Source EU Joint Research Council http://sunbird.jrc.it/energyefficiency/pdf/EnEff Report 2006.pdf

And what %age did they say that plasma TVs account for?

Possibly but the charts are very complex. Page 30ish seems to be the place to look ..............if you're really interested

 

[psmiffy]

From a read of the instruction manual this would seem to do quite a bit more than just charge AAs (not really the problem as you can just buy them as you go along) ie anything with a relatively small Li ion battery (bearing in mind the length of time you spend on the road it would probably do more than that) - the main problem with it seems to be that it is not finished in a cyclist friendly form

Two possibilities for charging AAs on a camping tour:

a) MTC 4.3
http://www.tunecharger.com/homepage_139.htm
Limited to charging 4xAA or more - there's a minimum battery voltage, and it would want a battery holder and probably a case.

It would seem to be an attractive assesory if you already have a hub dynamo system - make use of something that is pretty useless most of the time (daylight hours). There must be somebody out there who manufactures it or similar in toy form

 

[Brains]

It has been estimated more than 50% of UK domestic electricity comsumption is now accounted for by all those little electrical gizmos we carry around, phones, iPods, PDAs etc. I think if I ran a campsite I'd consider a charging charge.

We found a clever version of this last year in a campsite in France.

They had a load of standard lockers of the type you get at swimming pools (but smaller) , you put in your one euro coin and the door opens and the key is released, you then have a single socket inside from which you can charge your item. So for your 1 euro you got the electrical charge and your item is secure whilst it's charging.

I thought it was a pretty cool idea, they not only make money out of the charge (once the cost of the lockers and wiring paid off) but they don't have the responsibility of looking after your item, and you can charge up stuff in the middle of the night.

 

[Riverman]

I've just found a campsite that offers electric hookup.

£6 for a pitch

£7.50 for a pitch with a hookup.

Wouldn't mind staying there in my one person tent lol. £1.50 seems very good for electricy each day. I gather I'll need abit of kit to use the hookup but on a bike I've no idea what.

 

[rich p]

I've just found a campsite that offers electric hookup.

£6 for a pitch

£7.50 for a pitch with a hookup.

Wouldn't mind staying there in my one person tent lol. £1.50 seems very good for electricy each day. I gather I'll need abit of kit to use the hookup but on a bike I've no idea what.

What do you want electricity for?

 

[Riverman]

Would be very handy to use a netbook and to charge mobile phones.

creature comforts

I imagine doing this in a tent wouldn't be very safe, especially if it rained.

 

[TopCat]

Wot about this?

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/12/16/bike-powered-cellphone-charger-by-oscar-lhermitte/

Or go Solar and make your own.

http://www.instructables.com/id/SNWK4JWFPWWYPT1/

Tom

 

[Joe24]

I've just found a campsite that offers electric hookup.

£6 for a pitch

£7.50 for a pitch with a hookup.

Wouldn't mind staying there in my one person tent lol. £1.50 seems very good for electricy each day. I gather I'll need abit of kit to use the hookup but on a bike I've no idea what.

You have to have a main hook up. The ones that Millets do(and a few other shops) are about £50 IIRC. Its a long length of wire with the correct connector on one end, and big box with socks on(got fuses in the box) on the other.