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



## Bigtallfatbloke (5 Feb 2008)

I looked at a solar charger which is a great idea until I remembered thaT i LIVE in the uk and not the caribean....I'd like a charger that works on my phone and digi mini tv and any future gps I may get...pro's cons?? Good/bad ones???


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## friedel (5 Feb 2008)

Friends of ours rigged a dynamo up to do just that. They made it themselves with the help of a friend who knew a bit about wiring. There are instructions online. I don't have the link to hand but if you can't find something let me know and I'll ask them for the info, or you could get in touch and ask them yourself. The website is in German but they both speak fluent English. http://bikeaway.info/


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## Bigtallfatbloke (5 Feb 2008)

from what I can gather online the issue is getting enough power...most seem to be just 6v or less. There is also the necessary extra wheel drag. Also different devices use different power levels, so a 'central' power cell would need to be charged up and then be able to supply the relevant power level to individual devices. I havent found anything that can do that yet.


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## Magna (5 Feb 2008)

Someone should market a solution for this! I'm not an electrician but I love the idea of pedalling my way to full power batteries!


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## xilios (5 Feb 2008)

We just ask the reception at the campsite were staying if its possible to charge our phone's and they havn't refused us yet, in any campsite everywhere we've been. Because we use double AA batteries on everything else, night (head lamps), rear lights and camera, we cary along a (lightweight fast loading) battery charger and none have a problem with that either. Sometimes we just ask the trailer or mobile home next to us, this is also a good way to meet people, and after meeting us they also watch our stuff when we go sightseeing or shoping. 
We do offcoarce offer a beer


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## davidwalton (5 Feb 2008)

There is always
http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/pr...orch/?osCsid=14f71ba4ceb6db0457521d3eedcbf2d5

or something similar.


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## Bigtallfatbloke (5 Feb 2008)

I was going to buy this:
http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/pr...ms/solio-mobile-phone-and-ipod-solar-charger/

and probably still will if I cant find the equivalent with a dynamo which seems to be the only box it doesnt tick


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## CycleTourer (5 Feb 2008)

xilios said:


> We just ask the reception at the campsite were staying if its possible to charge our phone's and they havn't refused us yet, in any campsite everywhere we've been. Because we use double AA batteries on everything else, night (head lamps), rear lights and camera, we cary along a (lightweight fast loading) battery charger and none have a problem with that either. Sometimes we just ask the trailer or mobile home next to us, this is also a good way to meet people, and after meeting us they also watch our stuff when we go sightseeing or shoping.
> We do offcoarce offer a beer



We have done the same by asking at the campsite receptions if we can charge up our phone and PDA and they have usually been quite obliging. 

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.

Perhaps this a sign of things to come as so many campers now have mobile phones and ipods etc. Campsites are obviously getting more and more requests, either the charge was to limit the number that they had to look after or cynically another way of making money!


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## davidwalton (5 Feb 2008)

Bigtallfatbloke said:


> I was going to buy this:
> http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/pr...ms/solio-mobile-phone-and-ipod-solar-charger/
> 
> and probably still will if I cant find the equivalent with a dynamo which seems to be the only box it doesnt tick



Perhaps a request to Trevor Baylis is in order, with something that can be attached to *any* cycle to create and store a charge that can then be used for charging everything else. Something that doesn't require a £200 hub dynamo would be better as well


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## xilios (5 Feb 2008)

CycleTourer said:


> We have done the same by asking at the campsite receptions if we can charge up our phone and PDA and they have usually been quite obliging.
> 
> 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.
> 
> Perhaps this a sign of things to come as so many campers now have mobile phones and ipods etc. Campsites are obviously getting more and more requests, either the charge was to limit the number that they had to look after or cynically another way of making money!



We hope it's not a sign of things to come. For charging our phones we always have two with us and use only one at a time (good to have a spare in case of emergency) so if there is a problem with charging we can wait for the next days camping, and as far as the battery charger goes, our main concern is the camera which takes 2 AA's, the head lamps take 4 AA's each the rear bike lights also take 4 AA's so we just swap.


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## vernon (5 Feb 2008)

xilios said:


> We just ask the reception at the campsite were staying if its possible to charge our phone's and they havn't refused us yet, in any campsite everywhere we've been. Because we use double AA batteries on everything else, night (head lamps), rear lights and camera, we cary along a (lightweight fast loading) battery charger and none have a problem with that either. Sometimes we just ask the trailer or mobile home next to us, this is also a good way to meet people, and after meeting us they also watch our stuff when we go sightseeing or shoping.
> We do offcoarce offer a beer



In the UK I've asked cafes and bars to put my phone on charge with no refusals yet. Campers and caravanners with hook ups have never refused either. It's easy enough to get a two pin adapter and use the shaver sockets in the shower blocks for an early morning top up.

In France I took a spare phone battery with me and never ran out of power. My camera and lights all took AA batteries which were easily replaced should they fail. I deliberately chose a camera that took AA cells for maximum availability of a power source.

I've never offered a beer as more often than not I have it offered to me at camp sites by the motorised camping fraternity. I once drank a caravan dry but that's another story


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## xilios (6 Feb 2008)

vernon said:


> I once drank a caravan dry but that's another story



Thats nice give us a bad name so the next cyclist that comes along doesn't get a drop


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## Bigtallfatbloke (6 Feb 2008)

I had a full four course meal with candles, wine and a proper tabecloth laid on for me by a wonderful caravanning couple just outside of Thetford forest last summer...all out of the kindness of their hearts. There are soom wonderful peeps out there.


...how about something like this as an alternative though:

http://www.outdoorworld.co.uk/power....html?osCsid=b52f81305f2235c7bfa146fd8744fad0

ok...so it isnt ideal but seems to me it would make life easier by prolonging the need to find a wall socket


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## andrew_s (6 Feb 2008)

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.

 The B+M Ixon IQ LED light has a "ride & charge" accessory that will allow the dynamo to charge the 4xAA in the light during the day
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/b&m.asp (scroll down a bit)


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## wallabyhunter (21 Mar 2008)

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

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


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## CycleTourer (21 Mar 2008)

wallabyhunter said:


> 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?


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## wallabyhunter (22 Mar 2008)

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


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## Biking-Geordie (22 Mar 2008)

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.


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## PaulSB (24 Mar 2008)

CycleTourer said:


> 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.


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## Butterfly (24 Mar 2008)

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.


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## andygates (24 Mar 2008)

PaulSB said:


> 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...


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## CycleTourer (25 Mar 2008)

PaulSB said:


> 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!


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## PaulSB (30 Mar 2008)

andygates said:


> 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


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## psmiffy (31 Mar 2008)

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


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## Brains (11 Apr 2008)

PaulSB said:


> 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.


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## Riverman (16 May 2009)

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.


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## rich p (16 May 2009)

Riverman said:


> I've just found a campsite that offers electric hookup.
> 
> £6 for a pitch
> 
> ...



What do you want electricity for?


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## Riverman (16 May 2009)

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.


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## TopCat (8 Jun 2009)

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


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## Joe24 (8 Jun 2009)

Riverman said:


> I've just found a campsite that offers electric hookup.
> 
> £6 for a pitch
> 
> ...



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.


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## MockCyclist (8 Jun 2009)

£50? What for?

I made my own out of a 16a blue three pin plug, the type that motorhomes use, available from electrical factors, half a metre of 3-core and a 13a trailing socket. Sometimes the power outlets have to be activated by someone who wants money, sometimes they're always on and who would imagine someone in a tent would want a hookup?


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## summerdays (9 Jun 2009)

Riverman said:


> I've just found a campsite that offers electric hookup.
> 
> £6 for a pitch
> 
> ...



I've not gone down the electric hook up route when I go family camping (with car), but as far as I know its about £60+ for the proper kit which is a chunky extension board like thing with all the correct circuit breakers etc and a long lead. Campers without the proper equipment can be refused permission to hook up to the camp supply. It would be easier to ask the office to charge your phone yourself.


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## summerdays (9 Jun 2009)

MockCyclist said:


> £50? What for?
> 
> I made my own out of a 16a blue three pin plug, the type that motorhomes use, available from electrical factors, half a metre of 3-core and a 13a trailing socket. Sometimes the power outlets have to be activated by someone who wants money, sometimes they're always on and who would imagine someone in a tent would want a hookup?



Lots of campers in tents want electric hook up... you would be surprised what things some folk take with them including TV's, computers, hair dryers, microwaves, fans, heaters etc... sometimes I wonder why they want to go camping (and how they fit it all in the car - ours is always full with just the normal sleeping bags, mats, etc).


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## Woz! (9 Jun 2009)

We regularly take one of those little fan-driven fridges when we go camping with the car. It all started when we had our first kid and we needed somewhere to keep his milk cool.
There's something nice about having milk and butter available when you get up for breakfast


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## Minky (20 Jun 2009)

Here you go: http://www.ikonglobal.com/


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## RedBike (20 Jun 2009)

Minky said:


> Here you go: http://www.ikonglobal.com/




Neither of the two UK distributors link to from their site seem to sell them?


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## Butterfly (27 Jun 2009)

I used to have a dynamo phone charger. I bought it online somewhere. It worked pretty well, by putting power to a thing like a cigarette lighter socket, which you then plugged a car phone charger into. I don't know if it would work with other car chargers like gps. Probably would.


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## spiro (30 Jun 2009)

Butterfly said:


> I used to have a dynamo phone charger. I bought it online somewhere. It worked pretty well, by putting power to a thing like a cigarette lighter socket, which you then plugged a car phone charger into. I don't know if it would work with other car chargers like gps. Probably would.


 The $64,000 question is were did you buy it?????


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## spiro (1 Jul 2009)

Minky said:


> Here you go: http://www.ikonglobal.com/


 I contacted CAT who are listed as a distributor and they said Ikon Global was dissolved in 2006 and the website is a leftover. Just need to find out if anyone else picked up making this useful product.


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## simon_brooke (28 Jul 2009)

*Thread hijack: Iceland*



CycleTourer said:


> 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.



*Thread hijack*

Where in Iceland did you go? What quality were the roads, and what tyres did you use/would you recommend? What mobile phone coverage did you find - widespread, or very patchy?

I was last in Iceland nearly twenty years ago and the rural roads weren't great but I hear they're much improved in many places(?)


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## bike_the_planet (29 Jul 2009)

If you know someone with a bit of electronics knowledge and a soldering iron you could get them to help you build one.

This site here  gives you some ideas on how to do build a USB charger from a dynamo.

For those with some knowledge, virtually all dynamos can provide 6V at 0.5A (around 3W), if that helps.

There's also this off-the-shelf device from Australia. *Disclaimer*: I haven't tried it so I cannot tell you whether it would work well. But it should in principle.

It looks as though they use the dynamo to charge a 3.7V LiPo battery which, in turn, can charge your phone, iPod, etc. This battery pack option is the same one used by some of the solar chargers such as the Solio

For camera charging you really need a 12v source (if you have a 12v cigarette lighter type charger adaptor for you camera). High ouput generators such as the Schmidt SON28 could be used to do this with an inverter circuit.

Hope this helps,


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## CycleTourer (3 Sep 2009)

simon_brooke said:


> *Thread hijack*
> 
> Where in Iceland did you go? What quality were the roads, and what tyres did you use/would you recommend? What mobile phone coverage did you find - widespread, or very patchy?
> 
> I was last in Iceland nearly twenty years ago and the rural roads weren't great but I hear they're much improved in many places(?)



Hi Simon,

Apologies for not replying to your post earlier, we were actually back in Iceland at the time. This was our third visit, there is a travelogue of our first visit  here 
and last years is  here  although we have only posted part 1 so far.

85% of route 1 is now tarmaced and quite a few of the main roads particularly in the SW are tarmac, however the majority of the roads including the interior and smaller roads are still gravel.

We used 45mm wide Schwalbe marathon XR's which were very tough, however we could have done with wider tyres for the more sandy parts of the interior, although there is a pay back on wider tyres when you are on tarmac.

Mobile phone coverage has improved dramatically in the last 3 years as the Icelandics like using them. This year we had far better coverage well into the interior, you will find a map of vodafone's coverage  here  and Siminn's coverage  here . 

As you can see it is nearly 85% coverage with only some mountain ranges and some valleys which still lack coverage. The area south of Landmannalaugar is still bad.

Cheers

Jon


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## simon_brooke (4 Sep 2009)

CycleTourer said:


> Hi Simon,
> 
> Apologies for not replying to your post earlier, we were actually back in Iceland at the time. This was our third visit, there is a travelogue of our first visit  here
> and last years is  here  although we have only posted part 1 so far.
> ...



Thank you very much. My idea is to land at Seydisfjordur and head north to Hraunhafnartangi north of Raufarhofn; and then back by Grimsstadir - it looks from those maps as though I'll have phone coverage most of the way. I'm planning on taking a trailer, so have the possibility to take two sets of tyres, one for tarmac and one for gravel. Obviously weight matters, but seeing I'm taking full camping kit anyway an extra couple of tyres are not that big a deal!


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## CycleTourer (4 Sep 2009)

simon_brooke said:


> Thank you very much. My idea is to land at Seydisfjordur and head north to Hraunhafnartangi north of Raufarhofn; and then back by Grimsstadir - it looks from those maps as though I'll have phone coverage most of the way. I'm planning on taking a trailer, so have the possibility to take two sets of tyres, one for tarmac and one for gravel. Obviously weight matters, but seeing I'm taking full camping kit anyway an extra couple of tyres are not that big a deal!



I don't mean to put you off but just to prepare you, the climb out of Seydisfjordur is a tough one. The ascent to the top is 650m (2,132.ft) of hard climbing and the road is steep and most of it is of a gradient of 1 in 10! It was our first introduction to Iceland and it nearly put my wife off Iceland! Fortunately Iceland isn't all like that, what time of year I you hoping to go?


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## just jim (4 Sep 2009)

Annnnyway, roughly back on track with some stationary power generation this time - pedal powered generators


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## andrew_s (4 Sep 2009)

simon_brooke said:


> My idea is to land at Seydisfjordur and head north....


You are aware that the only ferry route to Seydisfjordur is from northern Denmark? 
Routes others have used, such as joining the boat in the Shetlands/Orkney, no longer run.


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## simon_brooke (5 Sep 2009)

andrew_s said:


> You are aware that the only ferry route to Seydisfjordur is from northern Denmark?
> Routes others have used, such as joining the boat in the Shetlands/Orkney, no longer run.



Yes, I know. It's a bit of a bummer, but there it is. My choices are fly to Denmark, boat to Seydisfjordur, or plane to Keflavik, internal flight to Egilstadir. I've done western Iceland (although given time I'd love to go again); I really, really want to see the east fjords, and I also want to camp north of the arctic circle.



CycleTourer said:


> I don't mean to put you off but just to prepare you, the climb out of Seydisfjordur is a tough one. The ascent to the top is 650m (2,132.ft) of hard climbing and the road is steep and most of it is of a gradient of 1 in 10! It was our first introduction to Iceland and it nearly put my wife off Iceland! Fortunately Iceland isn't all like that, what time of year I you hoping to go?



No worries, I have training climbs of that magnitude (although mainly tarmac - the map _says_ that road is tarmac...). My aim on the first riding day is to get to a wild camp above Ketilstadhir, but I could just stop at Egilstadir if I'm not going well, and that would be a very short stage. I am kind of hoping to get to the arctic circle for June 21st, but appreciate that still pretty early in the season. My outbound route is all coastal and should be OK, not so certain about coming back towards Grimmstadir (but I can always abort that and go back the way I came). 

Planned route here.

Apart from the climb out of Seydisfjordur I imagine I'm going to get serious grades crossing the ness north of Ketilstadhir, and I've really no idea of the profile between Thvera and Grimstadir, or on the N1 south and east from Grimstadir. I'm aiming to do about 60km a day average, when on a tour in Scotland I'd aim to average 100km/day. I'm aware that weather is likely to make some days essentially unridable, and I've deliberately not planned for two successive nights of wild camping - I will stop at hostels and campsites where I can.


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (5 Sep 2009)

to do what the original op asked is really simple and relatively easy. dynamos generate ac batteries need dc. the bit you need in the middle is called a 'bridge rectifier'. these can be bought from places like rs, farnells etc etc. it comes with 4 prongs. 2 in and 2 out. the 2 ins are connected to the wires from the dynamo. the 2 outs are connected to the batteries. i had something like this set up 10 years ago and ran converted cateys with halogen bulbs in for 4 or 5 years and never had to charge the batteries. it was just plain ugly to look at. now that lights have moved on since then i haven't bothered this time round. but its a good idea to use the batteries as a stored energy source to use where you like.


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## andrew_s (5 Sep 2009)

What batteries were you using?
The bridge rectifier is simple enough, but the problem is normally not cooking the batteries. The 0.5A that a hub dynamo will charge them at is a high enough rate to cause damage by overcharging, and if you are charging by riding time it's going to be virtually impossible to keep track of how much charging is required.


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## Rohloff_Brompton_Rider (5 Sep 2009)

this is true, i didn't have one but a zenner diode could be used. it's a long time ago but i remember the batteries were nimh from rs in an ip65 enclosure (6x3inch). i cannot remember the brand of dynamo (also non bottle type) but it was fastened at the back of the seat stay between the bottom rear forks (i.e., where the mudguard fastens). it was also in constant contact with the tyre. i think it was only six volts and i was running a pack of 12v so over cooking wouldn't have been a problem. it's a while since i've done any electronics in anger but i'm sure that there are voltage/rectifiers combination's now.


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## andrew_s (6 Sep 2009)

A 12V pack from a bottom bracket or bottle dynamo is reasonable, but hub dynamos are perfectly happy giving their half an amp at 18 or 20 volts provided you are riding fast enough. Also, the sort of constant voltage charging you would get from a zener is really only suitable for lead acid batteries. Any voltage cut-off low enough to prevent damage would also be low enough that a NiMh wouldn't charge significantly.

Anyway, to revert to the original subject, Busch & Müller are about to start selling a power supply unit for dynohubs that will take care of it all for you - the


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## simon_brooke (7 Sep 2009)

Nice! But, at 139 euros, not cheap.

I've been experimenting with this. Without the 'supercharger' panel (which makes it a lot cheaper) it is adequate to keep my phone charged in reasonable daylight; with the 'supercharger' it would comfortably charge another device as well, and the 'supercharger' is perfectly happy on top of my trailer.


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