It is my nature, ca`nt help it (wibrating eyelashes).

Actually, there is something I need to confess: found my sons charger unit in a small bag in my knitting bag last night. Looks like the one loosing stuff this time was me..:(

Smart guy, he found it in his room and planted it in with your knitting. ;)

great looking bike! I went with the candy apple red but later kind of regretted not going black.

I'm really impressed with the trailer. Make me one haha? I already have the suitcase, it never crossed my mind to try to make my own trailer.

I used EMT conduit which is available here at any home improvement or (most) hardware stores. It's also easy to make a jig to put uniform bends in the tubing... use a piece of hardwood (block or plank) the same width as the tubing, cut a convex curve in it and sandwich it in a vice between two more hardwood planks. Slip the tubing in the slot between the planks and press it down against the curve until you get the bend you need. Voila... you just grew a third stone.

That, sir, is a most impressive looking rig! Ready to take on the world.

How does it ride? I thought of getting the BF trailer kit, but worried about two wheels trailing behind one, and toppling over into the dirt all the time. So I just leave the suitcase at my first destination, and pick it up again at the end.

I :love: my Friday. Just came back from a week in Arizona, and she behaved like the princess she is. Fast on the downhills, steady on the ups, comfortable at all times.

I love the ride of my NWT and can't wait to spend 2 weeks riding her day after day. I have yet to take the case/trailer out on the road but I frequently pull a child trailer (sans child) and I'm fine with the way it performs. I've never experienced any unsettling handling issues empty or loaded down with 100 lbs worth of stuff. But I guess I'll see this weekend how the smaller 12" wheels of the case/trailer cope with going off of the shoulder of a road.

My order from Futurlec finally arrived and the order picker shipped three incorrect items out of six... I'd say he/she was having a bad moment. So it looks like I won't be building a dynamo/USB charger any time soon. However a synapse fired in my head and I had an idea that, in hindsight, surprisingly I hadn't thought of before. I have a slew of old wall outlet to USB converters that I rarely use since I usually have access to a PC's USB connection. Granted these converters are usually rated at 100v-240v (50/60 Hz) input but I figured what do I have to loose? Just to do a quick and dirty experiment all I did was tape the two wires from the dynamo to the two input prongs of the converter, attached a VOM to the USB output and started spinning the wheel. To my surprise the no load output at the USB port was 5.5-5.8v at about a fast walking pace and never went beyond 5.8v. I removed the VOM and one by one plugged in each of my devices (phones, cameras, bike headlights and flashlights, rechargeable battery packs)... they all would take a charge. I had four different makes of these converters immediately on hand (and I know I have more in my electrical parts bin) and all four worked.

Just thought I'd share that little tidbit with all of you DIYers.

Yay, thanks for sharing. Electrics and electronics is not someting that I understand really, but still it triggers my curiosity a lot. It is that "if he can do it I can do it" thing.. (that is how I hacked the electronic start control of my car, not becouse I understand it but becouse somebody told me how to do it..).

I think I understand what you started with, but that VOM thing is Greek to me. Could you explain? I remember reading about DIY bike chargers (I think at Instructables or something) and they mentioned that the devices can be harmed if you have a "straight connection" thing, you need some sort of protection against "too much" and "not enough", like a regulator or something. Where is that taken care of in your hack? Pix?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgf70Vol4kw

http://gcstz.com/products

A VOM is just a Volt/Ohm Meter which I used to make sure that the output voltage through the USB port was acceptable. The converter itself is fully contained and has the circuitry (rectifier and regulators) to change 100-240V AC to ~5V DC which is the standard for USB. That's the beauty of this hack, it's ridiculously simple and these converters are a dime a dozen or mostly free if you buy USB enabled devices. This is one that I pulled the wall outlet prongs out of and soldered a couple of leads to that hook up directly to the dynamo (that's black silicon gooped on to seal the hole). One thing you can't see is that this converter has a LED indicater on the side opposite the USB port which let's me know when the input is sufficient enough to start charging the device.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=303387

Oki, thanks. The part that I could not make out myself is that this charger that is made to take 100-240V AC to ~5V DC can also do the job when you feed it what you get from the dynamo an still supply what you need for your USB. Interesting stuff!

I have yet to look at the circuit board but I'm sure that what I would find is a bank of common Integrated Circuit regulators that gradually step down the input voltage. In this case the ~12 volts max from the dynamo passes through the first set of regulators in the circuit that are intended for higher voltages until it reaches the one, like the IC 7850 I was going to use which steps voltages as high as 35V down to 5V.

I would never have thought that this would work... and I am in this line of work. Thanks for the tip.

Update on the charging hack. I found two converters that do not work. The obvious differences between these two and the four that do work is physical size the latest two are physically smaller by almost 40%. After splitting the housing of the ones that work there appears to be a small induction coil (transformer) instead of what I expected (a bank of IC regulators). I was't able to inspect the circuit board of the two that didn't work because they were sealed and I would have to damage the case in order to get inside. So apparently I got lucky with the first four that I tried.

Anyway, I hope this still helps some people out there.

**UPDATE**

I think I've learned something new for what works and what doesn't. The last two converters that didn't work were rated at an output of 5V 1amp whereas the first four were rated at 5V .5amp. The output of the bottle dynamo is rated at 6V 3 watts which translates to .5amps (Watts = Amps x Volts)... it puts out less current than the converters that didn't work are rated for. So my assumption is that for this hack to work, the output of the converter has to be no more than 5V .5amps (or 500MA.. as indicated on the housing tag) or the output of the dynamo should be 6V 6watts if trying to use a converter with an output of 5V 1amp.

A typical charger like this first rectifies the input voltage, then using a switcher, generates from it a high frequency AC, then passws it through a small transformer (small because the frequency is high, not 50/60hz) and then rectifies the output AC of the transformer. This way the output is isolated from the input. There is also a feedback loop back to the switcher (using an optical path to keep things isolated) to regulate the output voltage. This page has a nice diagram http://www.fairchildsemi.com/applications/power-supply/ . The amazing thing is that you can buy them in very large quantities for less than $1/each.

From your description, it looks that the input 12V is sufficient to make the switcher working. I would not expect it. Good find.

BTW, if you will use a 7805 (?) to reduce from 35V to 5V, you will waste 85% of the electrical power (it will become hot) because the 7805 does not use the switching trick.

Thanks for that info... eventually I'll understand it. ;)


I suspected that the wiring diagram I was going to use (intended for bike dynamos) wasn't the most efficient because it included using a heat sink for the 7805.

Continued from this thread: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...4#post15547264

Sooo: Is all your gear packed and waiting? Packlist? Trailer finished? Going to hunt down any of the locals (especially the BF folder crowd)?

My gear is tested, packed and ready to go. I have no plans to meet up with anyone but then I'm winging the route anyway... destinations are mapped out but no solid itinerary. That's why I'm so looking forward to this solo trip, I get to do what and go where I want on a whim.

have a great trip, bro.

You must keep us updated, or at least take plenty pix and tell us all the details :). Been thinking I should go to the islands and ride around one day. Last time was Wales in the begining of April in 1985 (not on bike). Wet, wet, wet (and chilly). I am sure it can be great a bit later in the year.

Is your charger thingy working? Son tested his going to the next town to spend the night with friends last weekend. He was one big smile since charging that thing during the day is normally a problem and he runs out of power and can not be contacted.

Did you do your homework; http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...United-Kingdom ?

Tanks mang. Really the only thing that could make this trip a bummer is if I had a heart attack and died.


I think I'm prepared for visual documentation. Have 2 cameras, Contour Roam sport vid cam, solar charger (the sun does indeed shine in Scotland), dynamo, small tablet and a 10,000 maH backup battery pack and almost 100GB of storage. I plan on uploading my files to my repository when I hit WiFi hotspots and then edit all the stuff into a presentation when I get back. About the only gadget related item that is questionable is my untested international cel phone. I'll find out on Sunday if it works. ;)

I was in Scotland at the weekend, the weather was great and the bikes were out in force. Even saw a Brompton out in the country on Sunday amidst all the roadies.

Have a great trip!

So you are back! Now tell us ALL about your trip.. :bike2:

Wet, wet wet?


:popcorn

Wet, dry, cold, warm... it was everything and more. I just posted a quick teaser but will have more in about a week. I need to get things here at home back in order for now. ;)