mymorningjacket

Looking into a good,break dynamo hub for my upcoming tour.
I wad thinking about Shimano ones. More specifically the T785. Seems like good quality for a decent cost.
What hubs do you use on your tours?
I plan to use thos to charge my phone and kindle while touring. Will I need to buy anything else for this other than the hub? Wires or adapters?
Thanks.

edthesped

Unfortunately my "tours" last summer were little more than 4 day weekends, too many family obligations. Anyway, I switched to an SP Dynamo last summer and am very happy I did so. Coupled with a Sinewave Revolution I never had to worry about the charge on my cell phone. My daughter was so smitten with the Dynamo that I built her one for her bike. Neither of us notice any difference in rolling resistance when riding and I'm not sure I'd build a front wheel without one unless my sole concern is speed.

fietsbob

More back posts to read Here : Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Bike Forums as well as searching this section.

Need the device to convert the AC from the Hub to DC for the USB plug. it is wired to the Hub,

it takes the power Usually going to the headlight.

You can also just bring Your Mains charger and plug it in to charge your Phone at Lunch or breakfast stops ..

You Kindle may be too much to ask of the 6V 3W available , so there you will have to charge it while sitting somewhere with Power.
a Campground you Pay For may have power at the camp spot , for their Motor Home Campers..

there will be a faster drain running the Phone , that the Hub can provide , so leave things Off Most of the time.


explain " break dynamo hub"? broken or it has to have a Brake, too ?
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/...rJwRoCz2Hw_wcB

mstateglfr 

New Tiagra hubs is what I have. They are strong and easy to maintain hubs. Pretty simple mid-level hubs.

You will need a way to get the power from the hub to the electronics.
1- You could charge a battery pack with the dynamo hub and then charge electronics from the battery pack.
2- You could get a converter like these ---> Sinewave Cycles and charge your electronics directly.

There are other types of converters too, fyi.

gauvins

I have the T780. One season. No problem.

If I had to do it again, I *might* consider Velogical's modern incarnation of bottle generators. Forumslader (see below) has developed a charger compatible with their most recent and powerful unit, that supposedly delivers as much power as a dynohub. It will not be cheaper, but easier to replace if something fails, and creates zero drag when not engaged.

You'll need a charger. Three things to consider: (a) efficiency (i.e. how much energy is extracted from the hub by the charger); (b) cache battery (some chargers come with a small battery. Useful/essential with some devices that cannot handle current variations); (c) in steerer vs something you tie on your frame.

I went for the in steerer version of the forumslader. I you are good with electronics, I believe that you can purchase parts. The guy behind the open source project sells fully assembled chargers for 150 euros if I am not mistaken.

Snuts

On my 3 week trek last summer I used a 10,700mah battery to supplement my charging needs.

I looked into a Dynamo hub for next year. My bike shop handles SP Dynamo systems. But the cost, verses my experience. I opted for a second battery.

Here is a link to SP Dynamo. Hope it helps.

-Snuts-

SP Dynamo System

bwgride

I have two Shimano dynamo hubs. They are excellent. The one you identified should work well.

To convert the dynamo power to DC so you can charge your phone and Kindle, you need a converter. There are many options with most costing more than $100. I use the Biologic Reecharge converter, it costs only $30, offers a USB plug, and works very well.

ReeCharge Dynamo Kit with Micro-USB Cable | BioLogic Bicycle Accessories and Bike Gear

I have tested this converter with two items, my Nexus phone and a battery pack.

I found that my phone, with GPS running (Mapmyride), but in airplane mode and screen off, charges at about 1% per mile. This means it gains charge even when using it to track a ride with GPS. Obviously the charge is faster if the phone is turned off.

What I have found is that I can GPS track my entire ride with my phone, but for the first half of my ride, I can use the dynamo to charge a spare battery, then for the second half of the ride I can attach the phone to the dynamo and recharge it back to full. That's efficient work.

My findings above seem to match the findings of someone who used a different dynamo system, but obtained similar results while riding the Great Divide route. This person recharged an iPhone via dynamo exactly as I outlined above. Quotation:

"I was able to charge my phone within about half a day of riding."

Schmidt's SON 28 15 Generator Hub Review ? Small Tomatoes

I think dynamo systems work very well.

tarwheel 

I have a wheel built with a Shutter Precision PV-8 hub and it has been excellent. The only hub with lower drag is the SON, which costs more than twice as much. Biketiresdirect.com has SP hubs on sale right now for very good prices.

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/search/dynamo-lights

robert schlatte

I have two bikes with Shimano 3N-72 hubs. They work perfectly for headlight and taillight. For charging devices, external battery, etc. I have an AXA Luxx 70 plus that includes a USB port for charging. I would say charging is adequate for topping off batteries and such but requires a lot of ride time. Like others have indicated, drag is not noticeable even when producing charge.

Tourist in MSN

Agree with the SP and Sinewave Revolution.

I bought my SP PV8 in spring 2013 before anybody sold them in USA, I had it shipped from Taiwan. I originally used it with an AXA Luxx 70 Plus combo headlamp and USB charger. But I was unimpressed with the waterproofing on the AXA so last spring I bought the Sinewave Revolution because it has outstanding waterproofing which I expected to need for my Iceland trip because it rains a lot there.

I am not familiar with how charging a Kindle or your phone will work with the Revolution. There is no cache battery with the dynohub and the Sinewave Revolution, that means if you slow down to go up a hill the amount of power out of the revolution is reduced. And, when you stop, all power coming out of the USB charger stops.

I have some devices that do not like to be charged directly on the bike because they have a minimum power need. If they draw more power than the bike charging puts out, they stop drawing power, then the voltage rises again and they again try to start charging, only to shut off charging part of a second later when the voltage drops when they tried to draw too much power. Thus, these devices will keep trying to charge, but don't as the charging circuit cycles on and off.

Some people have found that they need to charge a Li Ion power bank with their bike charger, then later use the power bank to charge the devices. The Li Ion powerbanks that I have used will work well to draw power from a bike charger, even if your speed fluctuates. Thus, these generally will work well to power your devices later. And since going up a hill will not generate much power, my experience is that the power banks will still keep charging even if it is at a low rate.

Also, you did not say which phone you have. Apples have been particularly picky about their power supplies. They might require a powerbank.

So, you asked what you need, that is:
- The dynohub. I use the SP PV8.
- The USB charger, I use the Sinewave Revolution for touring but for around home I use a headlamp/USB combo instead.
- You might or might not need a power bank that you can charge from the bike charger and then later use that powerbank to charge your devices.
- You likely will need new spokes, you can reuse your old rim or just keep your old wheel as a spare and buy a new rim. And of course rim tape. If you have the wheel built, there may be a charge for that too. I build my own wheels, so i can't comment on cost for having a wheel built.

Getting a dynohub powered headlamp and maybe a tail lamp is also an option but not necessary. I use a dynohub powered headlamp, but I use a battery powered tail lamp.

nickw

The bees knees! I, like many others here and elsewhere, have had great luck with the Shimano hubs, I think mine was a 3N72.

I bought a B&M light from Peter White (Busch & Muller dynamo bicycle lights), the 'Luxos U', which has a USB port built in. They are not cheap, $200+, but great since it's serves two purposes.

It wont charge AND light up, but did charge my Samsung S5 adequately, albeit a bit slow. I had Spotify running most of the ride rockin' out, seemed to maintain a charge. If I kept phone off without running apps, it would take most of the day to charge, but would get there eventually.

I am building up a new wheel and decided to try out the SP hubs since they are a bit lighter than the Shimano.

The newer bottle dynamos look cool too, but have never tried them.

gracehowler

Purchased a son for touring, it has been flawless for three seasons. Have a Shimano on my commuter, 6 years, so far, ok
R

52telecaster

I use Sanyo hubs on both of my bikes. They work great for my lights but I havnt charged anything yet. I do have 3 years and over 3000 miles on one of them and it works flawlessly.

veganbikes

I haven't yet built the wheel but I got the bike wired and will be lacing it to a SP PV-8. I have a friend who has both SP and SON hubs and the SON hubs are certainly nicer but he has had no issues with SP and they are quite small and light.

Certainly if I dive deeper into this whole dynamo craze I will probably go for a SON hub on my touring bike because I hear nothing but good about them and they have been well regarded for so long and durability is a bigger factor for my tourer. The SPs are a little narrower and I am not as keen on that for touring.

I heard rumored that SP and Supernova are made in the same factory from someone I would generally believe so not a bad deal.

chandltp

I have the Sanyo on my commuter. It's always worked, but for some reason I've never really liked it. Honestly, I think if I upgraded my lights it wouldn't feel so cheap. But the lights aren't good enough to make me happy (I'm running 2 older IQ Cyo's), which just aren't nearly as bright as my Edlux II or the E3 Pro.

I've had two Son Hubs (one was on a Trike I sold), and I splurged on the lights for those (at least when I bought them they felt expensive). The one on my trike was an E3 Pro. I'm currently running a Son Hub with and Edelux II and it's the best light setup I've had so far. I'm contemplating trying it the Edelux on my Sanyo, but I'm too afraid I'll want to spend more money on my commuter bike

If I had to do it again, the SP hubs are getting great reviews. I'd probably try one of those with the Edelux II.

tspoon

I have a Shimano DH-T675, the next model down from the top Shimano model. I found the right hand side cone was mildly pitted after ~10,000km of riding. Fortunately, cones are available online. I didn't receive them in time before my last tour, and put another 5,000 km on without the cone deteriorating too much, after repacking the hub with quite heavy grease.

To my way of thinking this is the strength of the Shimano hubs, the serviceability. From this end of the world, it's a bit if a hassle to return non-user-serviceable equipment to the OEM for maintenance, which for me, rules out the more favoured and technically advanced models. Another plus is the generally lower price. If planning a long distance tour in a far away place, you could do worse than use a Shimano hub and pack some spare cones. (You'll need to get cone spanners somewhere)

On the subject of lighting and USB, I was greatly disappointed by the early demise of my Luxos U, due to it's (now) well documented inability to handle rain or, in my case, even cool humid weather. For my last trip I returned to home built lights / switchbox with battery backup, and a commonly available re-purposed car cigarette lighter usb plug thingy for charging. Heavier than a built for purpose product, but serviceable, and cheap!

GamblerGORD53

There is only one that powers and brakes, Sturmey Archer. Mine is the 90 mm XL-FDD Drum.
5 years with 20,600 miles on 2 bikes, one tour of SE Asia 4200 miles. Sealed bearing change at 17,000 miles. Absolutely NO problems with this, set and forget. Fixing a flat is actually easier. Possible ingress of mud slim to the brake side, but cleaning is a 5 min job. I have the Edelux light, always on. My speeds have gone UP since I got this hub and IGH back hubs, Rohloff and SA 5w.
I wouldn't go back to stupid deraillers for a million $.

I have no experience with charging. I had an Ipad and S5 phone on tour. Took hours to charge them at hotels.

Will Wheeler

I have a cheap Shimano DH-3D37 which is doing a good job so far. The quality on this hub is not far from the more expensive ones, except the weight! I made myself a simple USB charging device with a rectifier, a couple of electrolytic capacitors and a LM7805 5V regulator. Works just fine that one too. Some might say it's an inferior circuit because it's not a switching regulator with a higher efficiency, but that's not quite true. The regulator will never run smoking hot because the input voltage will always "follow" the output current and hence reduce losses through the LM7805 regulator.