Thoughts on charging devices?

[jimfab]

Eveybody

As i go over and over and over about my TD kit for this year i can't seem to get away from the fact that i want to take some electronics with me. I think some will make me faster due to the mood boost than there weight and bulk will slow me down. What i want to take is a camera, I pod, cell phone, and my minute USB light. I had considered ditching the camera and i-pod, but i may only get one chance at this and i want to capture as many memories as i can. Small cameras don't use normal batteries anymore, well none of the decent ones do. So the other day on a training ride i was zoned out thinking about my kit and realized that all these items have one thing in common, they all charge with a USB port. So i got on the net, turns out there are options. You can get a wall plug universal USB charger, or you can get one that will charge from a couple AA batteries. I found a wall plug that weighs like 4oz + cords. I thought this was a low weight penalty for what it can do. check this one that i found....http://www.overstock.com/Office-Supplies/Universal-USB-Travel-Charger-Adaptor/3245942/product.html?cid=123620&fp=F&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=11354970 . I have some good bikepacking and backpacking experience but nothing anywhere near 3 weeks long or with as much urban interface, uncharted waters for me. I know about the solar chargers, they are way cool..... but I am fast running out of funds for this trip so the solar idea is out for me.

Also, i know somebody will ask about the Minute usb.... why not a good headlamp? well... my eyes totally suck! More so at night. I can get by with one minute usb... barely, i have tried the headlamp and i tend to run into things like parked cars and large boulders and other riders..... Picture bubbles on trailer park boys... except i never wear glasses. BTW this trip is funded by my lasix fund 

I would love some input if you got some 

rock on- JIm

[DaveH]

Last year I used a Garmin 705 for bikepacking.  It's got an internal battery that holds a charge for about 16 hours, so it was quite limiting at times.  I did manage to keep it working for 60 hours on the GL, but only about 1/2 of CTR.  I used this gizmo:  http://www.gomadic.com/garmin-edge-705-emergency-aa-battery-extender.html.  It charges my mp3 just fine too, and uses something called tip exchange - where you can get different tips to fit different devices.

I'd recommend going with devices that use replaceable batteries.  Easier said than done these days, but the charger is yet another gizmo that requires some of your limited racing cranial bandwidth.

[Carney]

My bro gave me a Solio Rocsta ( http://www.rei.com/product/800143 ) for X-Mas and I've been playing with it since then. It works great for charging things like IPods and phones, however I'm not sure about larger demand items like a GPS unit.  In direct sunlight it takes about 8 hours +/- to regain a full charge. However the nice thing about this design is that the unit itself will hold a charge until you want/need to transfer it to a device. Pretty slick actually and it would have been sweet to have while touring for charging phones ect.  I've experimented a bit with just clipping it to my pack while riding and it works fairly well - at only 6 oz it's hard to go too wrong.

There is also a Solio unit that has 3 small panels which should decrease the charge time required. ( http://www.rei.com/product/760969 )

However, I doubt that it's practical for a GPS unit in the long run since they have a larger power demand and may need charging/battery changing each day.

[Rob]

I've had very good results using this lightweight charger and Lithium batteries, which are pretty light too.
http://www.energizer.com/products/energi-to-go/Pages/cell-battery-charger.aspx

[jimfab]

Everybody

Thanks for your input! I LOVE the idea of the solar charger because of the green in me, but the green in my wallet is not so in love with the idea... Next year for sure! BTW i did find a "small" solar charger at harbor freight tools a while back, i got it but never got it to work. It was about 10 bucks. I will try to find a link. After spending another sleepless night thinking about everything, i am thinking the battery powered device is the hot ticket for me. I was going to find one at wally world today. 

Thanks again- JIM

[jimfab]

everybody

Through a series of errors this weekend at the Castner mountain dirty century i found myself a cool charging unit. I managed to leave town with an empty phone thinking i had my car charger, turns out i did not. By dinner the night before i had one bar, and needed the phone to wake me up in time to make the 0600 start. I set off in Flag to find something. Long story short i found the " I GO ". it is lightweight, uses 2 AA batts, and has changeable tips to work with what you got. I got the wrong tip in the store, but found the one for my phone, I-pod, and mini usb for the GPS on amazon. The unit was on clearance for 10$, and the tips were 2-10$ ea. It is exactly what i was looking for. I will report after a few uses.

Cheers- Jim

[nyounie]

In regards to not having the money for an $80 solar device, I'm not sure how well or efficient the device would work but I'm sure you'll burn through that much in gas station batteries and have nothing to show for it on the next trip.

[Marshal]

I am bringing my all-in-one HTC phone w/ fairly nice 'snap-shot' camera and lots of mp3 memory--I have tested the I GO to charge it--works fine but gets a bit hot and shuts off sometimes--charges best when in cool conditions--it will do for what I need

[mmeiser]

Old thread, just doing research. Unforetuneatly there's no way to track responses on bikepacking without leaving a comment, so I'm leaving one.

[Marshal]

Old thread, just doing research. Unforetuneatly there's no way to track responses on bikepacking without leaving a comment, so I'm leaving one.

I used lithium AA batteries with my I GO charger & got the job done during the TDR.  I was able to keep my smartphone/camera/mp3 unit going but it was not as convenient as using a std wall charger would have been. 

So if I was planning for the TDR or similar event I would just bring a std 120VAC charger as there where plenty of ‘recharge’ opportunities along the route.

If I were to do an event that lacked sufficient recharge opportunities I would revert to the I GO (or maybe just buy a spare phone battery if 1 recharge was going to be enough)

[Damnitman]

If you are robbing your lasix fund you might as well do it right...http://www.tout-terrain.de/2/products/components/the-plug/index.html
You can get generator hubs relatively cheap from Peter White cycles...$40 for a sanyo...yep $40...

disclaimer-I have no experience with the sanyo, I have a SON and use it in everything from sun to mud to rain to snow to -40f, not a single failure...that being said, the Shimano's seem like a good compromise between $ and usability...

[Area45]

[quote author=Damnitman disclaimer-I have no experience with the sanyo, I have a SON and use it in everything from sun to mud to rain to snow to -40f, not a single failure...that being said, the Shimano's seem like a good compromise between $ and usability...
[/quote]

How long have you been using the SON for bike packing? I have one on my brevet bike and have been thinking hard about building one up for my Fargo.

[Damnitman]

going on two years...I love it...