N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

I have been using my N900 integrated with my bicycle for a few years and it might be useful to spread the knowledge.
There is plenty of discussion on integrating and powering smartphones and headlights with bicycle dynamos or solar for long range touring over at http://crazyguyonabike.com I am using images from that site too.

I have a folding bicycle that I had a Shimano hub dynamo built into the new front wheel, there are several other brand hub dynamo/generators available, they seem to be the most reliable method to generate electricity but they are also expensive both to buy and to have installed. There are also tire sidewall friction generators or bottle generators but these are most useful for when you end up out after dark and need to power lights to get home not for the higher demand of a smartphone.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...L_on_Giant.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...cle_dynamo.jpg

I use A Shimano hub dynamo to power lights and to run a home made power converter that turns the 6 volt alternating current into regulated 5volt direct current supplied to a USB port. There are several commercial converters from cheap eBay junk to some very good, the price seems to be about $100 and up to get a good converter system.that is tough, reliable, and able to reliably charge in a wide band between just above walking pace speeds to long fast downhill runs. There seems to be a good consensus at crazyguyonabike.com that the best is the German B&M E-Werk dynamo power converter system though there are others.
below are two links to some older pics of my system then one of the e-werk.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/forum...pic_id=1181051
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/forum...pic_id=1181052
http://www.starbike.com/images/BUMM/361_zubehoer.jpg

I have found that if you are riding a loaded bicycle with camping/touring gear up a moderate incline your speed will probably be too low to charge a phone but enough to power modern high power LED head and tail lights designed for dynamo systems. However if you will be on a good flat or easy hills you will generate plenty of power without actually feeling any additional load.

For reliable phone power running your backlight, GPS, CPU intensive apps, or 3G data where there are moderate to steep rolling hills I usually plug the dynamo USB power directly into a USB battery pod. I have a Yoobao Dual USB port Long March 11200mAh. This can take a charge from the N900's 110/220AC mains charger as well as the bicycle dynamo system, a car charger, or any power source with a microUSB jack. Some of the bicycle chargers especially the E-Werk power converter can be accessorized with a rugged cache battery designed to mount to the bicycle frame but this is not as large a capacity as the Long March battery pod. I have not run this dead yet but it should be good for at least five days at moderate consumption, though the N900 can really burn amp/hours when all the gadgets and CPU are running at full power.

http://www.maikai.co.uk/media/catalo...l/o/long12.jpg

I find that any phone holder system that tries to hold it with a foam or rubber clamp that I have tried doesn't securely hold a phone or GPS and will eventually bounce your phone out onto the highway, probably when you are doing a 70km/h downhill next to traffic. There are some car and motorcycle mounts for the N900 that may need modification or mating to a bicycle handlebar clamp to hold the phone securely but there is still the issue of weather, I have not tried any of these and cant comment. I ended up getting a universal GPS/phone waterproof enclosure that was a bit large for the N900. I made a tray from chloroplast (like cardboard box) sheet form an election sign that I cut and secured with hot glue to center the N900 and made an area on one side to hold the charge cable safely. This phone holder has a soft plastic touch screen cover that lets clumsy touch finger interaction but keeps the weather out, there is also a weather resistant port for a power/charge cable. The waterproof holder had a bicycle handlebar clamp and quick release connection to the actual phone enclosure which broke, I secured the enclosure itself permanently to the handlebars with zip-ties through the vents on the back which works fine.

http://www.extremepda.com/assets/images/SM032-ALL.jpg

Since the phone is inside a weatherproof capsule I interact with it using the touch screen and a modified Nokia BH-214 Bluetooth multimedia headset with a 3.5mm stereo jack for headphones. The BH-214 comes stock with a battery good for 6-7 hours of music or talk. I replaced the battery, which I describe in another post, with a battery good for about 24 hours of audio or talk. if the weather is good I attach a large safety pin to my collar and clip the somewhat flimsy clip of the BH-214 to my collar. If I suspect rain I will stick the BH-214 in a sandwich bag with a rubber band around a longer set of headphones to keep it dry.

http://www.accessoryarena.com/htmls/...=59654&v=thumb

Here are some quick links I found web searching for the things I mention in this post:

This is one place that sells the USB battery pod:
http://www.xengadget.com/products/21...filiateid=1008

This is what many consider a great dynamo power to USB converter, I want one:
http://www.starbike.com/p/Busch-M%FC...RK-361-3707-en

This is the weather resistant phone enclosure I am using:
http://www.amazon.com/Navitech-Water...284712-4490337

If you want to see what a hub dynamo looks like or some of the friction powered alternatives visit the Peter White Cycle Shop site linked below, it has plenty of info and pictures about dynamo lighting and power systems. He also is the exclusive importer/distributor to the USA for many of these German systems and components and charges a serious markup for them so prices of dynamo systems if purchased in the US vs the UK/EU are sometimes very high so shop around, see starbike.com link above. http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/

Re: N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

Interesting read. I do a bit of cycling myself but I am one of those muddy-hooligan air-suspension cross-country types.

I am actually most interested in your "Yoobao Dual USB battery".
What sort of battery life do you get from it?
Looking for something like this for camping etc.

Re: N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

I carry a small 7amph battery and a 50w inverter. Lasts me a good few days. But would love a front hub motor. On the motorbike, I use the n900 with gloves on the tank bag, because I can.

Re: N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

I think it would have been better if you put pictures throughout your text because there are so many details we will get lost as we've never seen some of these things before.

Some ideas
#1 Bionx

This has regenerative breaking (page 9) can be mounted to your folding bike and is lightweight and I believe it has a 6v port on it and it can be put into regeneration mode while you are going down hill.

#2 Goal zero has a couple of packs differing in size that would work if you want it separate from the bike.

#3 Cellphone wrist holders

Re: N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

I threw some pix up and added some answers to the ??? in the thread.

Re: N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

Sixwheel' For mountain biking I just bring the pod too as I dont have a dynamo installed on that bike, too much up and down to take a good charge and the risk of snapping off the USB port.

King Ralph', an inverter? I figure the 11A/h is fine for me and delivered via USB powers most of my gadgets. I also have a lithium 18A/h battery that I use with a 25w solar panel and have a small inverter for camping.

aironeous, some of these converters will work with the 6 volt magneto takeoff on those bolt-on 49cc bicycle gas motors. I think most regenerative electricalbicycle motors use 12-48 volt systems but I am sure there is a smart way to tap these for phone charging. If there is a 6volt port though everything is easy, maybe this is for standard bicycle lighting options? I considered a wrist holder but in the end decided the phone was safer on the bike in a wreck.

Re: N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

Hi Biketool,

What a timing! I just returned full of questions from a 3weeks bike trip around Iceland testing my self powered n900 system and here you posted this at the same time. Maybe you can enlighten me ...

I have a SON dynamo hub with the E-werk. I bought it because it's the only device currently that can deliver 12V from a bike, and I'm planning to use that for charging a netbook. So far I only tried with the N900 and standalone chargers, and I'm quite happy of the 100€ investment (and the starbike.com service).

I don't have the additional cache battery sold with the Ewerk (52€ for 1400 mAh), because I had a small solar charger of 2200mAh (Vaude LP2200, http://www.rucksack.de/rubriken/arti...aign=ide/vaude) with cable input up to 7V/1000mA and USB output 5V which is even more functional. But the solar panel is so ridiculously "slow" that I'll have a look at others like Long March.

My setup idea charging was: dynamo -> E-werk on 7V/1000mA -> Vaude cache battery -> N900, that would receive a neat current, charge and play music to me while recording my GPX track with Mappero and display my speed and location.

However, the N900 refused to charge that way, whether I use the Nokia-provided USB charging cable from the cache battery or another cable. I tried powering the N900 directly from the Ewerk (this time set up on 4.9V/500mA, but I also tried 5.6V, and current up to 1000mA to simulate a wall socket charge) on an easy road where i could maintain a 20km/h speed (i.e. enough for the E-werk to deliver a neat current). In the best of the cases, the N900 would do this: the N900 would recognize the power (i.e. switch on if off, or have the battery icon pumping) and the lamp blink. But the lamp blinks green instead of orange, I had never seen that. After 2 green blinks, it stops. the N900 doesn't charge.

If i stop the power input and restart (i.e. I disconnect the cache battery or stop cycling), the same pattern will happen: 2 green blinks, then nothing.

Have you noticed this pattern? Or any other reader who tried to charge his N900 without the Nokia tools? Even though I always tried as well with the Nokia-provided USB cable at the end of the chain. Is the Long March working perfectly with the N900, switched on and off? And able to charge
*
I ended up charging spares NB-5L battery (I have 3) with a universal battery charger (http://www.me2solar.com/pixo-c-usb-u...y-charger.html). I can recommend it, as it can take USB3 current (900mA) and even deliver 7.4V (for dSLR batteries) while having an input at 5V. The drawback of this was that I had to swap batteries every day, and the setup is fragile (the battery is kind of loose in that universal charger, but it's the point as it's supposed to accomodate any battery) on bumpy roads.
*
For the handlebar case, I picked up the only model at the nearby DIY shop, a chinese 12€ case made for iphones, the N900 fits tightly, is waterproofed, the touchscreen works well and it hold toght to my handlebar even when the rocky roads made my back and butt sore for hours.
*
It feels so good to have the comfort of the N900 tools (phone, gps, music, wifi) without getting off the saddle and without paying attention to the power (well, provided one cycle a decent amount of KMs every day). I hope I can solve that N900 not wanting to charge directly.
*
Cheers,

jb

Re: N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

Ended up getting a Long March after reading this thread.
Not put it to the full test but seems to charge my N900 OK.
Only charges from the 1A port and not the 2A, for some reason the N900 doesn't think the 2A port is a charger (checked in dmesg).

Re: N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

Why so complicated?
1: http://www.amazon.de/Nokia-DC-14-Fah.../dp/B00475BGHA
2: http://toddlerontour.com/universal-u...14-conversion/

Done! :D

Re: N900 Bicycle Power and Attached Containment Systems (universal)
 

even simpler since it already comes with usb instead of 2mm

http://www.bike2power.com/products/

Seems like it would be an even better system if there was storage inbetween, like a DC-8 strapped on handlebar between dynamo regulator and phone so the dynamo charges the dc-16 and the dc-16 charges your phone constantly anyway. I suppose eventually you would need to charge the dc-16 manually, but it should go for a long time.