Charging on tour

[gregoryoftours]

Thanks for the above everyone, will dig further...in the meantime, any comments on the B&M e-Werk, which seems to be their offering at present?

Ta, Pete.

I'd look elsewhere, I'm certainly not impressed with mine. Maybe the B&M that has an integrated cache battery is ok.

what's your problem with it?
Mine seems to charge a powerbank OK.
The cache battery thing is a separate issue - only really needed I think if you want to run sensitive electronics direct from dynamo power.

I had problems getting reliable charging out of mine - an e-werk 361. I had the output settings correct for the devices I connected. It would sometimes charge devices ok for a bit, but then I'd slow down or pause on the bike. Of course the power would stop, but then when I sped up again the charge would never kick back in again despite maintaining a decent consistent speed.

I had this problem with my phone, my Garmin tour and I think also with an Anker power bank. The dynamo was a basic Shimano hub model that worked fine and provided enough power. I know that charging of various USB devices is fairly complex but I thought that the whole point of these USB charge converters was to avoid problems of this sort, and it is how the function of the product is described, so I was unhappy with my experience of it.

I bought the e-werk rather than the USB-werk because I thought that the integrated cache battery of the latter device would add further unnecessary loss of energy efficiency. I thought that if needed I could achieve the same thing by charging a larger capacity branded power bank, with the advantage of charging devices directly also. But it didn't work out like that.

If I was considering again, of the B&M devices I'd get the USB-werk with integrated cache battery, despite the lower 1A output. But I'd probably look elsewhere to be honest. It is interesting that you and other people haven't had problems. Maybe I should try it again with a different dynamo.

[Sweep]

The dynamo I used Gregory was the basic Shimano one that came ready built in a wheel from decathlon for all of about £30. Don't know if they still do it. If so, good for experiments.
My power banks are Anker.

[Psamathe]

....
I had this problem with my phone, my Garmin tour and I think also with an Anker power bank.....

In my experience iPhones can be a bit "fussy" about charging e.g. my iPhone X would not charge properly from my Anker Solar Panel which has stabilised USB output, the issue being it would charge but every few minutes the phone screen would come on presumably as the power did something, timeout bit shortly later screen back on again, etc. but screen being on draws power and thus big impact on charging. So I used the solar panels to charge the battery packs and used the battery pack overnight to charge the phone (bit less efficient but it worked fine). Garmin, camera, iPad, Kindle were all perfectly happy with same Solar Panel. (This was in France with clear cloudless skies so not cloud passing over).

Ian

[gregoryoftours]

I just read this old thread on the subject.

viewtopic.php?t=87508

It really is a bit of a minefield and with many more potential problems than I'd wish for. One of the reasons I stopped using the e-werk was that it wouldn't reliably charge my Garmin and the Garmin will not last a long day of riding, so needs to be charged on the go.

I could charge the Garmin with a power bank while riding, but then that means that I can't charge the power bank while it's charging the Garmin! Charging the power bank with the e-werk was problematic in itself. The same story with my phone. In the end I thought 'stuff this' I'll just bring a mains charger and charge the power bank/devices when I can overnight or while stopped at cafés etc. This was much more reliable and faster.

Considering that I was now carrying a mains charger the e-werk just became an unreliable and pointless extra carry, more trouble than it was worth.

The e-werk description and documentation very much underplays the compatibility issues of many different devices, I think, at least in my experience.

[Slowtwitch]

Have used a cheap and cheerful solar charger on tour in Portugal, but you can be pretty much guaranteed good sunshine there. Charged two devices simultaneously.

[ConRAD]

Anyone having direct experience with this one?

[Jdsk]

One of the reasons I stopped using the e-werk was that it wouldn't reliably charge my Garmin and the Garmin will not last a long day of riding, so needs to be charged on the go.

I could charge the Garmin with a power bank while riding, but then that means that I can't charge the power bank while it's charging the Garmin! Charging the power bank with the e-werk was problematic in itself.

Is the limitation here that the USB battery pack won't do both at once?

There's a fair bit of discussion in the archives about ones that will and ones that won't.

Thanks

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

In the end I thought 'stuff this' I'll just bring a mains charger and charge the power bank/devices when I can overnight or while stopped at cafés etc. This was much more reliable and faster.

Considering that I was now carrying a mains charger the e-werk just became an unreliable and pointless extra carry, more trouble than it was worth.

That's one of the things that I didn't know when I started playing this game: for many types of touring one or two USB battery packs may be all that's needed.

And I now always try to include this option in replies.

Jonathan

[gregoryoftours]

One of the reasons I stopped using the e-werk was that it wouldn't reliably charge my Garmin and the Garmin will not last a long day of riding, so needs to be charged on the go.

I could charge the Garmin with a power bank while riding, but then that means that I can't charge the power bank while it's charging the Garmin! Charging the power bank with the e-werk was problematic in itself.

Is the limitation here that the USB battery pack won't do both at once?

There's a fair bit of discussion in the archives about ones that will and ones that won't.

Thanks

Jonathan

Kind of a secondary issue really, as what I hoped to be able to do with the e-werk was primarily charge my devices like Garmin/phone on the go without the significant energy loss involved in charging a power pack and then having to use that to charge the other devices.

[rareposter]

Kind of a secondary issue really, as what I hoped to be able to do with the e-werk was primarily charge my devices like Garmin/phone on the go without the significant energy loss involved in charging a power pack and then having to use that to charge the other devices.

Most devices being charged like to have a smooth flow of power into them, they get very upset with significant peaks and troughs which you invariably get from a dynamo.

Lights are a bit different, they're using the power immediately with a tiny reserve so they don't go out when you stop.

Best option is a pencil charger - something like THIS will sit in a secondary light bracket on your bars and charge the GPS on the move.

Everything else can be done off a proper powerbank in the evening; something like a 26,000mAh pack will do a phone 5+ times and top up the pencil charger for a few days. They can usually be recharged fully from a wall socket in 6hrs but even just finding a socket at a cafe and giving it a 30min boost will sort it for another day. Plug the powerbank into the wall, plug 2 devices into it to be charged from it as well, have your lunch and then move on with at least partially replenished devices and charger.

Since a modern smartphone will last days on airplane mode, if you can ration its usage to an hour or so in the evening with full data connection and then pop it back to airplane mode, you can still access offline maps, take photos etc but the battery will last ages.

[gregoryoftours]

Yes, I underestimated the drawback of these USB charging adapters like the e-werk, I thought that the purpose of them was to do just that, to smooth the output of a dynamo so that it would successfully charge all sorts of devices. The e-werk is sold as offering such a solution - this text is printed on the box of mine. There is a disclaimer included but the e-werk is marketed in a way that suggests it will charge most devices with the odd exception, where I've found the opposite to be the case. In actual fact I've found it very finicky and unreliable in charging nearly all of my devices.

[wheelyhappy99]

I use a Pixel smartphone for everything when touring, so even though it has good battery life I like to charge it when I can. The Son hub powers lights when needed but I've added connections to plug in a Sinewave Revolution charger. So during the day, when I don't need lights to be seen, that charges the phone directly or via an Easyacc battery pack with pass through charging. Either or both can be charged from the mains when available. It works well enough that most days the Son/Revolution output is enough to replace phone power used. I haven't noticed any charging issues due to variations in speed, and the Son is at full output around 10mph. Hope this helps.

[m-gineering]

Yes, I underestimated the drawback of these USB charging adapters like the e-werk,

The E-werk was introduced in about 2010, for electronics that is the stone age!. If you want to charge a gadget it really pays to do your homework, if you can read German I would recommend the whole series of ' Steckdose unterwegs' on Fahhradzukunft.de

[pjclinch]

Following up on this post-tour (we started from home in Dundee, crossed over to the Isle of Bute and back by a different route, a very good tour ) we took the advice of power banks and opportunistic charging at formal camp sites, and that worked fine.

We also took a solar charging panel which was pretty good, though once at a certain level of lateness/cloudiness it would reach the point where it wasn't supplying enough for a phone, and that confused the phone which then claimed to lose charge. Subsequent battery re-calibration reboots when charging from the wall seemed to sort things out, though I'm not sure if the battery did actually go down or just think it did.
Once I'd discovered this "feature" I just stopped using the panel if it was cloudy once we were well in to the evening. Didn't try the panel while riding, but I think it would work fine spread across the back panniers/rack (has various anchoring eyelets). It's one of these...

Pete.

[Vorpal]

Following up on this post-tour (we started from home in Dundee, crossed over to the Isle of Bute and back by a different route, a very good tour ) we took the advice of power banks and opportunistic charging at formal camp sites, and that worked fine.

We also took a solar charging panel which was pretty good, though once at a certain level of lateness/cloudiness it would reach the point where it wasn't supplying enough for a phone, and that confused the phone which then claimed to lose charge. Subsequent battery re-calibration reboots when charging from the wall seemed to sort things out, though I'm not sure if the battery did actually go down or just think it did.
Once I'd discovered this "feature" I just stopped using the panel if it was cloudy once we were well in to the evening. Didn't try the panel while riding, but I think it would work fine spread across the back panniers/rack (has various anchoring eyelets). It's one of these...

Pete.

That looks interesting. Did you try charging a power bank, and charge the phone from that?