Bicycle Electric
Click above to see larger picture. 1)12 volt 4500 mAh battery pack mounted on a bar under the water bottle cage mount. I couldn't be without two water bottle.2 & 3) view of Quest cradle and Lights.
thumbnails,
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My bicycle electric has advance with a cheap source of NiMH AA cells. Before I used a NiCAD 12 volts pack that weighs 16 ounces and gives 1400 mAh. The NiMH pack pictured above weighs 3 ounces and 2200 cells are available.
My bicycle electric is 12 volts. My first GPS, Garmin II+ accepted 12 volt input internally. My eMap has a external 12 volt adapter, that I use for night riding so that I will have the back light. I use gel cell batteries, size depending on the length of my night riding. I have found that my 10 watt halogen with and occasion use of the 20 watt as a high beam, gets about one hour per amp hour and the gel weighs about one pound per amp hour. I have, 4 and 7 amp hour gel cell. See this page. The 7 Ah weigh 5.6 pounds. I can get the same Ah with a lots less weight.
Sources of the NiMH is http://www.batteryspace.com/ Source of the computer controlled charger and NiMH Batteries, 24 for $US24 and http://www.hosfelt.com/ AA NICKEL METAL HYDRIDE $US 1.95 RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES MFG. - NEXCELL 1.2VDC 2100mAh part #33-219
Thumbnails above shows one type battery pack for ten AA NiMH batteries, I used an eight and a four cells holder. This made it possible to add two cells in series to the eight cells easy. I glued the two holders together. A second holder set has a switch so that I can used 11 batteries to jump start the Libretto with up to 14 volts and then bypass battery #11. Another set of holders are described below.
Two pictures above shows an electrical PVC box with one 10 cell AA 2 Amp hour pack inside, GPS on top and a 30 LED light on the left and a 10 watt Halogen light on the right. Another box was made from two boxes of the same size glued together and made larger to hold two battery packs. The 30 LED 1156 seem to give about the same brightness as the 15 LED flashlight. The 30 LED must be designed for a long life and is not putting maximum voltage on each LED from the 12 volt supply. The 15 LED is powered from three cells and puts the maximum voltage on each LED in parallel. I have acquired 50 LED to make a LED disk with as many LED as I can fit in a flashlight lens, hopefully about 30.
I located a source for the 6.3X3.0 power jack (plug) use by the Libretto 50 from a Canadian supplier. I was able to make a Y connector that is more stable than the one I made. My ground depended on a thin sheet of copper shim. The web site and is picture above.
The Libretto was my moving map on bicycle before the eMap with its built maps and is part of my bicycle electric system. See this page. The First picture of the Libretto computer shows a splitter connection for the power. I have always used this to jump start my Libretto. The jump voltage can then be removed. The jumper is a car adapter or the power brick. However, the second picture shows freshly charged NiMH giving outside power to the Libretto without a jump voltage. Pictured above is an assortment of 12 volts supplies used to power my Toshiba. A "Y" connection is needed, not able to find a 6.3mmX3.0 mm power jack, I made one in my machine shop. I may have found a source, I will update this page when the order arrives.
Click on thumbnail for larger picture.
On the bottom center of the above picture is a 2/3C NiCAD 12 volts pack that I have used for about 5 years as external power, recharging with the standard power brick while connected to the notebook. When the computer light indicate full, I unplug the NiCAD. Above the NiCAD are my latest power supplies. Below are the components for the second set of power pack;
Push-on/push-off mini SPDT switch RS 275-1555a
Enclosed 2 AA battery holder with leads RS 270-408
Enclosed 4 AA battery holder with leads RS 270-409 on/off switch
Coaxial power plug 6.3mm O.D. 3.0mm I.D. RS 274-1572a
The cover is removed from two section to show the batteries and switch. The switch box houses a single battery for jump starting, boosting the 12.5 volts to the 14+ voltage need to start the Libretto computer. The "Bible case" above the computer has pockets and the two set of holders fits snugly beneath the computer. The Mylar "FOR SALE" sign is .015 inches thick. a strip of it and the double sides carpet tape in used to hold the battery holders together. Also shown is the ten slot computer control charger, the 7amp hour 12 volt gel cell, an auto alternator tester and an auto/plane power adapter. I use the a/p adapter to jump start only because its cutoff voltage is higher that of a direct connected supply.
While not recommend because the life of lead acid batteries is shorten by quick charge, You can use jumper cable to recharge the gel cell batteries from your car.
Be advise that with external power such as this, the battery warning circuit cannot sense to give a low voltage or high voltage warning. However, with a "Y" connection, other power packs can be added or removed. Connected in parallel, the power packs tends to balance and discharges together.
Several pictures show an alternator tester that measures voltage according to which LED lights. Red for 14.0 and above, green 13.5, yellow 13.0, green again for 12.5, yellow for 12.0 and red for 5.0. Usually before the 5 volts light it is time to shut the Libretto computer down, or plug in another pack. I have made four 12 volts power pack in all that uses the NiML batteries. Alkaline has a higher voltage, ten cell adds to 15 volt, the max for some computers but ok for others. Many accepts 16 volts.
The "L" shaped light has three AA cells in the smaller tube. It is a 15 LED Mag light. The "D" cell tube was cutoff to save weight.
The 15 LED system is upgraded to a 30 LED package in a 1156 auto replacement bulb housing. It has the same disc diameter as the 15 LED. However 12 volt is needed, the 15 LED used three flashlight cells for 4.5 volts. The same Mag lens housing is used for the 30 LED light shown. The picture in the middle shows, left, using the same Mag light lens and lens housing, the reflector was machined to make a inside diameter that fit over the LEDs. A 1 1/4 PVC EL was machined and threaded to accept the lens housing. The center light, a dollar store flash light was cut at a point that the outside diameter of a 1 1/4 PVC coupling would fit inside and cemented in place. The reflector was machined to make a inside diameter that fit over the LEDs. The head lamp in the right photo is sold by Harbor Freight with one LED and uses 2 AA cells. The lamp was disassemble, set up in a lathe, centered, drilled to 1/2 inch and machine to accept the 1156 auto bayonet diameter and a flat surface made for the bulb base. Once the bulb was in place and wired the same switch was wired and a wire extended to the 12 volt 10 cell pack shown in the center picture. The reflector was machined in a pot chuck to make a inside diameter that fit over the LEDs