Garmin 500 - recharging options

[scooteremu]

Anyone know of any external battery options that can charge a Garmin 510? I plan to use this for Trans Iowa as my main option although I plan to have a Cateye. I have looked at such options as the Powergen 5200 and 12000 mAh options but no one seems to have a direct answer. Thanks!

[Mike McElveen]

I used a little PowerMonkey on the GDMBR this summer with excellent results.  It will recharge the 500 several times, and quickly.  It's small and comes with lots of adaptors for other electronicals.  It also recharges fairly quickly when you find a plug. 

[scooteremu]

Which model of monkey?

[Mike McElveen]

There's a Powergorilla and Powermonkey, the latter being smaller.  I used the monkey.  I don't think there's more than one version, although they have a kit that comes with a tiny solar panel, but I've never been impressed by solar panels that small.

[JevL]

What about a dynamo hub?

[scooteremu]

I've actually got a lefty and read on another post that they aren't even made yet or that they are inefficient...?

[bmike-vt]

I've actually got a lefty and read on another post that they aren't even made yet or that they are inefficient...?

afaik, no lefty versions of dyno hubs.
inefficient? says who?

[scooteremu]

No, I was unsure of whether there was a lefty version or that the lefty version was inefficient. I actually read that the dynamo hub is quite nice.

[Area54]

I've got the monkey and the Gorilla. The monkey is great as it has the correct usb plug output to plug directly into the garmin without needing an adaptor (I bought the garmin 800 monkey version) It is small enough to put the solar panel on top of the helmet, the battery nearby. The monkey will not charge (from solar or wall socket) AND recharge your device, circuitry blocks it to one or the other.

The gorilla on the other hand, will recharge itself from the wall/solar AND recharge your device at the same time. I took just the battery pack to Iditarod this year, it lived in my jacket pocket for recharging lights (Exposure diablo) and other stuff. Rate it highly. Has two output ports, one for general usb out, another high output for 1A devices. 280 odd grams.

Yep, the lefty dyno hubs are junk for what I've seen spec and operation wise. Regular dyno hubs are great.

Solar and float battery is not perfect, but the maths add up to it being lighter than regular (non lefty) dyno hubs. BUT, important to know the strengths and weaknesses of all systems to help you make the choice for your application. I've got a dyno on my Fargo, and weighing up a SON for my snow race bike.

Less electrics and less complex the system the better.

[Glissader]

I used a Garmin 510 and a battery sold by Gomadic for TI v9. Supposedly made for the Garmin 510. It is an "External Lithium-Ion Battery Pack", model PBP-01, Capacity is 3400mAh. The output is 5.5V, 700mA max. It is about the size of my iPhone in it's case. I charge it with my Apple USB charger. I also use it to extend the battery of my iPhone & Joule 2.0.

 For the TI, I ran my fully charged 510 for about 12 hrs. I then plugged in the battery pack to the mini-USB connector of the 510. The coiled cord came out of the zipper of my Tangle bag. With the battery I was able to have back lighting 100% of the time during the night. This was key to making the turns according to the cue sheet. The Gomadic battery finally went dead sometime in the daylight of the morning, but the 510 was fully charged ready to finished the remainder of the miles. I did buy another one from Gomadic, that runs off of four AA's. Same idea but that one would be ideal when you need to go longer than 33 hrs, because you buy more AA's and properly dispose of the dead ones. I left that charger in the hotel room.

Good luck at TI v10. I will be sweeping the course again. Love the vibe of a Guitar Ted production.

BTW, this is my first post on this forum.

[sfuller]

I used a generic 5000 mAH pack from Amazon during TIV9. It was small and light enough that I used it just for the GPS, even though I had a dyno hub for my lights. It was also $25 vs a lot more for any of the dyno to USB power adapters. A 10000 mAH pack is overkill in size/weight for running that series of GPS for TI IMO. From what I recall, the battery in my 500 was rated at around 700-800 mAH.

FWIW, I didn't even notice my dyno hub during TI last year. Key is to ride with it and get used to it well before the race. I did the math and the weight increase was an even swap for the amount of batteries I was going to take. I also didn't need to think about conserving batteries while running my lights.

[scooteremu]

I borrowed a Tylt 5200 battery pack and charged my 510 from 20% to 100% pretty quickly. It was simply on but not running so I think it will be a bit slower towards getting to 100% but I was happy that the pack started at 3/4 and ended up at 2/4 after a full charge. Shows a good chance of multiple charges.

I am worried though of what I can get out of the 510 if it just runs the speed/average speed/time and distance. No other add ons. I am hoping for 15 hours of charge time as I have read from reviews. I am guessing that will come to figure out with the longer rides.

[DoctorRad]

One possible solution for putting a dynamo on a lefty bike is to use a bottle dynamo. While they are probably deeply unfashionable in many circles, they have come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of decades, e.g.

http://www.dutchbikebits.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=40&product_id=65

[scooteremu]

Very interesting. I wonder if it produces a lot of resistance.