Originally Posted by
SquireBlack
I bought a Cycle2Charge. It was hung up in US Customs for around a month, and when it finally arrived at my house USPS had destroyed the box and repackaged it in an apology bag. Seems to work fine, though. I already had a small Coaxial power socket that I had used for the USB-werk, so installation was easy. I’m keeping the Cycle2Charge in my handlebar bag.
Now I’m looking for an inexpensive and light battery to use in pass through mode.
As far as wiring goes, my rear light uses a single strand of the B&M wire, routed through the rolled edge of the Honjo Fender. The neutral connection is through the frame and fender. This has given me zero problems. The wiring to the front light was glued inside the front fender, originally with two separate 2-conductor wires (one feeding the headlight, and the other going back to the taillight). I put silicone caulk over the wires to protect them; this was a big mistake. The caulk makes the wires impossible to maintain: you can’t remove it, and nothing will stick to it, not even more caulk. Don’t try this at home!
If I were doing this over from scratch, I would run two single conductor wires inside the rolled edge of the front fender, one on each side: one wire to feed the headlight, and the other to go back to the taillight. The fender itself would be the neutral.
Connectors to the hub and the rear light wire are hidden in the bottom of the head tube. With my headset, tying the neutral to the front fender grounds the whole frame; YMMV.
Thanks for the update. Looks like you have it figured out and it is working well.
I used Silicone caulk to glue the wires inside my plastic rear fender, so far that has been trouble free. Hopefully it will stay that way. Glued it in spring of 2018. I used Dap Dynaflex 230. Kingston on this forum has used tape to put wiring inside fenders, but I am not sure exactly what kind of tape.
I do not have a rolled edge on my fenders since mine are plastic, thus the option you chose was unavailable to me. My wiring on most of my bikes is rather ugly, it is all external other than glued inside the rear fender on one bike. Sounds like yours being hidden looks much better. But on most of my bikes, I occasionally change the setup for a variety of reasons. My Sinewave usually resides on my rando bike, but if I go on a bike tour, the Sinewave gets moved to a different bike. Sometimes I use a rear rack with a rack mounted light, sometimes no rack on the bike, etc.
There were a lot of shipping difficulties from Europe to USA last spring when a lot of passenger aircraft were grounded, but that seems to be largely fixed. I was surprised your package was hung up in customs this fall. I ordered something recently from the UK, ordered it on a Saturday, arrived following Wednesday, that is the fastest international shipment I have ever had.
Inexpensive and light battery, the inexpensive part is less likely to occur, but it depends on your definition of inexpensive. Someone on this forum a couple years ago commented that battery packs that are used for solar power installations usually provide pass through capability, he specifically mentioned a Voltaic V15 battery pack he was happy with. I had previous problems with several other pass through batteries for bike touring that I decided to get a big enough one that would last me for several days without charging, I bought the Voltaic V44 and was very happy with that. The V44 is no longer made but they make bigger and smaller ones. I have had zero problems putting power into it from my Sinewave Revolution while simultaneously drawing power out of it to charge GPS or other devices. I used the V44 for a five week bike tour in summer 2019 and since then occasionally carry it in my handlebar bag on other rides.
Looks like V25 is the smallest they make right now. Price does not look too bad. And a much better price than the batteries that are specifically sold for bicycle pass through applications.
https://voltaicsystems.com/
I got my Voltaic battery from Amazon to cut the shipping cost.
I think we would all appreciate an update in a few months on how the Cycle2Charge works out for you. And if you mount it where it is exposed to rain, let us know how weatherproof it is.