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TransAm record is 17.5 days - you think battery lights are practical for that duration?
Definitely not practical, but could be done... remember this year TransAm #1 Jesse Carlssons did most of it without the dynamo: 'Sinewave Reactor died in the heat earlier on'. Also this year TCR #1 Josh Ibbett didn't use a dynamo ...
I think the best approach is dynamo hub + usb charger (sinewave revolution) + small battery pack as backup + compact wall charger (if usb-charger or dynamo is in that rare percentage of material failure). I'll try this soon.
bertocq-
Jesse took two days more than Mike and was stuck sleeping in shops and stuff due to hurricane warnings.
The Sinewave is just to charge USB devices - he still would've been able to power his lights off the dynamo and since he was using an etrex GPS - he could just buy AA batteries to power it so I wouldn't say he did most of it without a dynamo.
As for Josh, he said: "Last year I ran a dynamo hub and I probably would have done the same this year, but I didn’t order one in time."
My approach will likely be a version of:
dynamo -> lights
--------> USB battery -> GPS, phone, Di2"compact wall charger" ? Like a folding power plug sort of thing?
hippy
It's more than just lighting. It's the ability to charge my Garmin, phone, etc.
I'm also tired of riding around with lights on low power worried it's going to run out, carrying loads of spare lights and batteries for the same reason. If I don't need the power I can switch off the dynamo reducing its load and as for only doing 140W, I don't get out of bed for less than 200.
TransAm record is 17.5 days - you think battery lights are practical for that duration? I don't. Maybe if I was touring and stopping in a hotel every night it would be ok but that's unlikely.