I have actually been doing a little bit of work over the past month of so. My productivity in the realm of this off-the-clock projects have been hampered by a number of things. Lack of motivation is a pretty serious one. It’s spring time and I just really don’t feel like being hunched over a soldering iron all day when it is warm and sunny out. Seasonal productivity fluctuations; A hallmark not demonstrated in large scale manufacturing.
I did manage to case up the Dynamo powered USB charger that I have been working on for John and take it for a test ride. I have to say, it works, and it works well. It begins to charge about 20ft after the bike starts rolling, and holds its charge for about 2 minutes after the bike stops, enough time for a short stoplight. I have only tested it on two devices, my portable music player, the Sansa Clip and a small usb hard-drive. It powers on the USB drive, but that is mostly just a useless test. It charges the music player well, and actually allows for it to play while charging, which is not possible when it is plugged into a computer. This is most likely due to the fact that the Data Lines on the USB are not active with my charge, and are with a computer.
There is nothing fancy or elegant about the casing, as you can see, it is very utilitarian. The USB connector is an Amphenol harsh environment panel connector with two type A female USB connections. I’m using this connector with the two ports because it is what I had on hand, left over from another project. I paired each pin, so they will both charge, however I’m not sure if this circuit is up for charging two devices at once. It is sealed, and very well constructed.
