Kenyans invent bike phone charger
Artemisia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8166196.stm
This is really cool. I hope they will adapt a model to recharge not
just the phone but the gps - that could be more immediately useful to
the bike-trip at hand, in developed countries at least.
Good luck to them anyway - they sound like a brilliant pair of kids.
EFR
Ile de France
Just zis Guy, you know?
<e.ro...@free.fr> wrote:
>This is really cool. I hope they will adapt a model to recharge not
>just the phone but the gps - that could be more immediately useful to
>the bike-trip at hand, in developed countries at least.
Absolutely. And where is the excellent Mr Bayliss? I am sure there
is a synergy here, I know he is interested in helping developing
countries to access communications technology. Maybe the Bayliss
Foundation will part-fund R&D?
Of course the good thing here is that if we get a product that sells
in the developed world, that can bring the prices down and make it
more accessible elsewhere.
Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/urc | http://www.nohelmetlaw.org.uk/
"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken
Newsgroup may contain nuts.
Bod
> On Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:17:49 -0700 (PDT), Artemisia
> <e.ro...@free.fr> wrote:
>
>> This is really cool. I hope they will adapt a model to recharge not
>> just the phone but the gps - that could be more immediately useful to
>> the bike-trip at hand, in developed countries at least.
>
> Absolutely. And where is the excellent Mr Bayliss? I am sure there
> is a synergy here, I know he is interested in helping developing
> countries to access communications technology. Maybe the Bayliss
> Foundation will part-fund R&D?
>
> Of course the good thing here is that if we get a product that sells
> in the developed world, that can bring the prices down and make it
> more accessible elsewhere.
>
> Guy
Is this a wind up? :-)
Bod
Simon Lewis
Not really : the circuitry would be simple. Just no one has really
commercialised it. Oh except for ...
http://www.zzing.de/English_Zzing/index.php/produkt
OK, for hub generators :-;
Which is universal for any device with a USB charging cable.
Ben Micklem
fairly easy to build.
Motorola did this a couple of years ago:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/motorolas_bike.php
I plan on making one with a USB mini-B connector. This would charge my
Garmin GPS, my mobile phone, and my hard-drive photo storage device,
that all have mini-b sockets on them.
See:
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Biking
http://www.ktverkko.fi/~msmakela/electronics/dynamo5v/
There is an excellent thread on a forum that I read (and bookmarked on
another computer) detailing difference version of charging circuits, but
I cannot find it right now.
Ben
Just zis Guy, you know?
wrote:
>Is this a wind up? :-)
I had a modest bet with myself that someone would work that in - and
actually I would have done it myself if I'd been able to think of a
hook :-)
Simon Lewis
> There are commercial versions of these devices available, and they are
> fairly easy to build.
Yeah, so says everyone and no one does.
>
> Motorola did this a couple of years ago:
> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/motorolas_bike.php
>
And nothing came of it. All links leads to a dead end.
>
> I plan on making one with a USB mini-B connector. This would charge my
> Garmin GPS, my mobile phone, and my hard-drive photo storage device,
> that all have mini-b sockets on them.
>
> See:
> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Biking
Openmoko? Uh oh. Hope its better than their crap phone.
>
> http://www.ktverkko.fi/~msmakela/electronics/dynamo5v/
>
> There is an excellent thread on a forum that I read (and bookmarked on
> another computer) detailing difference version of charging circuits, but
> I cannot find it right now.
Why bother?
Ben Micklem
> Ben Micklem <ne...@news.com> writes:
>
>> There are commercial versions of these devices available, and they are
>> fairly easy to build.
>
> Yeah, so says everyone and no one does.
Plenty of people have built such things:
http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/bike_charger/
http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/511
http://www.mark-ju.net/bike_ride/equipment/charger.htm
http://www.nscl.msu.edu/~daniel/regulator.html
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/06/how-to_pedal-powered_phone_charger.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Charge-Any-USB-Device-by-Riding-Your-Bike/
... and then I got bored of pasting from Google....
>> Motorola did this a couple of years ago:
>> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/motorolas_bike.php
>>
>
> And nothing came of it. All links leads to a dead end.
>
>> I plan on making one with a USB mini-B connector. This would charge my
>> Garmin GPS, my mobile phone, and my hard-drive photo storage device,
>> that all have mini-b sockets on them.
>>
>> See:
>> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Biking
>
> Openmoko? Uh oh. Hope its better than their crap phone.
If you visited the link, you would find they don't make one, this was
just a convenient link for some commercialised versions.
>> http://www.ktverkko.fi/~msmakela/electronics/dynamo5v/
>>
>> There is an excellent thread on a forum that I read (and bookmarked on
>> another computer) detailing difference version of charging circuits, but
>> I cannot find it right now.
>
> Why bother?
>
> http://www.zzing.de/English_Zzing/index.php/produkt
This product looks like it charges some AA batteries and these then feed
the devices being charged. It is more efficient to regulate the output
of the dynamo and charge the devices directly.
The same reason why I won't buy:
http://www.jawetec.de/index.php?content=bikecharger&framing=radsport
or
http://www.ikonglobal.com/
or
http://www.pedalpower.com.au/index.htm
Because it doesn't take more that £5 worth of components and a couple of
hours to make. €80 is a bit too expensive. Plus some people like making
things. Especially as mine will integrate better with my existing
lighting, and be more efficient.
Ben
Simon Lewis
> Simon Lewis wrote:
>> Ben Micklem <ne...@news.com> writes:
>>
>>> There are commercial versions of these devices available, and they are
>>> fairly easy to build.
>>
>> Yeah, so says everyone and no one does.
>
> Plenty of people have built such things:
>
> http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/bike_charger/
> http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/511
> http://www.mark-ju.net/bike_ride/equipment/charger.htm
> http://www.nscl.msu.edu/~daniel/regulator.html
> http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/06/how-to_pedal-powered_phone_charger.html
> http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Charge-Any-USB-Device-by-Riding-Your-Bike/
> ... and then I got bored of pasting from Google....
OK. "No one" was supposed to be "almost no one" ...
>
>
>>> Motorola did this a couple of years ago:
>>> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/motorolas_bike.php
>>>
>>
>> And nothing came of it. All links leads to a dead end.
>>
>>> I plan on making one with a USB mini-B connector. This would charge my
>>> Garmin GPS, my mobile phone, and my hard-drive photo storage device,
>>> that all have mini-b sockets on them.
>>>
>>> See:
>>> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Biking
>>
>> Openmoko? Uh oh. Hope its better than their crap phone.
>
> If you visited the link, you would find they don't make one, this was
> just a convenient link for some commercialised versions.
Not one of the links for the Pedal Power worked or took me to anything
other than garbage. it also linked the Zzing which I linked to. The
JAwatec page is wrongly encoded and is in German only.
So, hats off to ZZing in this case.
>
>>> http://www.ktverkko.fi/~msmakela/electronics/dynamo5v/
>>>
>>> There is an excellent thread on a forum that I read (and bookmarked on
>>> another computer) detailing difference version of charging circuits, but
>>> I cannot find it right now.
>>
>> Why bother?
>>
>> http://www.zzing.de/English_Zzing/index.php/produkt
>
> This product looks like it charges some AA batteries and these then feed
> the devices being charged. It is more efficient to regulate the output
> of the dynamo and charge the devices directly.
Depends how you define efficiency.
I for one would not like my Blackberry tied to a varying AC charger on
the bike for hours on end by a wobbly usb cable. I would prefer it to be
"free" and thus easy to use. One can then plug it into this Zzing over
night to recharge.
>
> The same reason why I won't buy:
> http://www.jawetec.de/index.php?content=bikecharger&framing=radsport
> or
> http://www.ikonglobal.com/
> or
> http://www.pedalpower.com.au/index.htm
>
>
> Because it doesn't take more that £5 worth of components and a couple of
> hours to make. €80 is a bit too expensive. Plus some people like making
> things. Especially as mine will integrate better with my existing
> lighting, and be more efficient.
>
>
> Ben
Fine. Thats you. But this is a commercial product designed for
convenience and ease of use. Your ability with a soldering iron and an
oscilloscope is not of much concern to others looking for a ready made
solution.
Having my GPS plugged into the charger while cycling is a no no for
me. I want it untethered and safe.
I think the USB "recharge" solutions are excellent.
Simon Brooke
I can't tell from the website, but is this a headlight as well as a
charger? I see it has a 'torch function' (white LED) but it doesn't
look bright enough to do headlight duty(?). If it were that really
would be useful. I'm also slightly concerned that the USB sucket
appears to be open to the elements, Thing on bikes ridden in the rain
get wet.
Simon Lewis
The dont put it in the wet. Keep it in your handlebar bag and run the
wire in. Its really for touring IMO.
Alan Braggins
>Article on BBC Web Site today. Apologies if already posted.
>
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8166196.stm
>
>This is really cool. I hope they will adapt a model to recharge not
>just the phone but the gps - that could be more immediately useful to
>the bike-trip at hand, in developed countries at least.
The market for this is parts of less developed countries where many of
the phone users have no phone landline, and no (or no reliable) mains
electricity.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/2009/jan/04/katine-uganda-africa-mobile-phones
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10284532-94.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1
http://allafrica.com/stories/200907211006.html
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/02/04/ugandan-housewifes-d.html
SMS
> There are commercial versions of these devices available, and they are
> fairly easy to build.
>
> Motorola did this a couple of years ago:
> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/01/motorolas_bike.php
>
>
> I plan on making one with a USB mini-B connector. This would charge my
> Garmin GPS, my mobile phone, and my hard-drive photo storage device,
> that all have mini-b sockets on them.
Remember, if it's a Motorola phone, there is some extra circuitry
involved so you don't get the "Unauthorized Charger" message on the
phone. You need a 200 KOhm resistor between pins 4 and 5 of the mini-USB
connector. See
"http://sr71.net/pictures/Computer_Stuff/RAZR-Cable-2006-08-24/".
Motorola uses this to identify their own chargers.
If there were sufficient demand for such a bicycle charging device,
someone could make a fairly efficient unit with a DC-DC switcher, and a
Schottky-bridge rectifier. The problem is always that the power supplied
by the dynamo is pretty low, and you waste a lot of it doing conversions
from AC to DC, and changing voltages. Most fast phone chargers are well
over 500mA, though they will charge with 500mA, just slower. You don't
want to stick a bridge rectifier and a linear regulator onto a dynamo
and say you're done.
On my 12V lighting system battery I added a cigarette lighter socket
which is useful for phone charging and other applications, as shown
here: "http://nordicgroup.us/bikecoff/bcimages/batterygrinder.JPG".
SMS
> Simon Lewis wrote:
>> Ben Micklem <ne...@news.com> writes:
>>
>>> There are commercial versions of these devices available, and they are
>>> fairly easy to build.
>> Yeah, so says everyone and no one does.
>
> Plenty of people have built such things:
>
> http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/bike_charger/
> http://geektechnique.org/projectlab/511
> http://www.mark-ju.net/bike_ride/equipment/charger.htm
> http://www.nscl.msu.edu/~daniel/regulator.html
> http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/06/how-to_pedal-powered_phone_charger.html
> http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Charge-Any-USB-Device-by-Riding-Your-Bike/
> ... and then I got bored of pasting from Google....
"http://www.econvergence.net/cyclech.htm"
There was one from France that was actually done right, the TuneCharger,
but it never went past them selling evaluation boards.
It's basically an answer to a question that nobody (or few people) asked.
Leo Lichtman
in various configurations, including one on a back pack, and one on a fanny
pack. This seems ideal, since all the stuff being charged (camera, phone,
personal organizer, navigator, etc) would be conveniently carried on or off
the bike, protected from rain and falls, and easily reached for use.
Jym Dyer
=v= How do we know this wasn't REALLY born in America? I
demand to see the invention's Kenyan birth certificate, and
I shall froth at the mouth for 6 months until I get my way.
<_Jym_>
P.S.: My apologies to the folks in the U.K. who I expect
are not subjected to the idiocies of the U.S. media to the
extent that we are on this side of the pond.