Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Mintyboost and You..........

I have a Mintyboost, but have not used it extensively yet. Just tested it to make sure it works. I have a long ride this weekend, the Horribly Hilly Hundreds, where I will need more battery time. How do you use yours? Do you wait for the Edge battery to get low then plug it in? Or do you just plug it in from the get go and use the external power first? I guess the question could be answered by anyone who has used an external battery source for their Edge. Later.

well, thanks for all the help! :)

anyway, i decided to plug the edge into the minty from the start. i figured if the minty was drained i would just unplug it and then have a full charge on the edge to use. it showed as plugged in and charging for the entire time, which was just over 10 hours. when i was done and disconnected the edge from the minty the edge had a full battery. this means i could have gotten another 9 or so hours from just the edge battery. cool. now i just need to find me a 20 hour ride? later.

Kudos for answering your own question. ;) The one ride I have done where I needed an external battery pack I waited until I was down to one bar (8 to 9 hours, if memory serves), and then plugged it in. The ride took 15 hours total, at which point the battery pack was still charging the Garmin. I get the impression that it would take a long, long time to catch up, if it can do so at all.

The combination worked just fine.

^^^^ yeah, i am very happy with the mintyboost and the extra life it provides. mainly, i plan to only need it two to three times a year as most of my longest rides are centuries. i do have a 160 mile ride coming up and i know i will need it for that.

i thought about waiting to plug it into the edge when it was low, but didnt want to mess with it at the end of a tough ride. i had the minty in my saddle bag and ran the usb cord under my top tube to the unit. worked great.

what external battery are you using?

later.

I always wondered that also, thanks for answering your own question for me :)
Did you make your own? I need to do something for the brevets im doing this summer.

i ordered the kit from HERE (http://www.ladyada.net/make/mintyboost/index.html) but had an engineer buddy slap it together for me. when it comes to making things and connecting wires i defer to the experts. later.

^^^^ yeah, i am very happy with the mintyboost and the extra life it provides. mainly, i plan to only need it two to three times a year as most of my longest rides are centuries. i do have a 160 mile ride coming up and i know i will need it for that.

i thought about waiting to plug it into the edge when it was low, but didnt want to mess with it at the end of a tough ride. i had the minty in my saddle bag and ran the usb cord under my top tube to the unit. worked great.

what external battery are you using?

later.

I am using this battery:

http://www.mobileplanet.com/p.aspx?i=108719

My setup in similar in that I put the battery in my rear bag with the cord running forward. I got the Garmin only after my brevet series was over. I do plan on using it for PBP.

I use a Mintyboost that I built myself and it served me well on my 600 km audax ride last December. My FR301 gets about 13 hours' runtime; this will do for a 200 km ride, but is insufficient for a 300, which typically takes me about 17 1/2 hours. I haven't quite worked out the best charging regime, though. Generally I run the FR until its internal battery gets close to the limit and then I plug in the Mintyboost and run it off that.
A couple of months ago I got a solar charger (see http://www.flexopower.com/products.php - the one I've got is the Solar Pouch). This does a good job as well and offers more versatility.