Yaw Know About Solar Chargers?

[hamster]

I am trying to do it on a budget , so that is why I ruled out the dynohub...I didnt research, but presumed it would cost more £'s than I could afford.

Decent dynohubs like SP are available around £60, the basic Shimano 3W ones are more like £30. Yes you need to get a wheel built up, but have a look on eBay and you can find wheels for £70-100 new.

[Thehairs1970]

I

Some things to note with the solar panel:
* Testing it at home I laid it on the ground where it got very hot, and appeared to stop outputting any power. All OK once it had cooled down. I suppose there is some sort of cut out.

Mine came with a warning re this. Basically make sure the surface you lay it on doesn’t hold its heat too well. Stone/concrete - no! Grass - seems ok.

[Sooper8]

I am trying to do it on a budget , so that is why I ruled out the dynohub...I didnt research, but presumed it would cost more £'s than I could afford.

Decent dynohubs like SP are available around £60, the basic Shimano 3W ones are more like £30. Yes you need to get a wheel built up, but have a look on eBay and you can find wheels for £70-100 new.

Thans for info @hamster

[Galactic]

Decent dynohubs like SP are available around £60, the basic Shimano 3W ones are more like £30. Yes you need to get a wheel built up, but have a look on eBay and you can find wheels for £70-100 new.

+1 for keeping an eye on ebay etc. I've often found decent rims fitted with a Shimano dynamo hub for very cheap on ebay. Not looked over the last few years, things may be different since Covid hit, but before that I'd be looking and waiting for something second hand (but unused or practically unused) around £30. Patience and time are necessary ingredients.

[Sooper8]

Decent dynohubs like SP are available around £60, the basic Shimano 3W ones are more like £30. Yes you need to get a wheel built up, but have a look on eBay and you can find wheels for £70-100 new.

+1 for keeping an eye on ebay etc. I've often found decent rims fitted with a Shimano dynamo hub for very cheap on ebay. Not looked over the last few years, things may be different since Covid hit, but before that I'd be looking and waiting for something second hand (but unused or practically unused) around £30. Patience and time are necessary ingredients.

Thanks for pointers on that. I just presumed they would be out of my range, but I will keep that option open

EDIT - i just had a look and there are a few possible ones on eBay. But here's a proper basic newbie question ...I have discs brakes, and the Shimano dynamo hub on ebay is a whole wheel and hub, is that only suitable for cantilever brakes with brake blocks? or would I have to get someone to build my wheel and discs around the hub?

[gom]

If pursuing the dynamo option, do you have a gadget for converting its output to USB?
e.g. https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos/sin ... ng-device/
These come up on ebay - occasionally.

[Jdsk]

If pursuing the dynamo option, do you have a gadget for converting its output to USB?
e.g. https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos/sin ... ng-device/
These come up on ebay - occasionally.

There's a lot on this in the archives, including my experiences

If I'd known then what I know now I wouldn't have bought the B+M headlights with built-in USB charging.

I recommend as a first question in the decision tree: "Can I manage with one or two USB battery packs?".

Jonathan

[hamster]

EDIT - i just had a look and there are a few possible ones on eBay. But here's a proper basic newbie question ...I have discs brakes, and the Shimano dynamo hub on ebay is a whole wheel and hub, is that only suitable for cantilever brakes with brake blocks? or would I have to get someone to build my wheel and discs around the hub?

Yes, you will need a disc dyno hub, which has the brake disc mounts on the hub body.

[pjclinch]

Slightly late to the party...
We used a folding ~ A3 sized one on tour (a Sunslice one) and it worked to charge phones when we didn't have main available in e.g. a campsite kitchen room.

Worked okay, one minor gotcha was as the sun was starting to get faint (this was summer up in Scotland, so somewhere between 9 and 10 pm) the output seemed to be at a level that confused the phone a bit and it appeared to be actually draining the battery, but performance suggested this was a confused phone rather than a drained battery, and a calibration reset next time it visited a mains charger restored sanity.

We didn't use it on the go, but I don't see why it would be a problem to e.g. lay it open across the rack/pannier tops as you're going. Ours has various anchor points to facilitate that sort of thing.

But our main backup was power banks. Like Jonathan's suggested, these are a pretty easy and foolproof way to keep power on tap (plus we have several anyway as my wife needs them to power stuff away from the mains for work). Much will depend on where one stops overnight, but unless you're wild camping it's quite common to be able to get a mains plug for a bit.

Pete.

[Dupont]

We use exactly the same panel as the one in second post. It is excellent and we have had no problems. We just open it out across the top bag behind the seat and fasten it to the the pannier rack.

[Carlton green]

Just out of interest:
# what do users believe that their daily power usage / demand (in electrical watt hours) is?
# what percentage of the rated output of their panels do they think that they normally achieve?
# and why do they think that that’s the percentage that they achieve?
Thanks.

[hamster]

Last summer, I needed a way to keep my phone charged while I was outside a lot. I found out that a solar panel that's about 10-20 watts is good enough for charging a phone every day. It's small and works well for just this job. But I also wanted something a bit stronger for other stuff, so I looked into getting a solar generator too.

I'm totally confused here. What's a solar generator if not a solar panel???

[pjclinch]

Last summer, I needed a way to keep my phone charged while I was outside a lot. I found out that a solar panel that's about 10-20 watts is good enough for charging a phone every day. It's small and works well for just this job. But I also wanted something a bit stronger for other stuff, so I looked into getting a solar generator too.

I'm totally confused here. What's a solar generator if not a solar panel???

A quick google suggests it's a combination of a panel with a battery? And if you think that doesn't really make any sense I'm right with you, but that's what the market appears to have decided...

Pete.

[hamster]

Put all that together and it's way heavier than the 200g extra of a dyno hub!

[Psamathe]

Put all that together and it's way heavier than the 200g extra of a dyno hub!

But they also have very different functionality. eg Dynamo hub not much use at night where a power pack is. Dynamo hub not much use whilst you're sitting beside your tent drinking coffee but a solar panel is. Does not make either better or worse, just different.

Ian