Picking a circuit for the dynamo-powered USB port

On the Spring Meeting, we did some experiments with different types of dynamo-powered USB ports: Once with a high-dropout DC-DC convertor, once with a low-dropout DC-DC convertor, once with a Zener diode, once with a step-down convertor (an old one, I don’t know which model it is, it cost around 10 €) Once with a double 3300 µF capacitor for boost (as described here), once without Once with a silicon rectifier, once with one made of Schottky diodes We connected these regulators to a Shimano DH-3N30 hub dynamo, and connected a 10 Ω resistor that should simulate the charging device (500 mA at…

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Things out of trash and DIY stuff on my bike

The light When I cycle with luggage, I usually have a box on my rack that I can use for stuff that needs to stay dry but easy to access. I particularly use it for electronic devices, there is a small solar panel on it and it is connected to the dynamo charger (more about that below). On the box, there is also an old high-vis that I cut up and wrapped around it for more visibility in the night or in tunnels. On my rack, I have a back light that is powered by the dynamo, but when I pull…

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Charging electronic devices in a sustainable way

On the Biketour in 2015, one very noticeable change compared to the Biketours before was that suddenly many people came with a smartphone. In the years before there had been maybe one or two people among a group of up to 50 who had a GPS or smartphone with them, but now there were even some days where no one followed the route of the scouts, because in every small group of cyclists, there was at least one who was using GPS navigation on their phone. One side-effect was that people needed to charge their phones all the time, and whenever…

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How to get a group of cyclists into Belarus

As you might have read in our belarus border chaos blog post, getting into Belarus wasn’t easy for us, and our visa application was rejected several times, and then we were rejected on the border several times. When we were preparing the tour, we were not finding a lot of information on how to do this, and the information that we found was often contradictory or simply wrong. Even the border police of Belarus themselves often gave us wrong information or didn’t know how things work. So here is the ultimate guide on how to get a group of cyclists into…

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Links #8: Cycling Kung Fu Nuns, Fancy Women on Bikes, Undriving License, Reclaim the Fields Assembly, AllCyclistsAreBeautiful-Blog

Hundreds of Kung Fu Buddhist nuns are biking the Himalayas to oppose human trafficking Thousands of ‘Fancy Women on Bikes’ defy intimidation to claim the streets of Turkey make your undriving license and don’t use cars Reclaim-the-Fields Europe Assembly in Freiburg 18th to 22nd of January 2017 DIY-Cycling-Blog of Biketour-Participants, amongst others in Winter in northern Scandinavia And these awesome things appeared in the archive of social movements in vienna:

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Links #7: Futuristic bus, Pool noodle, TVs on bike packages, Lorries in London, Critical Mass arrests in Minsk

Sorry, this entry is only available in English. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language. Futuristic Chinese Bus Concept Cyclist says his pool noodle makes Toronto streets safer for him Bike manufacturer sees huge reduction in delivery damage by printing TV on the box Thousands of lorries to be banned from London for cyclist safety Minsk: Court sentences Critical Mass cycling event arrestee to 2 years in jail

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Cycling along Nemunas

Sorry, this entry is only available in English. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language. From Kaunas we had several days to cycle along the Nemunas river to the coast. We camped on some beautiful beaches on the way. From Kaunas, a perfect bike path led us out of the city for about 20 km. We didn’t meet a single person on the way, and no one in Kaunas seemed to know about this path. Eventually, the bike path turned into a…

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