morrisond

I'm think ing of incorporating a Garmin rear radar and Generator into my next bike.

It will drive me nuts if I have to always charge the Garmin.

How do I wire it up to keep it charged?

Will the Rear battery feed off an Edulux or Supernova E3

USB output off a Sinewave Beacon?

Or are none of them strong enough to charge it and just use something like an Cinq 5 Plus in the head tube as extra battery?

Thanks

Tourist in MSN

I am not familiar with the Garmin you cite.

While rolling, my SP PV8 dynohub and Sinewave Revolution will put out about 2.5 watts of power, none when stopped and less on slow uphills. I generally assume I am getting about 2 watts on average when on fairly flat ground when you average out the stop lights and stop signs. Hilly terrain where I might have a lot of slow riding up hills, I might average 1 watt. I feed that power straight into a pass through cache battery.

Some devices are picky about their power source, for example I can not charge my Garmin 64 GPS straight off of the Sinewave, I have to put the Sinewave power into the pass through cache battery, and then draw the power from that battery to feed into my GPS. The pass through cache battery I use is a fairly large power bank in my handlebar bag.

I know I did not answer your question, you need to find out if your Garmin can take a charge while it is in operation, and what wattage it takes.

If you operate a light on your dynohub, you should assume that the light is consuming all the power with none left over for USB charging. You might get a little power out of the USB, but it won't be much and would require you maintain good speed.

Keep in mind that if you ride in the rain, most USB circuits are not designed for that.

I try to be self sufficient when bike touring, thus my power generation capability, sometimes I go many days without access to an outlet. If you have access to a power outlet every day, that might be simpler and cheaper. If your Garmin battery will not last for the ride, maybe a power bank that can add power to it?

morrisond

Apparently it can take a charge while being used. It is the Rear Tail light Radar.

I'm thinking of wiring it into the rear light wire that comes off an Edulux or Supernova. Apparently those supply about .3W at 5 Volts. They also have a capacitor inside them for keeping the rear light from going dark when stopped which keep the charging from cycling on and off.

The Varia RTL can be charged by a Computers USB and it takes a USB about 6 hours to charge the device. I think the battery inside the Varia is 1,500 MaH.

The battery lasts for up to 16 hours in day flash and 6 hours solid at night.

Will that rate of charge make a dent in terms of extending the life of the battery charge - so that night will last longer than 6 hours then when I get back to daytime switch back to flash and gain some in charging?

It could be wired so that when the front light is off during the day all 6W goes to the Varia.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Tourist in MSN

I do not know enough about your system to be able to answer.

noglider 

It's more complicated and more expensive to charge from a dynamo than you might expect. If you really need to because you're away from wall power for several days, the cost and trouble may be justified. Most of us have wall power near us every day. So the better bet is to get a USB charged battery and run a cable from that battery to your garmin. That's how I keep my phone charged while on the bike. The Anker E1 is a good battery and a little over $20. It can charge my phone several times.

morrisond

This is the Varia Rear Radar/Brake light. I'm trying to avoid having to take it off the bike at all and ever charge it. I would be running a wire from the front headlight and hiding it in the yet to be built frame.

Just trying to figure out if the Light will give it enough power or I have to run it off some thing like an Cinq 5.

JohnJ80

I just tried mine to see if it would charge while it was on. It won't. It will either charge or run, not both at the same time. I tried this with both the RTL510 (gen 2) and the RTL315 (gen 3 radar but no light). If you plug it in while it's running, it quits charging. If you try to turn it on while it's charging, it won't.

So, it won't work and it won't matter how you hook it up.

J

morrisond

Thank you - very much appreciated - that saved me a lot of money.

billridesbikes

My experience is the RTL gen2 won't work while charging.
Maybe just buy two? Charge on from a reserve battery while using the other.
My dynamo charger is a homemade affair build from a few diodes and caps, so I only trust to charge a reserve battery anyway.

biker128pedal

It comes off easy. Easy for someone to steal. Unless you glue it too the bolted mount. Why don’t you want to take it off? Overnight ride?