Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Recharging Electronics on LD Trips

I tried searching the forum but don't see anyone asking this specific question which is a surprise to me. Maybe they just worded the question in a way I would not pick up on. In any case, here's my question:

Is there a device made that you can attach to a bike that will provide a means to recharge the batteries you use in things like a cell phone, camera, bike computer, radio, etc? I think this would be something you would want when traveling on very long trips (hundreds of miles or even cross country). Obviously you would need the rechargers for each item you are charging since they all vary (unless someone has invented a generic unit). It seems to me the bike should be capable of generating the electricity that could be stored or fed into a charging unit and then the various rechargers could be plugged in to charge the respective battery.

I don't know enough about electricity but my first guess is that a bicycle can produce electricity but not at a high enough voltage or something like that. Perhaps I'm wrong. Your thoughts and info would be appreciated as I'm thinking of making a cross country trip in the next year or so...probably some smaller ones prior to that.

Dynohubs are popular or you could fit a solar panel if you are going somewhere sunny....

Many campgrounds have a place to hook up your chargers. The Schmidt hub can be used to recharge the AA's in some of the lights. Other than that the only other thing I could think of is solar. I don't know how well they work.
For your phone you can buy a AA powered device that will charge it.

I have seen things that suck the juice out of batteries you would purchase at a supermarket like AA and charge a cell battery. You could also buy a bunch of cell batteries, and swap as needed. Most cell phones can be charged of USB too, Nokia has a special USB-Nokia cable.

hub charges and solar are not cheap or light weight.

Not cheap, but pretty light. Works great and on sale for about half price sometimes.

http://www.digitalreviews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=468&Itemid=67

This is kind of expensive but if you want to charge any kind of device that has a plug in port using just the sun, then this is a very good option especially if your going to be out for a while.

http://www.earthtechproducts.com/p2588.html

Then if you need to recharge regular batteries there's this: http://www.ccrane.com/more-categories/batteries-chargers/solar-powered-battery-charger.aspx

This can be used to charge/power any usb compatable device (as long as you have a usb cable with the right connector to the device you want to power.

http://www.amazon.com/Tekkeon-TekCharge-Mobile-Battery-Charger/dp/B0014KLX9C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1242833109&sr=8-1

This can be used to charge/power any usb compatable device (as long as you have a usb cable with the right connector to the device you want to power.

http://www.amazon.com/Tekkeon-TekCharge-Mobile-Battery-Charger/dp/B0014KLX9C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1242833109&sr=8-1

This thing does not provide the kind of power needs the original poster wanted. He wanted something that could charge bats up on long rides without the need to keep stopping to buy batteries. Your unit you described would need 4 AA bats all the time. Ideally when touring or camping for long periods of time you need to find electricity where there seemly is none, and that would be either from the sun or crank energy.

The Tunecharger MTC 4.3 would do the job very efficiently : http://www.tunecharger.com/?page_id=9

Would this site be of any help: http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/bike_charger/6-The_Charging_Circuit.html

This is the circuit I use to power a GPS or recharge my phone.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r154/n4zou/lights/DynamoUSB-2.jpg
The switch selects the LED headlight, off, and USB circuit.
Information about LED headlights can be found at this link.
http://pilom.com/BicycleElectronics/DynamoCircuits.htm
The headlight circuit shown in my schematic is Circuit 1.
The Off position allows electrically disconnecting a hub dynamo for less drag when it's not required.
The USB circuit uses 4 Ni-MH batteries to provide filtered power for a USB device.
Due to the design of standard bicycle dynamos the batteries will function as a voltage and current regulator.
The batteries will limit voltage at a maximum of 5.2 volts DC which is within USB standards.
USB standards limit the current draw of USB devices at 500mA which is standard for bicycles dynamos as well.
Most USB devices do not use the maximum allowable current limit. The excess current is absorbed by the 4 Ni-MH batteries as recharging current. Considering the amount of time required to recharge a device no attempt was made to automatically control recharging. It takes several hours of constant riding to recharge not only the device but the 4 Ni-MH batteries as well. If the device is operating constantly while connected to the USB circuit and is drawing over 300mA it may not be possible to completely recharge it. I only turn on my cell phone when I need to make a call. This allows it to be turned off while recharging providing a full 500mA of recharging current. I know how many hours this requires. For my phone 2 hours is required so after riding 2 hours I simply disconnect it from the circuit and turn it on allowing me to check the battery meter in the phone.
If you allow the 4 Ni-MH batteries to become completely discharged you may recharge them while riding. Calculate the time required for recharging them by checking the data always provided on each battery. Typically AA size Hi-MH batteries require 4 hours of recharge time at 500mA. Simply do not plug any device into the USB connector, place the switch in the USB circuit position, and ride for 4 hours. You can build several recharging accessories. The USB circuit requires the 4 Ni-MH batteries have solder tabs with no possibility of a poor or open connection between the batteries. A bad connection would allow unfiltered power to flow into your USB device and damage it. If you want to recharge batteries that will be used with a radio or other device a simple battery holder will work fine and can take the place of the batteries shown in the circuit. I am providing a picture of my current system.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r154/n4zou/lights/dsc00172.jpg
I used a standard telephone wall jack. You can see the 4 diodes. It's connected so the red and black wire connectors on the left provide rectified but unregulated power for the LED lights. The RJ-11 connector is common to these connectors as well. This allows disconnecting the lights and connecting a battery holder and batteries for recharging or the USB batteries and connector for a USB device. I use a bottle type dynamo so no switch is required. I wanted to keep the system as simple as possible.
Here is a photo showing the cover in place and my dual LED headlights. Check the pilom link above for information about multiple dynamo LED headlight systems.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r154/n4zou/lights/dsc00171.jpg
The yellow wire is connected to the dynamo.