Wind charger for active 10

[Mike777]

Hi all

After a long ride yesterday ..........with lots of stops my rechargable battery in my active 10 went flat

Has any one tried a wind charger

Saw this one a wondered where it was worth a try ?

http://www.uniross.com/eu/product_info.php?cPath=21_39&products_id=120

Even if it just tops up the battery

Any ideas or recommendatios.

Many thanks

Mike

[Bosun]

Mike,

Couldn't get that link to work.

Ian

[Mike777]

[Bosun]

Mike,

On Amazon it is reduced from £49.99 to £5.82 and is in stock so at that price you might as well give it a go.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uniross-U0184700-Wind-Charger/dp/B001E9QYZ6

Let us know how you get on.

Ian

[Mike777]

[AllyCat]

Hi,

Yes at that price I couldn't resist one a few weeks ago and was amazed when a large parcel was delivered next day from EcoHamster/Amazon, containing the basic kit, bike mount and a Velcro "arm mount" (for skiing?). Basically it "does what it says on the box" (unbleached, recycled cardboard of course). I'd actually intended to tear it apart for the component parts (battery, charging circuit, windmill, etc.) but it's so beautifully made that I haven't had the heart to do that yet.

As a (rather large) "emergency charger/supply" it should work fine but the capacity is much less than 3 x AA NiMH cells. The examples from the manufacturer are rather vague but the most accurate is possibly that pedalling at 19mph for 20 minutes will give 4 minutes talk time on a (3G) mobile phone.

Here are my own calculations: To fully charge its battery from the mains (using the supplied charger or USB from a PC) will cost less than 0.1p. To charge the battery from the windmill, using the most optimistic interpretation of the manufactuer's data (1 watt generated at 30mph) means you will have to pedal at 20mph for about 15 hours, 35 hours at 15mph or over 100 hours at 10mph.

It may have some value as an alternative to using primary (non-rechargeable) batteries or where you have absolutely no access to mains power, but IMHO there are probably better emergency chargers such as this (currently £2.99 from Maplin) used with a "new technology" NiMH AA battery.

Cheers, Alan.
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[Cullin]

So far very pleased with mine, It cost £5.00, I have always hankered after some means of charging mobile phones and running my gps's on my bike / trike.
I don't think you will have to keep spinning the pedals at 19 mph,
I find that what I call the magic wind will do all the hard work.
The magic Wind always blows in your face, no matter which way you cycle.
it was irritating, but now it has got it's uses.

[Cullin]

Just been out for a ride on my Trike with the Windcharger and Satmap mounted at the front, Seems to work fine.
I thought if anyone else was using it in the same way, maybe a good idea to run the Satmap from the windcharger first, till it's battery get low, then put the charger switch to off so the rest of the ride is done on Satmaps battery, this means the windcharger can just recharge it's self.
I managed 20 to 25 mph, so had enough wind to spin the blades.

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