Specking my Nomad suggestions ?

[mickeg]

+1 for the Sinewave. First-rate equipment, 100% reliable over the four years that I've used it. At first I used the Sinewave on a dual circuit, for charging and/or lighting. That was never wholly satisfactory--the light has the priority--so I switched to a battery-powered Cygolite headlight to go along with a couple of battery-powered tail lights. During the day, the Sinewave charges an Anker 5200 storage battery; at night, that recharges my lights/phone/camera as needed. I rarely need to recharge more than one of those at a time, so that the Sinewave/Anker is more than enough for my requirements.

You raise a good point on lighting, dynohub powered or battery.  I have three bikes with dynohubs, but all three use battery powered taillights.  In USA where I live, flashing red taillights are legal and I often run flashing red laillights during the daytime at the same time that I am using USB power to charge batteries.  I very rarely run a headlamp during the daytime, thus a dynopowered headlamp instead of battery headlamp does not prevent me from getting a lot of charge out of my USB port. 

[in4]

Excuse the 20w moment Mickeg, what is the small LCD unit sitting atop your battery? Thanks.

[mickeg]

Excuse the 20w moment Mickeg, what is the small LCD unit sitting atop your battery? Thanks.

An ammeter I got on Ebay.  I was watching how much power I was putting into the cache battery.  I am an engineer, so that is the sort of thing I like to watch.

They are cheaply made.  I had one fail for no reason at all.  I also learned the hard way that they are not waterproof in rain.  (I brought two to Iceland, both failed, but the water logged one eventually came back to life.) 

This is the one I like to use.  It measures in milliamps and being a LCD (instead of LED) it is readable in sunlight.  I used adhesive backed velcro to attach.  I also carry a regular cable so when the meter fails I have a cable to use.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Charger-Data-Cable-Current-Meter-Tester-Test-for-Samsung-HTC-Andriod-MSYG-/361524012732

I think Dan uses a meter too, but his might be a different one.

I have used several different meters, most of which I did not like or were unreadable on sunny days.

[Danneaux]

I think Dan uses a meter too, but his might be a different one.

I do indeed use a meter for testing purposes, but once I have established charging rates (in current and voltage) I leave it home to minimize power losses due to increased resistance as a function of length and at the (additional) connectors, which can become poor and subject to problems if they become wet by rain or dew.

I rewired a couple of my meters with heavier-duty low-loss shielded coaxial cable and new clamshell connectors and found they worked much better. While they measure voltage and current as before, the actual resistance losses at the device being charged are now less. I check my meters with a separate volt/ohm meter, but if you don't have a VOM, you can gang multiple meters and see which ones are more or less efficient by changing the order. The meters themselves seem to have low parasitic losses, but the same cannot be said for their cables, connectors or -- sometimes -- soldered connectors (which are often "cold" or "disturbed" joints by my observation.

In my testing, aside from the actual charger being used, cable length and quality and connector/soldered joint quality were the greatest determinants in power reaching a pass-through cache battery or device batteries. It pays to use quality cables with good connectors and keep them as short as possible. I prefer cables with gold-plated pins. Yes, they avoid surface corrosion, but more generally they indicate higher quality materials are used elsewhere in the cable/device.

There is a good general caution to avoid charging in the rain when the connectors are wet no matter how or whether the pins are plated. Not only can water interfere with a good connection, it can encourage electrolysis at the connection when voltage is passed through, causing the pins in the charger to erode and eventually fail/become open. I have made a little "shower cap" for my Tout Terrain charger that addresses this problem, but other chargers address it by design. I put my cache battery and device(s) being charges inside the handlebar bag during charging for this reason. It is the easiest way for me to shield the connectors from water exposure and keep them secure on rough roads.

While I have a lot of experience with the Tout Terrain/Cinq5 "Plug" chargers, I am also testing another model that looks very promising at a low price. I will make a full report as soon as time permits me to complete my tests.

All the best,

Dan.

[John Saxby]

In USA where I live, flashing red taillights are legal and I often run flashing red taillights during the daytime at the same time that I am using USB power to charge batteries.  I very rarely run a headlamp during the daytime

Interesting, George.  I use the headlight in flashing mode frequently whenever there's a lot of traffic, and almost always on grey or rainy days. On the other hand, I use my tail-lights during the day only on grey/rainy days, or in shadowy conditions. I find oncoming traffic is usually more of a problem than vehicles coming up from behind.

So, the daytime charging of the Anker battery, and night-time re-charging of the lights, etc., works well for me.

(I rarely ride at night--my eyes aren't really good enough, and long years in Africa left me reflexively cautious about night-time hazards. Here, we have only the deer to worry about, although in Atlantic Canada, moose are a formidable addition to the list.)

Cheers, John

[in4]

Thanks Mickeg, much appreciated.

Whilst we were discussing sinewave I came across a new light of theirs http://www.cyclingabout.com/sinewave-cycles-beacon-dynamo-light/

[ridgeback63]

+1 for the Sinewave. First-rate equipment, 100% reliable over the four years that I've used it. At first I used the Sinewave on a dual circuit, for charging and/or lighting. That was never wholly satisfactory--the light has the priority--so I switched to a battery-powered Cygolite headlight to go along with a couple of battery-powered tail lights. During the day, the Sinewave charges an Anker 5200 storage battery; at night, that recharges my lights/phone/camera as needed. I rarely need to recharge more than one of those at a time, so that the Sinewave/Anker is more than enough for my requirements.

Thats what I do John,use mine during the day to charge my cache battery,also an Anker,if need be I just plug my sinewave straight into my Wahoo elemnt to recharge that which it does perfectly,Sarah at Thorn put me on to it when I was speccing my Raven,thanks Sarah.

[jags]

Thanks Mickeg, much appreciated.

Whilst we were discussing sinewave I came across a new light of theirs http://www.cyclingabout.com/sinewave-cycles-beacon-dynamo-light/

looks fantastic but man the price 
ah if a fella only had money.

anto.

[mickeg]

...
Whilst we were discussing sinewave I came across a new light of theirs http://www.cyclingabout.com/sinewave-cycles-beacon-dynamo-light/

Thanks for posting that, but it says the light is symetrical.  I prefer a light like the B&M Luxos U or the AXA Luxx 70 Plus (two lights that I own) that are non-symmetrical because I would rather have a wider flat beam than one that puts light in places where I don't need any light.

[j1of1]

Good discussion and good advice from everyone.  One thing you might want to consider doing is replacing your handlebars with a Jones H bar - something I did and wish I did it earlier.  The sweep of the handlebar (in addition to other adjustments to the stem and seat) placed me into a more upright and comfortable cycling position.  I had no problem moving the Rohloff shifter onto the Jones H Bar or my brakes.   Happy touring!