Dynamos, lights and power on the trail

[composite]

I was just going to post this as a link in one of the recent threads about this topic but as there have been quite a few of late I thought I may as well post it a new thread rather than trying to search through looking for all the others.

I wrote up my experience of using a dynamo, the kit I have been using, along with my work flow.

You can find it here: http://www.composite-projects.co.uk/201 ... the-trail/

[Dan_K]

Great read. Thanks.
Am I right in thinking that the Sinewave can be omitted if you just want to charge the USB battery pack from the revo and you only really need it to charge a Garmin directly?

[Taylor]

Nope.

The unregulated power from the hub would fry your garmin/cache battery.
The Sinewave smoothes the current which most electronics need.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Has anyone measured the output from the 'red eye port' on the back of a Revo? If it'll power a rear light could it also maybe power something else?

[Taylor]

Choppy current so not really any good except for a red eye.

[composite]

Has anyone measured the output from the 'red eye port' on the back of a Revo? If it'll power a rear light could it also maybe power something else?

Exposure specifically say somewhere not to use this port for anything else. Might just be arse covering but you will lose a lot of the current to the light before it gets to your device anyway.

[johnnystorm]

Choppy current so not really any good except for a red eye.

Is it fluctuating or does it come from the standlight battery? It might not be recommended for anything else as that might drain the standlight too quickly?

[Taylor]

Choppy current so not really any good except for a red eye.

Is it fluctuating or does it come from the standlight battery? It might not be recommended for anything else as that might drain the standlight too quickly?

As Exposure categorically say don't use the boost cable to charge anything, one can only assume it's a choppy current.
Dare you to plug in a brand new iPhone 6.
Let us know how you get on.

On a side note, the capacitor that runs the stand light(r/h led) dims very quickly when redeye is connected but the redeye stay's lit for quite a while so the current draw from the redeye must be really small.
Each LED in the revo is ~200 lumens x4 = 800 Lumens
Redeye is ~80 lumens

[johnnystorm]

I'm not daft enough to have a iP6 let alone plug it into my Revo.

[Pyro]

I'm not daft enough to have a iP6 let alone plug it into my Revo.

He didn't say it had to be yours.

[Zippy]

Those iPhone 6 things can be charges in a microwave tho coz of the ios8 wave function anyway. Super speedy!

[johnnystorm]

Suddenly, charging through the Revo seems sensible.

[Zoglug]

Great read Composite! Ive saved a copy to my hard drive too so ive got a reference point once i start planning out my new build next year!

[Alpinum]

Great read Composite!

+1

Those iPhone 6 things can be charges in a microwave tho coz of the ios8 wave function anyway. Super speedy!

If power runs out eg of my cameras batteries, I make them warm. I put them in the sun or in pocket. Putting batteries in the sun is bad enough I guess.

Choppy current so not really any good except for a red eye.

The same with Supernova dyno lamps.
The stand light is mostly fed by capacitors, in revo's case I think it's a battery - there's only a small amount of current stored in there.
You have to use the main cable to run a buffer battery (or condenser) and some electronics to get a regular current for charging batteries. A charger with a built in battery will be less efficient then a condenser based system (Minilader C, Sinewave), but then most users will charge a battery pack from the condenser based system and then their gadgets from the battery pack. So in the end you loose some efficiency anyway and it's worth pondering on do you want a charger and a battery pack/tank or one device that does both?