Cycling UK Forum

I know about hub dynamos for electronic devices, but if you don't have one what do folk do if staying at an 'off-grid' campsite for more than one night? I have battery lights (and if need be an old Garmin eTrex that takes two AA batteries), but what about, say, a mobile phone?

For background there is a new campsite on the Way of the Roses (33 miles from Bridlington). It's three miles east of Huggate - which I think is probably the best base from which to explore the Yorkshire Wolds - and I've suggested half a dozen day rides to the owner. But do people stay at the same place without electricity for more than one night or mix it up with, say, B&Bs? Or do 'off-grid' campsites offer some sort of solution for cyclists?

It's thirty years since I cycle-camped. Well before mobile phones and GPS devices

Depends what you mean by off grid. No electricity at all? Battery packs and a solar charger. If hey have some electricity - razor points in showers - use those. Some sites offer charging. Or ask cafes etc if you can charge them. If going off grid, maybe think about only having the phone on for certain times in the day.

How many days?
I take a couple of small powerbanks for the phone and Garmin, they'll last three days without a re-charge if I don't use the phone much. I'll sometimes charge on route if I stop at a cafe or pub, I have a four way charger, so that's both powerbanks the phone and the Garmin in one wall socket, ask first of course! As a back up, I have an AA battery to USB converter, it's probably dreadfully inefficient but it could be useful, I don't remember ever using it, though it's a good place to keep the spare light batteries anyway.

I use a 16,000 mA h USB battery pack, about £20. That will recharge all of our devices for two people for several days. Should recharge a mobile 'phone for a week if it isn't used for navigating.

And if you have two you can leave one somewhere friendly to be recharged.

How does that sound?

Jonathan

My tours have been a couple of months at a time, camping and without electricity. I don't generally use lights but I do use a lot of electronics (iPhone, iPad, internet, photo upload, editing, route planning, etc.), GPS, camera, Kindle all need charging beyond setting off with battery packs.

I use a 21 W Anker solar panel and a couple of rechargeable battery packs. Solar panel only used at campsites (not out whilst riding). Devices charge highest priority and once charged, battery packs topped-up using remaining sunlight time. As solar panel has only 2 USB ports and more than 2 devices want charge, some devices on solar panel others on battery packs.

This seems to work fine but a few bad weather days and things can start getting low.

I also carry a 4 port mains USB charger: My tours France, Germany, Belgium & Netherlands and many campsites have a room e.g. with kettle, TV, chairs and mains sockets. So when weather gets bad for days in a row I might use those sockets. Some campsites reception offer to leave devices charging in the office overnight (but I like leaving early before office open so never done that). A couple of camp sites I've used have lent me a hook-up adapter for free for charging. A couple of times I've left a battery pack & USB mains charger running in the toilet block overnight (a risk but not lost one and they are not ludicrously expensive).

Ian

I use a mix of hub dynamo/solar panel and cache batteries to keep everything charged on tour.
The hub dynamo is mainly for the sat nav while on the move.
The solar panel keeps the cache batteries topped up which keeps kindle, torch, etc going.
If no sun/movement then the cache batteries alone keeps everything going for roughly a week.
In emergency it's possible to charge the cache batteries overnight in the toilet block/site office or lunch time during a long cafe stop.
It all depends on how much power you use as to how easy it is.

Luck ...........

Tigerbiten wrote: ↑3 Aug 2021, 9:09pm The hub dynamo is mainly for the sat nav while on the move.

I do this precisely the other way round: the dynamo recharges the USB battery pack. And the USB battery pack then recharges everything else.

That's because my Garmin Edge 1000 wasn't happy with the intermittent supply from the dynamo.

Jonathan

I use a small Anker powerbank....

That will keep my smartphone charged for about three nights. The Garmin runs on AA lithiums.

I've never paid for electricity on a campsite but if I see a chance to charge anything I'm like a ferret up a drainpipe and it gets charged, even if not fully.

Jdsk wrote: ↑3 Aug 2021, 9:14pm

Tigerbiten wrote: ↑3 Aug 2021, 9:09pm The hub dynamo is mainly for the sat nav while on the move.

I do this precisely the other way round: the dynamo recharges the USB battery pack. And the USB battery pack then recharges everything else.

That's because my Garmin Edge 1000 wasn't happy with the intermittent supply from the dynamo.

Jonathan

My full setup is .......
Son hub -> B&M E-Werk -> B&M cache battery -> Garmin Etrex 30X.
So I've a small waterproof cache battery between my voltage regulator and the sat nav to stabilize the output at low speed.
Being on a bent trike the waterproof part is important as most of my electrics are only about a foot up of the ground.
The 20W solar panel on top of my large Carry Freedom trailer box charges my big cache batteries via another E-Werks.
I can go months on tour without needing to charge anything from a mains socket.

Luck .............

Step one is to reduce power consumption.
An e-ink kindle, instead of a tablet or spending the evening surfing the interwebs; a phone used for necessary calls only, rather than playing games on or navigating with; leave the photos on the SD card until you get home, rather than editing and uploading as you go; an AA-powered eTrex (or even paper maps), rather than a daily-charge Edge; dynamo rather than battery lights, etc etc.

For charging, you've a choice of solar panel, dynohub, or whatever power sockets you may come across.
Solar needs a proper size panel (A4 size minimum), reasonable weather, and the availability of stationary charging time before the sun has got too low. Early start, set up camp by 4 pm works best. Panels don't work well draped over panniers.

Dynamo requires that you spend several hours at a respectable speed, rather than grovelling up hills at a crawl.

Power sockets will be an hour at lunch, half an hour at a coffee/tea/cake stop etc, and will work best with a high power charger & compatible powerbank (QC3, PD etc). Even apparently reasonable size campsites can offer little other than reception (for which opening hours can be awkward), shaver sockets in the toilet block sink lights, or electric hookup pitches (cost extra, require a bulky plug & socket)


Whichever you use, it's often best to charge a powerbank, then charge your gadgets from that. There's a significant loss in all the voltages changes required from source to USB 5V, to powerbank 3.7V battery, to USB 5V, to gadget battery 3.7V, but the losses due to a gadget not liking intermittent supply, the available voltage dropping under a threshold, or a gadget spending time at "full" rather than using the available power, are often greater.


I use a dynohub.
Most of my touring in recent years has been Scottish, not noted for strong sun, or regular cafes & campsites

Crikey. Thanks for so many detailed responses. Will have a proper read through again and come back with some follow up questions if you don’t mind. Thanks again.

My approach: Two power packs. Leave iPad at home. Use paper maps. Radio. Headlamp/torch not phone light. Kindle. Old non smart spare PAYGO phone (Nokia) for calls and texts - battery lasts a week.

I use a high capacity power bank that supports fast recharging. My power bank can be charged from 0 to 100% in less than three hours and will recharge my phone three or four times. I used to own one that took more than 10 hours to get to this point.

Fast recharging is a game changer as you can ask a campsite/bar/cafe to charge it whilst you put up the tent/have a drink and within a short while you’ll be good to go for a few more days.

bohrsatom wrote: ↑4 Aug 2021, 7:44am I use a high capacity power bank that supports fast recharging.

What is it, please?

Thanks

Jonathan