Wow, I really like the idea of using a bike dynamo to charge my FP! But is it good for the battery? Plus: Really great would be a way of using a dynamo bikeless, e.g. with a handle to charge your FP on the go!
But letâs start from the beginning: @paulakreuzer, how did you connect the USB cable to your dynamo?
A Shimano DH-3N20-A dynamo. I can totally recommend it.
A Revolt PX-8166-675 adapter. In theory itâs quite cool because it has an output to connect 2 lights and one USB output for the Phone, but it doesnât really work well. In reality it can only power either lights or the phone, not both at once.
A nice led-backlightâŠ
âŠand a really strong front led light.
I canât recommend the Revolt thing, Iâm sure there are better options out there.
Yeah that would be cool.
Iâd really like this device with a USB output instead of the light. Although all that spinning probably wouldnât be good for the cable.
Hi,
did anybody already try to use the FP2 on a bike for navigating and use the power supply by a hub dynamo?
Off course I have to buy a quite expensive, special recharger for the phone. But I know, that the FP2 reacts weak on some rechargers. So I would appriciate it very much to recive some experiences from other users on that topic, to avoide a misinvestment
Thank you a lot!
Heiner
I saw some dynamo adapters in bike shops, they seem cool but are quite expensive.
I didnât try them. They say MAXIMUM value is 1.5A. Is that enough for the FP ? And how fast would you need to ride to reach them ?
Also, the power will be very intermittent, when you accelerate, stop at traffic lights etc⊠Maybe thatâs why you need an expensive regulator, or intermediate battery.
You could use a powerbank that can charge a phone at the same time it is charging. That would give you a steady power supply and could be used in other occasions as well.
Yes, there are some powerbanks, rechargeable by a hub dynamo, such as the âDynamo Harvesterâ or the âForumsladerâ, both between 100,- and 200,- âŹ! And again: Did already anybody use such a charger in connection to the FP2?
Sorry I didnât use a dynamo charger, i hope someone else can advise you.
But as others said, it should not be an issue if you use a cache intermediate battery.
I use a powerbank, charging from regular mains, and it has no problems charging the FP2.
I think the thing is that all power sources other than the wall socket are inefficient in comparison.
If you want to be independent from a wall socket, you should probably get a solar charger. Consider one of the sustainable alternatives, that have been working together with Fairphone: Little Sun or WakaWaka.
I do have solar panels on my houses roof, But I donât think, that this is a solution for collecting energy by riding a bike. You very often change the direction and you would have to justify the solar collector again and again. And you are depending on sunny weather. Therefor I think a hub dynamo is a much better solution for harvesting electric energy riding a bike. At the german online magazine âFahrrad Zukunftâ there is a very informative collection of articles about that subject (http://fahrradzukunft.de/22/steckdose-unterwegs-5/), but of course the rechargeable powerbanks are not tested with a FP2. But it says there, that you can harvest electrical energy more than 5 watts at a bike speed of 20 km/h. The loss of speed for producing the electrical energy is between 0,3 - 1 km/h, depending on the speed and the power consumption of the electrical devices you are running.
Your link and content to the magazine looks perfect to me. Doesnât it answer your question beside the question about a testing person that you are looking for ?
May be, I have to be the first one, who is testing it. And I am confident, it should work. On the other side I remember trouble, I have had with charging the FP2, depending on cable and charger. I wouldnât like to have it with an 150,-⏠device again. I could ask Fairphone, but when would I get an answer, if I get a helpful one at all?
(I donât want to do publicity for any device but I think itâs necessary to mention some model names to describe setup as detailed as possibleâŠ)
Iâm using a bike with Shimano DH-3N71 dynamo. Attached to this dynamo is a www.cycle2charge.de device. With a short cable a FP2 is connected. Starting with nearly 20km/h the FP2 begins to load. The app âAmpereâ shows about 50-250mA of loading current. Strange is that the loading current shown seems not to increase when riding faster (tested up to 30km/h). Donât expect to really "charge"your phone with this setup. Battery percent increased about 1â in 20 minutes. But at least you donât lose energy while riding your bike, so you remain autonomousâŠ
Hm, I didnât come on with this stuff until now. I contacted Thomas Tryer, who is manufacturing the âDynamo Harvesterâ and he promised to me to send me a harvester for testing with the FP2 for four weeks. I ordered it, but than I didnât get an answer from him anymore. My be, he has been on the Fairphone forum and read about all the trouble some people did have with charging the phone? And he may think, no news is better than bad news.
But spring is coming and the main reason for me to buy the Fairphone was to get into contact with the world around on our tandem bike tours around Europe, for example to find a place to sleep in the evening. Also it is importand for us, on our journeys to stay in contact with relatives and friends. Until 2014 I used a Nokia C7 phone for eight years, and it is still working, but you know the Nokia story: No service for Symbian phones anymore, when they escaped into the Windows world. For other needs I really wouldnât need a smartphone.
But now I will try to get another proper charger to use the phone on tours, sometimes without wall chargers within reach for days. The next target is to find out, whether the âForumsladerâ does work together with the FP2.
I used a USB-charger on my bike tour for my GPS. I connected this device: https://www.amazon.de/Kemo-Fahrrad-Dynamo-Laderegler-mit-Navi-Smartphone/dp/B003JBAX8Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1488702141&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+fahrrad to my hub dynamo like in the picture explained. The min-USB connector fit for the GPS and during cycling I could use it without any battery loss.
Back home I cut off the mini USB connector and exchanged it with an USB 2 (female) connector from an USB 2 extension cable I didnât use. Now I can connect any USB 2 cable to the dynamo. With the switch on the device I can decide whether I use the energy from my dynamo for my lights or for my USB-port.
But I think the best way using it for a smartphone is to charge a power bank from the dynamo and use the power bank for charging your phone. This will make sure you have an constant loading current to your phone.
I got a similar experience to @Volker : [quote=âff2u, post:15, topic:5660â]
Donât expect to really "charge"your phone with this setup. Battery percent increased about 1â in 20 minutes. But at least you donât lose energy while riding your bike, so you remain autonomousâŠ
[/quote]
Sadly I used the setup just ones with my fairphone 1. With a car navigation app opened and the display switched on all the time I even lost percentage from my fairphone battery while cycling > 20km/h.
I donât think that you can produce enough energy with a bike to charge your phone similar to charging your phone with your computer (with 500mA). Doesnât matter which product is connected between your dynamo and your phone. Maybe with inductionâŠ
Well, I hadnât mentioned that above. But during my tests I had the screen on, GPS activated and bike navigation (osmand) running. And it did still charge (and not discharge).
Did you use the FP1 oder 2? Maybe I give it soon another try and report my experience with the FP2. I used by the time sygic for the navigation and it was freezing cold. My phone warned me a few timesduring the trip that it is too cold (~0 °C). Maybe that was eating up my battery as well. Nevertheless I donât think that you can produce enough energy to use AND charge your phone. But if Iâm wrong please tell me, because that would be awesome =D