Charging: Not bulls or dogs, not hotels or airlines

February 6, 2012

The term "charging" in the Crazyguy search box returns over 13,000 items. If we subtract from this the charging bulls, dogs, hotels, restaurants, airlines, bike shops, etc. we can still see that keeping electronics powered up is a major topic for touring cyclists.

We accept that the only practical way to charge our netbook is from a wall, so that is a lost cause. On the other hand, we have a pile of other electrical stuff: smartphone, headlights, taillights, bike computers, two cameras, and two camping headlights. Most of these last a long time between charges, and so are not too much of a worry. The odd one out is the smartphone.

At first we were unsure whether the smartphone would actually do us much good. Yes, it's a telephone, but we don't really anticipate phoning people much. Yes, it's a camera (and in the Nokia N8 quite a good camera), but our small Canon cameras can be turned on, zoomed, and shot with one hand - a big advantage for catching the passing scene. Yes, it's an alarm, but the sun and eager anticipation always wake us up. Yes, it's a calendar, but Crazyguy keeps track of what day we are on. Yes, it's a GPS, but we have good maps and plan to follow established routes with good signage. Yes, it can play movies, but we are not on this tour to watch movies.

Whoa, back up, ... the movies. Probably intrepid explorers and travelers go anywhere and sleep anywhere without a care. But we (ok, I) need a slight feeling of having a home base. That base is #1 my sleeping bag. No matter where I am, no matter what the circumstance, if I am in my fluffy Mountain Equipment Co-op Sygnet, I am mostly home. I am completely at home if at the same time I can turn on the "TV" and watch or listen to something familiar. (And of course, Dodie has to be there or none of it is any good.)

So the truth is, that is where the smartphone comes in. (Of course, the "business case" did make much of the GPS, emergency phone, backup internet access, function of throwing up a wifi hotspot for the netbook, and blah, blah.)

Unlike the netbook, the smartphone can be charged on the go - either from a solar source or from a dynamo. We thought about testing solar, but seemed attracted by the relative certainty of getting results from the same technology that on a much larger scale put puts most of the power into the wall.

So that opened the question of how dynamo setups actually work and where to get one. We turned to the Crazyguy forums for an answer. The forums really show the strength of the Crazyguy community. People will often send detailed answers to the most abstract questions, within hours.

The forum thread that we started is here , but for those not inclined to jump over there, here is the question that was asked:

When we bought our Bike Friday New World Tourists we knew we were foregoing the dynamo hub and "Reecharge" system(http://www.thinkbiologic.com/products/reecharge) power-pack for cell phone charging offered with the Dahon Speed TR. Now we have decided we need that functionality, but don't want to pay $300+ for a Schmidt dynamo, $200 for eWerk, which is added to the costs of building a new wheel for a total of over $600. Plus, we would need to get the stuff quickly enough to be ready for our upcoming departure, May 1. Dahon sells the Reecharge for about $100 and another $100 buys some kind of Shimano or Sram dynamo hub on Amazon.

Questions:

The Reecharge manual specifies a speed of 15kph for the unit to function with a standard 6V 2.4W dynamo. When touring heavily loaded and at our advanced ages, we seldom average that kind of speed. Will we actually need a Schmidt just because of that? What about using a hub meant for 700C on our 406 (20 inch) wheels to simulate faster pedalling?

Can we find a hub of the right width to fit the New World Tourist?

Which exact affordable, readily obtainable in the US, effective combo that fits can anybody recommend?

The replies in the Forum helped us understand a lot more about the subject, but there was no real answer to the main question - what could we really get, quickly and affordably?

In the end we turned to Clever Cycles in Portland, Oregon. We had stumbled on this shop as we passed through on the way to Eugene (Bike Friday)and points South. You can see some photos of the place in this blog, from January 24 Todd, one of the owners, replied to an email and revealed that he had used a Reecharge on a trip down the coast. Later, one of the mechanics Jeremy, recommended a Shimano hub, and together with a Sun Cr 18 rim and DT Swiss spokes, we were in business.

I undertook to get my hands on the Reecharge, and this proved very easy. I ordered it on Amazon, and it was actually shipped within six hours of the order. One thing, the Reecharge system as one sees it in Youtube demos and in the Amazon photo, focuses on the main control unit, which contains a rechargable battery pack and ports for power inputs and outputs as well as buttons to initiate power input, output, and to show the level of charge. Hardly shown at all are the voltage regulator unit that sits between the dynamo and the battery, or any of the input or output cables, or the wall charger.

Fortunately, the whole package comes in a neat box, and there is no question that a vendor is selling only a selection of the pieces:

The Reecharge comes complete in an environmentally friendly looking box.

Inside is the complete kit, including the voltage regulator, cables, and ends, as well as the battery unit that is all one usually sees in catalogs or videos.

Clever completed the wheel well before we got back to Portland, and it was waiting for us when we walked in the door. Once again we were struck by the wonderful selection of utilitarian bikes they have on display. No kidding, if you love bikes that can do a job (carry kids or cargo, fold and go on the bus, retrieve the baguettes from the bakery each morning) this is really a place to visit!

A lovely Tern in the window at Clever Cycles

The wheel itself gave me pause. When I spun it in my hands, it felt terrible! It was exactly as if the bearings were worn out and/or massively overtightened. I asked the mechanic if he was sure the adjustment was right, and he assured me it was. Now, I know that nothing is free (especially in physics) and that the power generation would come at the price of some friction, but this was weird. I wondered if I was feeling the consequence of going for the relatively cheaper Shimano hub over the Schmidt. So Jeremy has me feel a Schmidt. Also yucchy!

I am assured that I will not feel the roughness and drag when the wheel is on the bike. Ok, the jury is out, then.

Jeremy, Steve, and the dynamo wheel. It was great talking to someone who knew his stuff!

The second slightly jarring thing was that the spokes were noticeably bent into an S shape as they crossed the other spokes and headed from the hub to the rim. It turns out the reason is that the dynamo hub is wider than a normal one, and with a 406 rim the spokes have little room to breathe before they are at the rim. I have no reason to believe that this is a problem, but I did notice that other small wheels with dynamo in the shop feature fewer crosses in the lacing. Anyone have an opinion on this?

Cross three spokes on our new wheel. The spokes have an S curve to them as they cross others on their way from the quite wide hub to the nearby rim of the 406 wheel.

As we left Clever Cycles we once again drooled over every bike on the floor. Here is a random shot of one weird one in the window:

Stay tuned (unless you have already tuned out after all this blah blah!) for more assessment of dynamo powered movies, once the system has had a chance to operate on the bike.

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