HYmini wind and solar charger

[mike1026]

I have been using a HYmini pack to keep my PDA charged and have been surprised at how effective it is. Admitedly the weather has been sunny and windy of late so I suspect that on cloudy still days it will be less effective. So far it can charge the inbuilt battery, in the wind turbine part, over two days. Once this is charged it has more than enough to charge my PDA. It also comes with a mains charger that is lighter than my PDA charger and plugs into a razor type socket; I have used this in a hotel.
The solar panel is not weatherproof but I have consistently used it in my map case mounted on a bar bag.
My daily PDA use while on tour is several hours including phone calls internet and reading e books.
I could not buy this package in the UK so I wrote to HYmini and they were more than happy to supply it direct. It cost $28 for the postage and the kit including a bike mount cost $83.97.
For full details of Hymini wind and solar pack click here
The person I dealt wih was Eldad Ahrony at <eldad@hymini.com> who is very helpful.
Other than being a satisfied customer I have no link to or interest in HYmini.

 

[CycleTourer]

Mike, could you just clarify whether you used the wind turbine part of it charge the internal battery only or did you use the solar charger add on.?

The only reason I ask is that I tried an HYmini using the wind charger on one of our bikes for 4-5 hours each day for 2 weeks in Iceland last year and we were cycling most of the time above the 9mph minimum charging speed. It produced very little charge and could only charge the phone for about 30secs before dying.

It would work OK if you charged the internal battery from the mains and then used it to charge a phone.

I must admit I was quite disappointed with it and have given up on it.

 

[mike1026]

Cycle Tourer,
I was out a couple of days where not much sun and mostly used the wind charger after which it charged the PDA from 65% to full. The rest of the time I have used it has been a combination of wind and solar. All I can suggest is to have a word with Eldad Ahrony.
By the way your web site is very good and quite timely for me as in July I am off to the Hoek and plan to use the NSCR as far as Hamburg then cut across to Kiel to see some friends.

 

[Riverman]

That thing looks very cool but why is it so damn small? You could run a turbine with a foot diameter on the back of a bike successfully I'm sure, can't imagine how much power such a device would deliver.

I guess there would be legal issues, especially if it was slightly to the left or right of the bike rather than dead center.

Two turbines either side of and the diameter of one of the wheels would look funny. As would shredding a motorist's tyres if he tried to run you over. I guess on the downside it could shred your legs, although you could protect one side with a guard

James Bond anyone?

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftYSNoFmzog


Check out this news article.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/12/wind-turbine-bicycle-unveiled-115875-20693886/

Wierd. Any other news on this? A bike powered by a wind turbine with no pedals? odd. I guess you could use the power from the wind turbines to propell the bike only surely the drag caused by the turbines would cancel out any electrical power you generate. Still the faster you go, the faster the turbines spin and the faster you go..

 

[andym]

Hi Mike. thanks. I'll hae to dig mine out and give it a serious trial.

Just as a note of clarification: the Hymini wind turbine is available in the UK - presumably you are referring to the combination of solar panel and wind turbine.

That thing looks very cool but why is it so damn small? You could run a turbine with a foot diameter on the back of a bike successfully I'm sure, can't imagine how much power such a device would deliver.

[...]

Check out this news article.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/12/wind-turbine-bicycle-unveiled-115875-20693886/

Wierd. Any other news on this? A bike powered by a wind turbine with no pedals? odd. I guess you could use the power from the wind turbines to propell the bike only surely the drag caused by the turbines would cancel out any electrical power you generate. Still the faster you go, the faster the turbines spin and the faster you go..

Erm isn't there a rule of physics that says you can't get out ore energy than you put in?

 

[Riverman]

Conservation of energy.

I'm not a physicist but the problem would rather be the efficiency of the turbines. Remember you're harnessing the force of the wind not just the bikes momentum into the air, otherwise how would the bike with no pedals move?

 

[CycleTourer]

Cycle Tourer,
I was out a couple of days where not much sun and mostly used the wind charger after which it charged the PDA from 65% to full. The rest of the time I have used it has been a combination of wind and solar. All I can suggest is to have a word with Eldad Ahrony.
By the way your web site is very good and quite timely for me as in July I am off to the Hoek and plan to use the NSCR as far as Hamburg then cut across to Kiel to see some friends.

Mike, thanks for that. Sounds like I might have a duff one, I'll get on to Eldad Ahrony at eldad@hymini.com and see if he can get me a replacement.
Glad the site was useful, enjoy your trip up the NSCR.

cheers

Jon

 

[Fnaar]

I could not buy this package in the UK so I wrote to HYmini ...

Not got one myself, but was intrigued and had a look over at Amazon... seems you CAN get them here after all (well, the wind one, could find the solar panel one...)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/HY-Mini-Wind-Turbine/dp/B001A56ONG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1242383362&sr=8-1