Device charging off the bike, long trip

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Jdsk
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Re: Requesting tech advice on Power Bank for touring

Post by Jdsk »

USB Power Delivery (PD) protocol, including higher charging voltages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware#USB_Power_Delivery_(USB_PD)

Jonathan
igauk
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Re: Requesting tech advice on Power Bank for touring

Post by igauk »

I've had inumerable powerbanks. The two I would recommend are Anker, as mentioned up thread with the torch, or PowerAdd. I prefer the later as I found the Anker sometimes struggled with low demand devices or those that cycled their charging when getting close to 100%. The one I have at the moment is 20,000 mAH with USB C input and output (up to 9v) and is about as physically big as I'd want to carry.

Edit: It's this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poweradd-EnergyCell-20000mAh-Power-Bank/dp/B07XYNJJH7/ref=asc_df_B07XYNJJH7/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=399558095034&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2053401340059419606&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046949&hvtargid=pla-842463529374&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=85065198436&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=399558095034&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2053401340059419606&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046949&hvtargid=pla-842463529374
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mercalia
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Re: Requesting tech advice on Power Bank for touring

Post by mercalia »

here is an interesting idea

http://allaboutwindowsphone.com/reviews/item/23888_RAVPower_PD_Pioneer_20000_AC.php

has an inbuilt inverter to produce 240v mains
Jdsk
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Re: Requesting tech advice on Power Bank for touring

Post by Jdsk »

It's amazing what's possible, but I'm finding it hard to imagine needing a 240V supply while I'm touring, and I have a MacBook in my case at almost all other times. : - )

Car jump starters using lithium batteries are also now surprisingly small, light and cheap.

Jonathan
Last edited by Jdsk on 4 Jun 2020, 3:26pm, edited 1 time in total.
Northumberlander
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Re: Requesting tech advice on Power Bank for touring

Post by Northumberlander »

mercalia wrote:here is an interesting idea

http://allaboutwindowsphone.com/reviews/item/23888_RAVPower_PD_Pioneer_20000_AC.php

has an inbuilt inverter to produce 240v mains


Amazing. Would need to make the Bob trailer the de facto luggage-carrying option though...
That review did point me to the Tronsmart PB20, which the reviewer advocated inline. I like the accurate 'what's left in the tank' digital readout. Was discounted on Amazon as recently as last month I see, but now doesn't look to be available anywhere.
Northumberlander
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Re: Requesting tech advice on Power Bank for touring

Post by Northumberlander »

Thank you, all, for your patient help and contributions here. I do now have a clearer idea of the features I'm looking for, which is what I hoped to achieve in asking. I appreciate your help.
Will definitely check out the PowerAdd brand - always good to have user experience, thanks.
Time to get away from this screen now - going out for a spin along the beautiful Northumberland coast! Cheers...
PT1029
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Device charging off the bike, long trip

Post by PT1029 »

A friend is planning a 3 month or so UK - Tehran trip (he is dual UK/Iranian national, has family there and has travelled there in recent years, we have had discussions on the politics etc, so we'll park that to one side here!).
There are plenty of forum threads on how to charge devices from a dynamo hub, in this case he is planning not to use a dynamo to charge.
He is planning to take a "battery storage charger that I can recharge where I stay for the night" to charge up his devices (which I believe will be an iphone and a garmin navigation whats i device). He is planning to use B&B's/cheap hotels, taking a small tent in case he gets caught out. Budgetwise, he does not need to camp.
Now for those that have done such trips, does relying on charging up over night work (in terms of the actual charging up enough (which I guess depends on the capacity of the power pack), and in terms of reliability of getting daily access to power), and if you camp say one night (ie no power), are your devices flat the next day, or is there some margin for error.
A fairly simple question, though most of my simple questions have far from simple answers!
Jdsk
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Re: Device charging off the bike, long trip

Post by Jdsk »

Yes. I do this with a USB battery pack. I have a hub dynamo and this is now used only for the lights and to recharge the battery pack.

With a 16,000 mAh pack we can run several days from the battery pack without recharging. But you need to check this with your own devices well in advance.

And I recommend some redundancy in the cables that you carry.

No problem recharging at bars, cafes, restaurants, hotels and most campsites.

If charging does become a problem it's obviously important to have thought through the priorities.

Jonathan

PS: Mine is a TeckNet PowerZen 16,000 mAh with two USB output ports, status indicator lights and a torch.
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Paulatic
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Re: Device charging off the bike, long trip

Post by Paulatic »

With a Lezyne computer which gives me 3 days and my IPhone used heavily on an evening carrying two battery packs gives me 5 days comfortably. Whenever I see a socket, cafe often, I stick one in to charge for as long as I can.
The battery packs aren’t that heavy or expensive I’m probably going to buy another this year so I can wild camp for over a week easily.
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Re: Device charging off the bike, long trip

Post by Vorpal »

two similar threads have been merged
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
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Tigerbiten
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Re: Device charging off the bike, long trip

Post by Tigerbiten »

Most good power banks will charge up an iPhone multiple times and a Garmin takes less power than a phone.
My trick was to carry two cache batteries, main and back up.
I never used much power, so each battery would last me around 4 days.
So would wild camp until one battery was drained and then find a campsite/cheap hotel.
This would let me charge the drained battery up overnight.
This battery would then become my backup while I started to drain the other one.
The second battery gave me more leeway about finding a charging point which gave me more peace of mind.

Luck ......... :D
Vorpal
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Re: Device charging off the bike, long trip

Post by Vorpal »

PT1029 wrote:Now for those that have done such trips, does relying on charging up over night work (in terms of the actual charging up enough (which I guess depends on the capacity of the power pack), and in terms of reliability of getting daily access to power), and if you camp say one night (ie no power), are your devices flat the next day, or is there some margin for error.
A fairly simple question, though most of my simple questions have far from simple answers!

I have managed okay that way, even camping. I will say, that it also depends on the devices & how much they are used.

My last couple of trips, I only had a phone to charge, but I was using it fairly steadily throughout the day. I use my phone for navigation, but don't have navigation on all the time. I also use my phone for taking photos, and take lots of them. If I charge power banks and phone at night, that is usually enough for one day. I did get onto my second power bank once on my last tour. I carried two 6700 mAh power banks. My phone, then was ~5 years old. I have a new one, now, and I think that will last rather better.

If I had more devices, or could not be certain of the possibility to charge everything every night, I would probably either take one larger, or one additional power bank.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
PT1029
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Re: Device charging off the bike, long trip

Post by PT1029 »

Thanks for the useful advice, I have passed a link to this thread on to my friend. When we start up club rides again, I hope to see hin testing his kit!
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RickH
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Re: Device charging off the bike, long trip

Post by RickH »

One useful item may be a multiway charger. I have a 6 way Anker one (& a 26000mAh Anker power pack). That means when you have access to mains you can recharge your power bank and top up everything else at the same time. If I was buying now I would consider getting 2 battery packs rather than the all-or-nothing of 1 big one.

I've also got a small 15W folding solar panel which I've found surprisingly useful at topping up battery power, even in the less than sunny climes of places like the Yorkshire Dales & North Wales. In sunnier areas you could probably get quite a bit of useful charging with it fixed on the south facing side of a bike.
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Psamathe
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Re: Device charging off the bike, long trip

Post by Psamathe »

RickH wrote:One useful item may be a multiway charger. I have a 6 way Anker one (& a 26000mAh Anker power pack). That means when you have access to mains you can recharge your power bank and top up everything else at the same time. If I was buying now I would consider getting 2 battery packs rather than the all-or-nothing of 1 big one.

I've also got a small 15W folding solar panel which I've found surprisingly useful at topping up battery power, even in the less than sunny climes of places like the Yorkshire Dales & North Wales. In sunnier areas you could probably get quite a bit of useful charging with it fixed on the south facing side of a bike.

Likewise. 1st tour I took Solar panel 21W (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B012VL20GW, 2 USB charge ports), larger battery pack and mains USB adapter. But iPhone would not charge properly from solar panel (screen kept switching on) and battery would either be charging itself from panel OR charging devices. Worked OK but next tour swapped the 20000 mAh battery pack for 2x 10000 mAh which gave far more flexibility and allowed better use of capturing solar charge.

Didn't use USB mains PSU much but when I did it was really useful so worth taking. Some campsites had sitting/cooking rooms which had mains sockets and a couple of camp sites lent me mains hook-up adapters (without paying for mains hookups).

Ian
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