![]() John Allen notes that some battery-powered bicycle lights have a USB output and can double as an external battery for the phone. He uses a lithium-ion battery in a top-tube bag with a 7” cable and gets over 200 miles of range for a day’s ride. If the charging stops because I've slowed down too much, I have to come to a full stop and start up afresh to get the charging to restart.īob Wolf, my bike club's GPS expert, points out that you can get power without a generating hub. I find one anomaly when I run my light and RideWithGPS at the same time. That way the phone doesn't tend to turn off when I'm stopped at a light. In the General setting on my phone I have set "Auto-Lock" to 2 minutes. There is a short beep when charging starts. The little battery icon in the upper right corner of the screen shows the level of charge and is green when actually charging. I find that I have to be moving at at least 8 kph (5 mph) for the phone to charge. AnĪndroid phone will have a different connector, usually a micro USB plug. I use a Sinewave Cycles Revolution USB charger and a 4 inch USB/lightning cable to go from the charger to the phone (shown above left). A Shimano Connector Plug for Nexus Generator lets me run both the light and a USB charger from the hub. ![]() I am using a Shimano DH-3N71 dynamo hub to power both a Lumotec front light and my iPhone. I purchased a "Quad Lock Bike Kit for iPhone5" and it had everything, the mount, the case, and the poncho. You can also get a “poncho” which covers the phone, in case it rains. If you purchase the parts separately, you’ll need to buy both the bike mount and the appropriate case for your phone. You can also attach it to the top tube or to the stem as my friend did (right). You can mount the phone either vertically or horizontally. Any photos you take with the phone and select will upload with the ride information too. The image below is only a screen shot, but in RidewithGPS, you can slide the cursor along the elevation graph and the corresponding places on the map (blue dot). I sometimes look over the ride summaries on my computer. I do like it that my ride information appears on my phone, iPad, and computer and that it is updated on all platforms as soon as rides are uploaded. I started with a basic membership ($50/year) and I've since upgraded to a premium membership ($80/year) just to try some of the extras. The companion computer app is downloadable from. it is available from the Google Play Store for Android phones. I downloaded the free RidewithGPS app from the iTunes store. One of the negative aspects of having my active phone right in front of me is that it is hard to ignore calls from work. With my active phone, I can use Google Maps for routes while using RideWithGPS to record my ride, and I can call a friend or AAA for help. This is somewhat different from using a phone without a connection to the cell-phone network as described by Jack Donohue in his blog post How to Turn an Old Smart Phone into a Bicycle GPS Unit. I have an unlimited data plan and a USB charger so I don't worry about draining the battery or running in airplane mode. The app is available for iOS and Android phones.
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