Annoying Tout Terrain / Cinq 5 Plug USB cover? Finally a soloution

[Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop]

TT/Cinq5 have finally solved what to me seemed to be the most anoying problem.

We have these as spares here http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cinq5-plug-iii-usb-cap-and-ring-prod36912/

[in4]

As a side issue: This is a great 'soloution'  for plug owners I'm sure, but would I be wrong to suggest that given the availability of lights with built in USB capabilites the plug's appeal will diminish over time?

[Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop]

As a side issue: This is a great 'soloution'  Wink for plug owners I'm sure, but would I be wrong to suggest that given the availability of lights with built in USB capabilites the plug's appeal will diminish over time?

Maybe.. the Plug still has some advantages though.

1. Its neat, if you have a bar bag or phone holder on the handlebars all you need is a short cable and your sorted.
2. Its a standalone device so if you don't want a light you dont have to, we sell quite a few bikes with this and no light.
3. You can have a robust edelux or Supernova light, alot of the lights with USB are poorer quality.
4. In the few tests we have done it starts charging at lower speeds than a combined setup.

[fossala]

This looks good for my new plug III but it's a bit expensive for a bit of rubber at 9 quid!

[nztony]

I'm the proud owner of the Cinq5 and Schmidt Edelux LED Headlight.
I've had my Nomad almost 12 months (one year birthday coming up in about a week, 9000km covered so far.)

I added the Cinq5 about August this year. I had a bit of a unhappy introduction to it as it seemed a bit intermittent and getting worse, however .... last week I bought a new USB cable and all of a sudden I have good and consistent connection and hence success with it.

I use the Cinq5 with my Samsung Galaxy S4. I track all my rides via a GPS tracking app ( http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/4122975 ) which is very battery intensive - as any time GPS is used.

I don't do these things scientifically or use super careful measuring, but the green LED lights up around 14km/h and starts charging.
Therefore on flat routes I get good charging the whole time, on hilly routes (which I quite like) I get intermittent charging, however the other day I did a flat, fast 28km and had around 89%, then rode another 38 fast kilometres and got it up to 100%, followed by a slow-ish 20km of slow but steady uphill drag (so small you wouldn't notice in a car) and got home with 95% battery, after 92km and 4h 02m - see link above. If I did this same route without charging as I went, I'm guessing I would have got home with 25 - 35% battery.

Come to think of it, I did this hilly (over 1000m of climbing) ride: http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/4125313 and got home with 100% battery - very impressed I was.

I got caught out once, not being able to work out why it wouldn't work at all - it doesn't work when I use the front Edelux light - I'm not sure if there isn't enough power generated to power both or it is just the way mine is wired up - I'm assuming the former.

As for the cap, if you look closely the Cinq5 does have its own push-in rubber plug to seal off the USB connector. Obviously, I don't use it when it is raining as the metal section of the USB cable sits proud and would get wet.

I have only been using it, with the new USB connector, for the last week, but if it keeps going the way it has for the last seven days, then I give it a definite Recommended. The previous couple of months don't count as I had (what I know now) to be a faulty USB cable and that is no fault of the Cinq5. Although there is one quite important cavet: it is not all good news with my Garmin GPS though .... I think it is a known problem with Garmin GPS products and the Cinq5 - everytime I stop at a red light the Garmin goes into Shut Down Mode and counts down from 5 seconds to 4 to 3 etc until it turns itself off. I have to press on the "X" symbol to tell it not to switch off. If I was riding out in the countryside with no red lights or stop signs to worry about, I could get a charge with the Garmin, but when I used it to ride 28kms into the middle of our capital city (Wellington, NZ) I forgot a few times and had it switch off several times. However for daily rides I have never ever run the Garmin flat so this would only be an issue when on a cycle tour and didn't have mains to charge it overnight.

I still recommend the Cinq5 as the Garmin issue isn't too important for me, although it would be nice if they did play together properly.

Tony
NZ

[mickeg]

...

I added the Cinq5 about August this year. I had a bit of a unhappy introduction to it as it seemed a bit intermittent and getting worse, however .... last week I bought a new USB cable and all of a sudden I have good and consistent connection and hence success with it.

I use the Cinq5 with my Samsung Galaxy S4. I track all my rides via a GPS tracking app ( http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/4122975 ) which is very battery intensive - as any time GPS is used.

...

On a different thread I noted that I recently bought a volt/ammeter that works on a USB port.  If you have something like that plugged into the USB, you would find out really fast if you simply have a bad cable when there is no amperage.  It consumes 0.04 amps which is very little, but unfortunately the LED readout is pretty dim outdoors.  By cupping your hand over it to block extraneous light you should be able to read it.

I got it on Ebay, shipped from China.  It might take a month for shipping but the price was right.  It displays voltage for a few seconds and then amperage for a few seconds, then back to voltage, etc.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/141342187660

If the link above to Ebay does not work, go to Ebay and put into the search field USB Power Detector Voltage Current and see what comes up.

I have not used the app you cite, but with a different app that I have used (Soviet Military Maps Pro), the app will continue to run creating my GPS track when I turned the screen off.  I quickly learned that the screen consumes maybe five times more power than having a blank screen while the app was continuing to create a GPS track of my route.  I do not have a sim card in my phone, so with the screen off and wifi and bluetooth turned off, but GPS turned on, it is running minimal circuitry.

[Danneaux]

Mickeg,

I've owned several of these in the past year, but the one that has emerged as a favorite is this one, purchased in September. I've found it to be easily daylight-visible, though in the brightest light I still prefer my OLED and LCD models: http://www.ebay.com/itm/171414028727?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

My in-depth test of the Cinq5 SmartPower Pack II buffer battery coming soon.

Best,

Dan.

[Far-Oeuf]

I use the Cinq5 with my Samsung Galaxy S4. I track all my rides via a GPS tracking app ( http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/4122975 ) which is very battery intensive - as any time GPS is used.

I used a Samsung S5 on my last trip, with the GPS Logger app; set to log every 3 seconds if greater than 10m distance.   I am getting about 50 to 60 hours usage, with only the logger running and the phone in flight mode.   I have set the GPS to be 'always on', which saved a lot of battery power.  The alternative is that the app would try and start/stop the GPS, requiring it to re-fix on the satellites.

cheers,
Doug

[rualexander]

Mickeg,

I've owned several of these in the past year, but the one that has emerged as a favorite is this one, purchased in September. I've found it to be easily daylight-visible, though in the brightest light I still prefer my OLED and LCD models: http://www.ebay.com/itm/171414028727?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

My in-depth test of the Cinq5 SmartPower Pack II buffer battery coming soon.

Best,

Dan.

Portapow do an lcd version of this sort of thing http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/power-monitors/