August 24th, 2013 | categorizilation: all categories,equipment,Post-2008
Get in and support an awesome product for keeping people who longboard for transport clean and dry – Wheel Shields:Â http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1522548247/wheel-shields-longboarding-technology
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Way back in 2008, I was in western China sitting in a stifling internet cafe. I had already skated over 6,000 miles (9,600km) across the US and Europe, but in the previous days, I had spent a couple of days skating on wet roads, getting legs covered in road grime, yak shit, and slug guts. Some of the roads were also hard-packed dirt, which were still skateable when they were wet, but caused havoc on my shoes and clothes. This was a super frustrating issue. Sure, dirty pants and dripping wet shoes can be cool. But not when you want to sit down at a restaurant, cafe, internet cafe, someone’s chair in their house, etc.
Sitting in that internet cafe, I thought up an idea for a fender/mudguard setup for a longboard. Below is the sketch I did in 2008, to explain the idea to my product-designer brother. “Can it be done?” I asked. He was confident that it could be done, but it would require a lot of work prototyping before a decent device could be created. The idea promptly got put in the too-hard-basket.
Fast forward to 2012. I get an email out of the blue from Chase Kaczmarek from the US, asking for my opinion about his invention called Wheel Shields. He was developing them into a marketable product. I said that they are brilliant. A year later, he’s got a very elegant, refined product ready to produce. The one thing he’s not got is money to create the tooling to mass produce them. That’s where his Kickstarter Campaign comes in: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1522548247/wheel-shields-longboarding-technology.
He needs US$25,000. He’s raised just over US$14,000 so far, with 11 days left in his fund-raising campaign. I’ve already pledged my support by ordering a set. I really want to get my set of Wheel Shields. It will mean that skating to school and work will be a reliable option, without having to worry about rain during the day creating wet roads. So do get in there and support a great idea and the masses of work that has gone into making them work:Â http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1522548247/wheel-shields-longboarding-technology.
To be honest, I think for purely distance skaters, who are not concerned with wheelbite or ‘shoe-bite’ or stand-on-wheels-tricks, they are a little bit on the over-engineered side. For just ‘fender’ or mudguard applications, light plastic would be fine. But still, I do stand by my words: Wheel Shields are brilliant. Hands down the biggest innovation in longboarding in a long time. I wish I had Wheel Shields when I skated across the US, Europe and China. Wheel Shields have changed the longboard transportation paradigm forever. They are an elegant solution to a frustrating problem.
* The quote above was edited slightly on Chase’s Kickstarter page to keep things brief.
** I should also mention that I am in no way officially associated with Wheel Shields, or receiving compensation from them…
August 9th, 2013 | categorizilation: all categories,Hokkaido (Japan),Post-2008,Sapporo,Technology
Following on from my previous post describing how to make a home-made DIY bicycle dynamo-hub USB charger, I have updated the old PVC-pipe container version (at the end of the last post). I removed the innards and transferred them to something more interesting: a clear acrylic pipe, with corks in the ends.
As you can see, I have also replaced the micro-USB plug with a female USB-A socket, so that I can plug any USB-type cord into it (micro-USB, mini-USB, iPhone-charger-USB, etc). This particular version is not particularly weather-tight. The actual size of it is larger than the previous shrink-wrapped version also. But it is certainly smaller than the PVC-pipe version, and should serve me well.
Haidee and I are heading off on a two-week cycle tour starting in a couple of days, so both chargers will get a thorough testing
August 6th, 2013 | categorizilation: all categories,equipment,Hokkaido (Japan),Japan,Post-2008
本投稿ã§ã¯ã€ãƒãƒ–ダイナモæ載ã®è‡ªè»¢è»Šã«ä½¿ãˆã‚‹ã€ã‚¹ãƒžãƒ¼ãƒˆãƒ›ãƒ³ç”¨ã®USB充電器ã®ä½œã‚Šæ–¹ã‚’紹介ã—ã¾ã™ã€‚アイディア自体ã¯Mr. Howdy,  Arenddeboer.comã¨Peterã‹ã‚‰æ¥ã¦ã„ã¾ã™ãŒã€å½¼ã‚‰ã®ã‚¤ãƒ³ã‚¹ãƒˆãƒ©ã‚¯ã‚·ãƒ§ãƒ³ã§ã¯ã€å›žè·¯å›³ãŒã‚る程度èªã‚ãªã„ã¨ãƒ¯ã‚±ãŒã¤ã‹ã¿ã«ãã„ã§ã™ã€‚ç§è‡ªèº«ã¯å›žè·¯å›³ãŒèªã‚ãªã„ã®ã§ã€åŒã˜ã‚ˆã†ã«å›žè·¯ãŒèªã‚ãªã„人間ã®ãŸã‚ã«ã§ãã‚‹ã ã‘ç°¡å˜ã«ã“ã“ã§èª¬æ˜Žã—ã¾ã™ã€‚
ç§ãŒä½œã£ãŸãƒ€ã‚¤ãƒŠãƒ¢ãƒãƒ–用スマートホン充電器(軽ã•ï¼š29g)
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出力:5V 1A DC (USB標準)
入力:6V AC (ã»ã¨ã‚“ã©ã®è‡ªè»¢è»Šãƒãƒ–ダイナモã¯ã“ã‚Œã«ã‚ãŸã‚‹ï¼‰
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充電開始時速:5.5km/h
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注æ„:ç§ã¯ã»ã‚“ã®å°‘ã—ã—ã‹ã€é›»å工作ã«é–¢ã™ã‚‹çŸ¥è˜ã¯ã‚ã‚Šã¾ã›ã‚“。本充電器を今ã¾ã§1,000kmã»ã©ã®è‡ªè»¢è»Šãƒ„ーリングã§ä½¿ã„続ã‘ã¦ã„ã¦å•é¡Œã¯å…¨ããªã‹ã£ãŸã®ã§ã™ãŒã€è¦‹é€ƒã—ã¦ã„ã‚‹ã¨ã“ã‚ãŒã‚ã‚‹ã‹ã‚‚ã—ã‚Œã¾ã›ã‚“。ãã®ãŸã‚ã€ã“ã®å……電器を使ã†ã“ã¨ã«ã‚ˆã£ã¦ã‚ãªãŸãŒå¤§äº‹ã«ã—ã¦ã„ã‚‹é›»å機器ãŒå£Šã•ã‚Œã¦ã—ã¾ã†å¯èƒ½æ€§ãŒã‚¼ãƒã¨ã¯è¨€ã„切れã¾ã›ã‚“。本充電器ã®ã”使用ã¯è‡ªå·±è²¬ä»»ã§ãŠé¡˜ã„ã—ã¾ã™ã€‚自己ã§è²¬ä»»ã‚’è² ã†ã®ã¯å«Œã ã¨ã„ã†æ–¹ã¯ã“れらã®å¸‚販自転車用USB充電器ã®ã”購入をãŠå‹§ã‚ã—ã¾ã™ï¼šBright Light Revolution(éžå¸¸ã«æ ¼å®‰ã ã¨æ€ã„ã¾ã™ï¼‰ã€Busch+Muller Luxos IQ2ã€ToutTerrain Plug II。
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August 4th, 2013 | categorizilation: all categories,equipment,Hokkaido (Japan),Post-2008,Technology
In this post I describe how I made a USB smartphone charger for a hub-dynamo-equipped bicycle. The idea came from multiple sources, including Mr. Howdy,  Arenddeboer.com, and Peter. But they assume the person making the charger knows how to read a circuit diagram. I cannot understand a circuit diagram. If you’re like me, then this blog post is for you.
The rundown:
Total cost:Â approx. US$15 (parts only; you need tools such as soldering iron etc.)
Weight: 29 grams
Weatherproof: Yes
Output: 5 volts DC (USB standard)
Input: 6 volts AC
Efficiency: Will charge a Sony Experia Z smartphone at a rate of approximately 1% per 1km (with the smartphone turned off).
Charge start:Â 5.5km/h
What this device does
When charging your smartphone using a wall charger or your laptop’s USB, the electricity going into your phone is direct current (DC) at 5 volts. A bicycle dynamo hub, however, usually creates electricity in the form of alternating current (AC), at 6 volts. So, we’ve got to change the electricity created by the dynamo hub (6V AC) into the same type as what comes out of your smartphone wall charger or your laptop’s USB (5V DC). That’s what this device does.
Disclaimer: I know nothing about electronics. This charger has worked well for me so far (about 1,000km of cycle touring), but it may turn on you and eat your smartphone’s innards alive, rendering it a useless shell. If you’d rather let someone else take the responsibility for your delicate electronics, check out the Bright-Bike Revolution (amazing value for a solid charger) or the Busch & Mueller Luxos IQ2 headlight with USB charging built in, or the Tout-Terrain Plug II.
What you need:
Step 1
Cut the veroboard (stripboard) into an oblong, 4 holes wide by approximately 25 holes long. I did this by scoring the board with a craft knife on both sides and then snapping it.
Step 2
Start to populate your board. On the capacitors, the long leg is positive. Click on the photos for a larger version.
 Step 3
This step can be tricky…aligning the bridge rectifier in place. Note the polarity (positioning of the negative and positive legs).
Looking from the top, your board should now look something like this.
You can now go about carefully soldering the parts in place at the rear of the board. Take care not to overheat the parts, and make sure not to ‘connect’ any of the copper strips on the stripboard with stray bits of solder.
Post-soldering should look something like below. Ignore all the drill-marks, except for the one at the bottom. You need that one to stop current going directly to the regulator (LM2940). Holes can be made by hand-turning a 5mm drill bit.
Step 4
Prepare your micro-USB connector by butchering a cheap USB to micro-USB cable, discarding the big USB end. We will attach this to the circuit-board, and it will plug into your smartphone. Frustratingly, USB cable inner wire colors are sometimes different (like, green for negative). But most of the time, they will be red (positive), black (negative) and white (data). You won’t be needing the white wire, so you can cut it short.
Step 5
Before attaching the micro-USB cable to the circuit-board, a suitable case needs to be found. I happened to have an old fish-tank PH level tester container hanging around that was a perfect size.
Step 6
Container sorted, time to thread the cables through the openings and solder them to the circuit board. I first attached the micro-USB cable. Red on the positive line, black on the negative line.
Next, attach the wires that will run from the dynamo hub. The polarity (negative and positive direction) here doesn’t matter at all; the bridge rectifier has magic fairies inside that sort all that out.
Step 7
Install the circuit board in a suitable container. Before sealing the container up properly, now may be a good time to hook the unit up to a dynamo hub and smartphone to check that everything is working.
Step 8
This step is not essential, but I wanted to make this unit as weather-proof as possible. Using a couple of different size heat-shrink tubing, I covered the whole thing up, making it very weather-proof.
Step 9
I wanted to be able to easily attach and remove the charger from my bike. The only time I use it is when I am cycle touring (about twice a year). This was easily done by using simple male/female connectors. The wire running from my hub to the female connectors is on my bike all the time, and I can just connect the charger when I need to.
So there you have it. A weather-sealed USB charger, powered by a bicycle dynamo hub. It weighs in at 29 grams. Just lovely.
Performance in the real world
This is the second charger I have made (using the exact same circuitry). The first one ended up in a PVC pipe casing, which is ugly and bulky. It works exactly the same as this new slick-cased version. Using the PVC-pipe-case version, I was able to get around 1% charge for every 1km pedaled on a laden, flat-terrain four-day cycle tour (with the phone powered off). That was charging a Sony Experia Z smartphone, which has a very large battery (2330ï½Ah). With an iPhone, with its smaller 1440mAh, this might be more like 2% charge per 1km.
In any case, with the phone powered off, it will charge fully over a full day of cycling. It does not put out enough charge to keep up with intensive computing tasks like Google Map Navigation. That is, with the screen on all the time, plus the GPS running, the battery will still run down even while charging.
My wife has claimed this new version as her own, so I am still stuck with the PVC pipe version. On her bike, this is the set up we have at present (she doesn’t use a handlear bag). Here, the charger is attached using a cable tie, in the photo at the top of this post, we have attached a velcro strap, which will make attaching/removing the charger easier.