Keeping gadgets charges while touring

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vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
I saw the Busch and Muller e-work charger suggested as a means of keeping GPS systems, phones and MP3 players charged up. It seemed exactly what I needed - I connects directly to SON or Shimano dynamo hubs and has a current and voltage adjustment facility.

St John Cycles stock such devices at the princely sum of £153.49 including postage.

Be aware that they are obtainable from Roseversand.com in Germany for £107 inc postage - took three days to arrive.

I wonder how St John's justify their mark up.
 

rualexander

Legendary Member
I saw the Busch and Muller e-work charger suggested as a means of keeping GPS systems, phones and MP3 players charged up. It seemed exactly what I needed - I connects directly to SON or Shimano dynamo hubs and has a current and voltage adjustment facility.

St John Cycles stock such devices at the princely sum of £153.49 including postage.

Be aware that they are obtainable from Roseversand.com in Germany for £107 inc postage - took three days to arrive.

I wonder how St John's justify their mark up.

These kind of price differences are pretty much the norm between stuff bought in the UK (not just SJSC) and elsewhere in the EU, especially the big German online shops (Bike24 and Starbike are others). It's always worth checking their prices particularly when buying high price items. And if the exchange rate ever improves in our favour again the difference becomes even greater.
 
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vernon

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
I saw a much more interesting device at the weekend, a wind powered charger that claimed it could charge a phone in two hours
It was made by MiniKin, looked pretty good to me

http://www.gadgetsho...arger/EPN369074

I see Maplins have them for sale for under £10 !

it looks rather frail. Apparently the windmill charges an internal battery which then is used to charge the portable device.
 

Brains

Legendary Member
Location
Greenwich
it looks rather frail. Apparently the windmill charges an internal battery which then is used to charge the portable device.

The device was at a Scout show -and had lasted all day,soit was robust enough for that
It may not be a bottle charger, but seemed strong enough

At £10 you can't really go wrong,but I'd like to know if the manfacturers claims are correct
 
Location
Hampshire
We do take a phone with us when touring, but just charge it up in the campsite shower block or a bar/cafe every few days. Course, if you're wild camping and not going to bars or cafes you can't do that. I freely admit to being a bit of a luddite when it comes to gps and blackcurrents and stuff.
 

CycleTourer

Veteran
Location
Bury St. Edmunds
Ive just taken delivery of 2 hymini wind chargers. ( i didnt get the solar add ons) have mounted them to the front of the bike.
Havnt really tested them properly yet. But I will!

I hope that you have more success with them than I did with mine. Used it for 4 weeks in Iceland 2 years ago and it hardly charged at all. Thought I had got a duff one and sent it back for a replacement. Used that again in Iceland last year, that one was just as useless!

If you read in the small print it says it wont charge from wind power if the battery is low or totally empty, so you have got to keep some or put some charge in it from the mains. When you are miles from anywhere that isn't a help.

I have also tried solar power for charging gadgets but that hasn't been very successful. The most effective way of charging gadgets I have found so far is a SON dynamo and the e-werk. It may not be cheap solution but it does work. I have a 30min commute into work and that is enough to keep my smart phone topped up, only if I have been using it a lot do I have to top up from the mains.

The nice thing about the e-werk is that it comes with a range of leads and you can alter the voltage and current output, therefore I can charge my phone, camera, radio and GPS batteries as and when I need to.
 
Location
Midlands
The more I read about devilish and cunning plans to keep the gadgies charged when on tour - and having dabbled unsuccessfully with solar panels – the more I feel inclined to just stick with this



Cost 5€ and last year over 135days I probably spent less than €10 on electricity and more or less kept the gadgies operational.
 

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rich p

ridiculous old lush
Location
Brighton
We do take a phone with us when touring, but just charge it up in the campsite shower block or a bar/cafe every few days. Course, if you're wild camping and not going to bars or cafes you can't do that. I freely admit to being a bit of a luddite when it comes to gps and blackcurrents and stuff.


Me too Dave. I switch it off all day and check in for messages every evening and morning and the battery pretty much lasts 2 weeks.
(Assuming I use it sparingly) Shaver points are a good resource!
I use a phone that takes AA batteries too
 
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vernon

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
I hope that you have more success with them than I did with mine. Used it for 4 weeks in Iceland 2 years ago and it hardly charged at all. Thought I had got a duff one and sent it back for a replacement. Used that again in Iceland last year, that one was just as useless!

If you read in the small print it says it wont charge from wind power if the battery is low or totally empty, so you have got to keep some or put some charge in it from the mains. When you are miles from anywhere that isn't a help.

I have also tried solar power for charging gadgets but that hasn't been very successful. The most effective way of charging gadgets I have found so far is a SON dynamo and the e-werk. It may not be cheap solution but it does work. I have a 30min commute into work and that is enough to keep my smart phone topped up, only if I have been using it a lot do I have to top up from the mains.

The nice thing about the e-werk is that it comes with a range of leads and you can alter the voltage and current output, therefore I can charge my phone, camera, radio and GPS batteries as and when I need to.

Hurrah!

Confirmation that I've made the correct decision for me. I did think that the e-work was expensive, especially at SJS cycles prices, but all of the alternatives lacked convincing reviews about their efficacy. One of the devices that I use takes an eternity to charge and I'm loath to leave it unsupervised in the toilet/shower block.
 

sgw

New Member
I tend to stay in the wilds and rarely have access to mains charging. Like rich p said above, I arrange to have my phone switched on for set hours per day (although getting a signal at all is patchy in the Dales).

While not suitable for the "heavy" gadget user, I think one of these might be useful as an emergency backup.
 
Same here, the phone stays off for most of the day, just switched on to check morning and evening for long enough to check for msg's. the only gadget that runs during my day riding is my Satmap CPS which runs on AA batteries which as easy to obtain in most shops across thsi world.
 
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