I suggest using solar lights. They will charge just by being exposed to sunlight.
Solar bicycle lights
For charging phones and other things, I suggest a power bank with a solar charger.
Using a dynamo means you need to pedal a bit harder. It may not put out enough power anyway. It also eliminates the need to rebuild a wheel, if you were to use a hub dynamo.
I'd looked at these at REI and I just wasn't certain there's a real guarantee of getting enough lighting. Many of the trails that we've followed in the past had a lot of tree growth that limited lighting, there might be enough time while camping I just didnt know how well they work overall.
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
I rely on the dynohubs for touring mostly for battery charging. I ride at night so rarely on bike tours that I almost never use a headlamp on my bike on a tour. My expedition bike has S&S couplers and it has to be nearly disassembled and reassembled when I fly somewhere, I decided on my last tour to not even install a headlight on the bike. Instead carried a headlight in my handlebar bag that I could plug into my battery pack with a USB cable in case I needed it for a tunnel or trip to the pub, it attaches to the handlebar with an elastic band. I used my dynohub 100 percent for USB charging, not for lighting on my last tour.
On flat ground I get about 2 watts of power on average out of my Sinewave Revolution charger into my power bank, assuming some stop lights, etc. Where more ups and downs, the uphills produce a lot less power because of my slower speed, so likely less than 2 watts when touring in hilly areas. By being stingy with my power use, I can be self sufficient for power on a tour. But I go on multi-week tours. My battery pack is rated at 44 watt hours. My point is that to take my battery pack from empty to full would require 20 to 30 hours of rolling time. If you are sold on the dynohub, then get it, but do not think a few hours of rolling will charge up all of your devices, they do not put out that much power.
How long are your tours? If you are talking a week or less, I think you would be best off with some good battery powered lights, use AA or AAA batteries. Then if you find you need more batteries, every convenience store sells AA and AAA batteries. And a good sized battery pack to charge up a phone. And skip the dynohub upgrade.
I use Ikea Ladda white AA and AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries, the white ones cost more than the others that they sell but the white ones are better.
If you do get a dynohub, I am pretty happy with the B&M IQ-XS headlight, it is low budget from Bike24 but well built with a nice beam pattern. I have that on my rando bike.
I'd rather not rely on replaceable rechargeable batteries, that just seems like something to lose out on the road. Based on some of the advice here and some of the links to read I'm now leaning towards the B+M IQ2 Luxos which is a 90 lux light with handlebar remote that also has a USB port. There's a couple thing pushing the dyno light including one less thing to charge, the desire to start doing long distance gravel races that battery lights will run out of power for, and the need to devote battery life to headlamps for camping, cell phones, kindles for the kids. Having lighting that isn't dependent on other resources seems like a good idea overall.
Originally Posted by
adamrice
I've been looking into this myself, and depending on the length of your ride and how long you need to be electrically self-sufficient, power banks may be the cheaper and easier option.
Lights are by far the biggest draw on your power—my guesstimate is that a smartphone or bike computer draws about 0.2 W; a medium-powerful headlight draws about 5.5 W (about 27× as much). You can do the math on expected hours of use for each gadget, the gadget's power draw, and how big a power bank you'd need to cover that use: hours of use × draw in watts = power need in watt-hours. A big power banks weighs about 1 lb and has about 90 Wh capacity; by my math, that is enough to run one person's lights and other gadgets for almost 3 days if using them very intensively, or longer if used less intensively. Even if you go with a dynohub for your lights, it may make sense to use a power bank to run your other gadgets.
We carried 2 power banks with us last year and due to constant roaming ended up draining them by the end of 5 days; this year I don't expect to be roaming except in some of the more rural areas and even then not for long. A couple extra might not be the worst idea but they do start to add up weight and space and I'd like to trim things down.
Originally Posted by
pdlamb
On whether to buy a new wheel -- yes. Dyno hubs are solid, but their dimensions probably don't match your existing hub. So you'll have to buy new spokes, a new hub, and either pay someone (or DIY) to take the old rim off the existing wheel before you can start building a new wheel. You can probably find a rim in the $30 range, and that's cheaper than paying for a builder's time to take the old wheel apart. Plus you'll have a spare wheel if you need one.
I'm slightly ocd about how things match on my bikes and will have to decide between building into a new rim or into the old wheel, but with others claiming it should last years just the cost of spokes to rebuild makes building into the old wheel a more attractive option.
Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
One more comment, if you get a dynohub wheel, if your front wheel rims have brake wear, it would be better to go with new rim, meaning a whole new wheel with dynohub. But if old wheel is a disc brake wheel, then the rim should not have any wear, then using the old rim in a new wheel might make financial sense.
Even if you are using a rim brake bike, buying the disc brake version hub could make sense. A friend of mine bought a new dynohub complete wheel three years ago with a rim brake hub, then last year bought a new disk brake bike. Suddenly his dynohub wheel is not getting much use any more.
Good heads up, for my bike I already have to get a 12mm thru axle and disc brake, for others who might read this its an important detail.