Charging Garmins on the move

[Tayside]

Hello

Has anyone got a tried and well tested charging setup that they are happy with?
I am heading down the Dynamo route for lighting so I thought I may as well use it to charge up other stuff during the day.
Cheers

[dlovett]

On the HT and Susser it's SP HUB into B/M E-Werk. E-werk output's to B/M Cache Battery, which ends with a usb socket. Then it's the normal Garmin USB cable from there to the Garmin sitting on a K-Egde headset mount. On the Fat it's the same but with a SON hub. Totally built proof setup.

[Tayside]

Thanks, I will have alook at that.

[whitestone]

There's a few threads on here with various attempts/solutions but generally you need:

a) a buffer battery as Garmins seem sensitive to fluctuations in charging current.
b) a USB cable with pin X connected so that the Garmin doesn't go into "PC mode" and stop logging.

[Trail-rat]

Look at portapow for the cable - you need a non syncing cable.

[bryanwadd]

Depending on your Garmin you may not need to charge while you ride and just charge from the cache battery at the end of the day. That's my intention with my Garmin Edge 500, the battery lasts for 18 hours. That's assuming you are touring. If you're on an 'all night get it done ITT' then ignore what I just said.

[Mariner]

This may seem a bit OTT but I wanted to keep my primary lighting and charging circuits separate.
My Edelux has its own stand light circuit built in so I dont need an external backup.
With the exception of my hrm and joystick all other items such as eterex.SPOT, mshine light, head torch and town running lights all run on chargeable batteries which are charged through E-werk USB that has a cache battery running in parallel from the dynamo.
I am charging batteries direct from E-werk using Portapow although would like to find a more ruggedised version of this.
I also charge a Pebble explorer which I use for the magicshine and joystick.
All other batteries are confined to either AA or AAA so as long as I have four of each on charge or charged I can keep my electronics running.
I dont have a mobile so charging that is not a problem but assume the Pebble would be my choice.

[jameso]

SP hub to an Edelux II light and B+M USB-Werk charger here. Charger direct to Garmin 800, phone and other lights etc. USB-Werk has enough cache battery capacity for Garmin to run w/o 'charge lost' screen most of the time, unless going very slow for an extended period on a climb. Only glitch is that the Garmin can reset and lose a recorded trace after being plugged in while the bike is static then having the charge applied once you start moving - I need to plug it in while moving and then it's all ok. Whether that's related to cable type or current variation I'm not sure (any ideas gratefully received - a larger seperate cache battery would solve that but it's an otherwise-unused item for me). Garmin-specific occasional hiccups aside, it's been faultless over 1000s of miles use now.

[dlovett]

There's a few threads on here with various attempts/solutions but generally you need:

a) a buffer battery as Garmins seem sensitive to fluctuations in charging current.
b) a USB cable with pin X connected so that the Garmin doesn't go into "PC mode" and stop logging.

If you use the USB cable that came with the Garmin you should be fine, I've never had it try to go into HD mode ever charging from phone usb charger, car usb chargers etc.

[AlasdairMc]

Use a USB On The Go cable which will allow charging in use. I made one for £3 using a USB Mini to Female and a USB Male to Male plug.