Going Green

In the old days we used plain maps to navigate and mail to send a post-card to the home-front to let them know how we were doing.

In these modern times we use a GPS to navigate, and a cell-phone to call, text or email the family at home. Now the problem is that your bicycle doesn't have a cigarette lighter for your GPS , or the primitive camp-site doesn't have that 110 AC outlet to plug in your smart-phone. So what do you do? You go green!

After some searching on the web, I ended up on the AdaFruit website and found a USB / DC / Solar Lithium Ion/Polymer charger that I could use for charging a LiPoly battery with:

1. USB charger
2. A Solar Cell
3. Alternative 5 VDC source

As I mentioned earlier, I had my front wheel rebuild with a Generator Hub for lighting and...yes, now also for charging electronics!

Shimano DHS501 Generator Hub

The only thing I needed to design myself was a simple AC/DC converter that converts the 6 Volt AC from the Generator Hub into 5 Volt DC for the LiPoly battery charger.

Solar / Hub / LiPoly - USB Charger

With this final set-up, I can charge the LiPoly battery with the Generator Hub when riding my bicycle, or with the Solar Cell at the camp-site.
During the charging, or when the battery is full I can charge my GPS, Cellphone, or iPod by plugging them into the added USB charger aka MintyBoost.
How cool is that?!