bicycle electrical system

Try one of these:

http://tinyurl.com/3wqo3

It may not help with the GSM, though.

Rob said:

I have a bicycle that I want to use for a camping weekend in mountain.
By experience in mountain the evening arrive too and the night is black many
time black than here in town.
The last year we had some problems and this year we'ld want to install a new
bicycle electrical system more powerfill with alogen lamp the first that we
installed yesterday have not a big power and the light is like the old
lamp.
During the way we'ld charge also the GSM
Please help how can we do to obtein a better bicycle electrical system
secure and much power?

I'd say go for a SON hub generator and some matching lights. The cell
phone recharge isn't practical unless you've got the knowledge to make one
yourself (a 5.5V zener diode might work as an easy, cheap, inefficient
regulator, but I have no idea how much charging you'd get out of a SON at
reasonable sustained speeds.).

Jasper

Rob said:

Quoted message said:

I have a bicycle that I want to use for a camping weekend in mountain.
By experience in mountain the evening arrive too and the night is black many
time black than here in town.
The last year we had some problems and this year we'ld want to install a new
bicycle electrical system more powerfill with alogen lamp the first that we
installed yesterday have not a big power and the light is like the old
lamp.
During the way we'ld charge also the GSM
Please help how can we do to obtein a better bicycle electrical system
secure and much power?

Jasper Janssen said:

I'd say go for a SON hub generator and some matching lights. The cell
phone recharge isn't practical unless you've got the knowledge to make one
yourself (a 5.5V zener diode might work as an easy, cheap, inefficient
regulator, but I have no idea how much charging you'd get out of a SON at
reasonable sustained speeds.).

I like generator hubs myself, own a SON and a couple of the Shimanos
(which are a much better value) but don't think I'd recommend them for
this application.

The thing is that if you're camping, you'll need a flashlight around the
campsite, so it makes more sense to me to use one light for both of
these functions.

I like the CatEye EL500 very much and would recommend this. It's light
and versatile, and quite economical to run.

If you're good with electronics you could rig a generator hub to
recharge batteries for any purpose, but there is no off-the-shelf system
for this.

Sheldon "Rosin Core" Brown
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| I am come-in a very moralizing strain, to observe that our |
| pleasures in this world are always to be paid for, and that we |
| often purchase them at a great disadvantage, giving ready-monied |
| actual happiness for a draft on the future, that may not be honored. |
| -- Jane Austen |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

A whole weekend? Just use regular batteries.

Sheldon Brown said:

Jasper Janssen said:

I'd say go for a SON hub generator and some matching lights. The cell
phone recharge isn't practical unless you've got the knowledge to make one
yourself (a 5.5V zener diode might work as an easy, cheap, inefficient
regulator, but I have no idea how much charging you'd get out of a SON at
reasonable sustained speeds.).

I like generator hubs myself, own a SON and a couple of the Shimanos
(which are a much better value) but don't think I'd recommend them for
this application.

Around here, a SON is about 160 currency units and the good Shimanos (alu
shell, quickrelease, good bearing seals, most importantly Not The Old
Model) are around 100. Are the new model Shimanos as good as SONs in
drag-with-lights-off and the fancy 6V-or-12V-by-choice rig that is
sometimes advocated for the SON?

Quoted message said:

The thing is that if you're camping, you'll need a flashlight around the
campsite, so it makes more sense to me to use one light for both of
these functions.

Not to me, to be honest. Flashlight and bike light are very different in
their functions (seeing things, by comparison to that as well as being
seen) and especially ergonomics. There's no better flashlight than a
MagLite, but I wouldn't want to mount a 4D on my handlebars.

Quoted message said:

I like the CatEye EL500 very much and would recommend this. It's light
and versatile, and quite economical to run.

If you're good with electronics you could rig a generator hub to
recharge batteries for any purpose, but there is no off-the-shelf system
for this.

The trick is to understand exactly what happens to the available voltage
and current and thus power at various speeds, and then designing something
that will make optimum use of them. A simple zener diode overvoltage
protection doesn't do that -- but given how good cellphones tend to be at
dealing with different power inputs[1], it might work.

Jasper

[1] My Nokia will charge on the high-end switching Nokia charger that it
comes with as well as the transformer-based Nokia chargers that come
standard with lower end ones. 3.6V at 340 mA versus 7V at 700, or
something like that.

Sheldon Brown said:

I like generator hubs myself, own a SON and a couple of the Shimanos
(which are a much better value)

That's also my impression. If all you need is to power standard head
and tail lamps, what is the advantage obtained from paying the huge
difference in price between the Shimanos and the SON?

Sheldon Brown said:

Rob said:

Quoted message said:

I have a bicycle that I want to use for a camping weekend in mountain.
By experience in mountain the evening arrive too and the night is
black many
time black than here in town.
The last year we had some problems and this year we'ld want to
install a new
bicycle electrical system more powerfill with alogen lamp the first
that we
installed yesterday have not a big power and the light is like the old
lamp.
During the way we'ld charge also the GSM
Please help how can we do to obtein a better bicycle electrical system
secure and much power?

Jasper Janssen said:

I'd say go for a SON hub generator and some matching lights. The cell
phone recharge isn't practical unless you've got the knowledge to make
one
yourself (a 5.5V zener diode might work as an easy, cheap, inefficient
regulator, but I have no idea how much charging you'd get out of a SON at
reasonable sustained speeds.).

I like generator hubs myself, own a SON and a couple of the Shimanos
(which are a much better value) but don't think I'd recommend them for
this application.

The thing is that if you're camping, you'll need a flashlight around the
campsite, so it makes more sense to me to use one light for both of
these functions.

I like the CatEye EL500 very much and would recommend this. It's light
and versatile, and quite economical to run.

If you're good with electronics you could rig a generator hub to
recharge batteries for any purpose, but there is no off-the-shelf system
for this.

Sheldon "Rosin Core" Brown
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| I am come-in a very moralizing strain, to observe that our |
| pleasures in this world are always to be paid for, and that we |
| often purchase them at a great disadvantage, giving ready-monied |
| actual happiness for a draft on the future, that may not be honored. |
| -- Jane Austen |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

There you go Sheldon, a business opportunity for you. A bike charger,
perhaps with a small inverter in it, that can charge a range of battery
voltages all running off your bike generator. Charge up your lights,
phone, GPS, eBook reader, PDA, shaver or radio whilst you're on tour.
There'd have to be a market for something like that these days.

Zoom

Sheldon Brown said:

"Rob" wrote:

I like generator hubs myself, own a SON and a couple of the Shimanos
(which are a much better value) but don't think I'd recommend them for
this application.

I agree, the system wouldn't be worth building due to the complexity
the amount of work.

Quoted message said:

The thing is that if you're camping, you'll need a flashlight around the
campsite, so it makes more sense to me to use one light for both of
these functions.

I like the CatEye EL500 very much and would recommend this. It's light
and versatile, and quite economical to run.

I'd been tempted by the EL500, but I was on a night ride a few weeks
ago with a guy who had one, and its road lighting was way inferior to
my generator headlight with a halogen bulb.

For bike touring I greatly prefer a generator light. It took only one
"dying batteries" event to convince me. Yes, I need a flashlight
around camp (assuming I'm camping) but I've been very happy with a $6
white LED keychain flashlight, the kind powered by two "coin" cells.
It's about the size of three quarters, but actually weighs less than
those three quarters. As a bonus, it gives a very nice, even
illumination when reading inside a tent before sleeping.

- Frank Krygowski