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https://www.facebook.com/igarod1/photos/pb.262563190775061.-2207520000.1485807955./336130770084969/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/igarod1/photos/pb.262563190775061.-2207520000.1485807955./305396576491722/?type=3&theater

talbotframeworks do that, they wrap a little of the D1 wire around the hose. There's a picture on our Facebook page of it. As hippy suggests, perhaps a short 30cm extension lead will give you greater flexibility? Perhaps the D1 port would go up the crown fork where it won't get wet at all, then the 30cm extension becomes a sacrificial part.

Hi Chak,

The user/D1 you refer to had a little bit of rust however that wasn't the issue - the issue was the pins were seized from electrolysis. It's exactly how we say the port shouldn't be installed - if the injection moulded lead from your phone is at the bottom then water can't drain and creates a bath for which the 5V between the pins to pass. Two days is all it took for it to fail.

Is it an issue? Absolutely, but you'll have the same problem with any USB device not just the D1 - which is why our port is outside the device. Better to replace the port then throwing it in the trash sometime after the 1yr warranty ends (that's not the D1 warranty).

Best solution:

Ideally cable tie the connector directly under the stem with the wires from both the D1 and the USB device cable bending a little towards the ground - that way water can't hit it from above and water can't run into it.

Waterproofing:

The problem with waterproofing is once it fails the water sits there and creates this bath of water in which the pins dissolve. We made the port drainable (not via injection moulding which is half the price) to prevent this (it's not perfect but it's something) - but the user must have the D1 port at the bottom. It's not perfect though, any path the electricity can take between the 5v and 0v of the USB port will eat the pins.

I highly recommend installing under the stem for a long life. A dab of WD40/GT80 may help as well. If it does fail, we have the service on the website to replace it. Cost is about £5 posted back to you.

We're looking for alternatives but haven't found one as of yet. Prevention is better than cure - there are D1's touring the world for over 6 months now, no problems. It's all about how you install the port as to how long it'll last.

The D1 main unit should last forever. Zero failures so far, a record we are mighty proud off.

Regards,

Andrew

Free unit going for grabs on Facebook. It hasn't had much attention so high chance of winning.

https://www.facebook.com/igarod1/

Regards, Andrew

Just released today. Thanks for the feedback. fussballclub's mate is still writing a review but it looks positive!

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/dynamos/igaro-d1-dynamo-usb-power-converter/

Next challenge, breaking into the German market!

It's fine then, its performance won't degrade. If the protection were to fail it would destroy the converter and you would have no output.

60kph for 5 to 10 minutes is crazy! :)

Was that when it was in your bag as well?

For how long? It is the combination of speed and time generating heat which must not exceed the density of the unit.

More heat will be generated ... but more airflow will dissipate it. The current model has a short cable to ensure users don't try to stick it in a bag. It's also on the installation card and on the FAQ. With no airflow, 60kph for an extended period of time - does not sound good.

I can not give a definitive statement that it will survive say 60kph for 2 minutes without a load. It was designed primarily for tourers which would need short term overvoltage protection.

I can say that to date there's been no failures with the electronics in any unit and that there's now quite a few audax roadies using them.

PS)

I recommend audax riders use SONDelux as these have a smaller generator more appropriate for these sort of speeds.

The USB charging port is already in the stem area - the cable is the correct length to do that.

Assuming the lights are independent and switchable on/off on the front light (i.e B&M lights). Get ones with capacitors built in (B&M call them "plus").

Garmin ... you could use a double USB splitter (easy to make from two 99p 30cm extension leads). D1 will happily power that and something else. Power will go off at low speed and standstill, can you live with that?

If not, powerbank with passthrough. You'll need one anyway for the Di2 if you ditch it's power source (I am not familiar with the Di2 electronics so don't quote me - does it work with 5v?).

A powerbank will lower efficiency by 25-30%, however depending on how you ride and what you consume this may be trivial and worth it for the convenience.

Feedback from Robert for the other unit has come in. Move over B&M eWerk!

"We are back from Scotland audax. Covered 1200km in 93 hours so out of time for the event. But your device really work well. Manage to charge my battery back up to half in 8 to 10 hours riding.

Like it more than the ewerks
It's smaller
Neat on a ti bike
Fast charge
USB connection is good and even after the rain. And it really rain hard as my jacket failed on some seams."

I carried out some further testing today (current titanium D1, but previous aluminium model very similar). 700c wheel size, speed by GPS.

No load

22kph - no heat
25kph - minor heat, few degrees extra
30kph - heating obvious at bottom of casing (where protection lives)

Charging Sony phone @ 470mA

22kph - no heat
25kph - no heat
30kph - minor difference I think, barely noticeable.

As long as the D1 lives outside the heat isn't significant, on the titanium one mounted on the head stock it cooled to ambient in 20 seconds (or so) after the speed came back down from 30kph at 60 seconds. I would not recommend putting the aluminium one inside a bag, it will insulate it.

Working as expected then - very well. Looking forward to a review and pictures, will be great to see them in use by tourers! Andrew

Ah that'll be the black epoxy at the ends? I wanted to wait another day but Marcus needed one for the weekend. The epoxy is taking about 5 days to dry, it's a very slow potting type, and I've had problems with it running through and falling out the bottom!

I'm switching to silicone instead. That was the original plan but it proved too thick for the limited size and I couldn't inject it (tried everything, even football pump needles!). I've since had some injectors milled out of brass and it's now working.

edit: I can see the epoxy at the end of Marcus's, drat. If you don't mind perfecting it, a little fine grid sandpaper will take it off (and the titanium is raw so no problem there).

This is incorrect, the two are directly related. The voltage level from the dynamo is determined by;

a) how fast you're going
b) how much load there is on the dynamo (usb, lights).

You can avoid the overvoltage situation (protection trigger) by either;

a) slowing down :)
b) charging equipment, powering devices

When a device charges it places a load on the dynamo. Let's say you're going at warp speed - 60kph, and the dynamo is producing 60V. The USB may consume 20V to charge the device, the protection activates at 20V (approx) so 20V must be shed as heat.

[ these are example figures used to explain the process, not actual figures ]

It is the last value that you want to lower (ideally to 0V).

Hope this helps!

Andrew

Yup, if you're charging it causes the voltage to drop across the dynamo. At that point you'll have to be going really fast for the protection to still kick in. bertocq has managed, probably because within a 20hr sprint the device becomes charged.

Not seen those before (not in that small size), excellent!

Do they do doublers?

They are rather small - the PCB's have through hole soldering shaved to fit the case and epoxy injected with a syringe and needle!

Expected RRP is £92 (this will be through distributors).

Still after an E-werk for efficiency comparison (done The Plug 3 and D1 comfortably beats it).

One review unit left @ £50, fire me a PM if you want your name on it.

Regards, Andrew

And one to show how it mounts on your head tube.

Another pic

Hi All,

Due to the support I've had with the Igaro D1 from members of this forum I thought I'd offer up a couple units for cheap in return for a short review posted on various places on the web. It's purely a marketing exercise to spread the word, and you can write whatever you want.

I'm after 4 testers and will offer up a unit for £50, with worldwide postage and I'll give £5 donation from each to LFGSS for allowing me to post this.

Although the updated website isn't published yet here's some spec;

Ultra Efficient
High Power Support
Digital Dynamo Monitoring
Titanium Alloy Housing
IP69 Waterproof
Lifetime Warranty

Every aspect of this unit will beat every aspect of the competition whether it is efficiency, working life, functional performance or manufacturing quality. There's no corners cut, even the capacitor is a Japanese model with a 1000% increase in longevity over standard models. These are some of the aspects you could write about.

If you're keen you must be;

1. a dynamo hub owner.
   
2. able to test with a few USB devices (you choose).
   
3. able to review on a place of my choosing (here being one, crazyguyonabike being another, I'll think of two more) and post within one week after receiving the unit.
   
   

First come first served.

Units will be available in a few days. :)

Regards, Andrew

For joining multiple devices, I find these work best;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40-x-Motorcycle-Car-Bullet-Connectors-3-9mm-Terminals-Male-Female-Double-/391436360842

Here's the D1 "Next Generation". ETA about a week. :)

The photo makes it look taller than it is, only 5mm in fact. It's sitting on rubber mounts that stick onto the head tube.

@hippy has indicated he's sitting at 30kph when the D1 gets hot. Admittedly the D1 was designed for touring cyclists and it gains about 15% more efficiency at slow/medium speeds due to the way the protection circuit is implemented. The alternative method I'd implemented previously in prototype units but it so rarely kicked in for touring cyclists (30kph for them is on a decent and pedalling) that it made more sense to go for higher efficiency and keep the protection for the odd occasion.

While the protection is well tested for touring cyclists I don't know how hot for how long it can go before failure (no failures so far and it does reportedly get very hot). There's a good chance for the titanium version the heat dissipation will be worse (thinner smaller case). For this reason sticky rubber mounts are included and instructions are clear to mount on the head tube facing forward.

So long as your D1 is outside the airflow at 30kph (or 10kph) will keep it fine. There are four solutions going forward;

1. install a switch and turn the D1 off when you know you're not charging a device and going fast.
   
2. I can continue my search for a different IC which accepts a higher voltage (I have done much research already and it doesn't seem possible without reducing efficiency and/or effectiveness at lower speed). This would allow me to move the protection trigger to a higher point.
   
3. I could do two versions, one for tourers one for fast riders like yourselves. The later would generate very little heat but would lose 15% efficiency at low/medium speed.
   
4. Always charge a device (although the D1 efficiency means the protection may still kick in, and it's likely if the device is already charged and not consuming power).
   
   

Re: USB port, don't allow water to sit in the port (angle it down). An alternative is to use a 30cm USB extension cable and tape the join to the D1 to waterproof it. The other end of the cable can become wet and is thus sacrificial - probably it'll need replacing in a year depending on how quickly the pins corrode - (note they corrode very quickly on micro USB)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/0-3m-USB-2-0-High-Speed-Cable-EXTENSION-Lead-A-PLug-to-Socket-BLACK-008100-/262209230250

@bertocq

The titanium model includes a feature to reduce the on/off cycling at lower speed. It will still turn the power off but there is a delay before it comes back on and only if the speed reaches a particular level for a period of time (hysteresis).

I take it this is a Garmin GPS with the annoying "Power Lost" warning? They were advised of this two years ago but never issued a fix. So easy to do as well.

It's already a heatsink (the case is alloy and the innards use heat paste and heat conductive epoxy). So far it's held up to all heat levels although it's not ideal that the protection circuit is kicking in, and I'm worried by long term reliability in this edge case. The majority of riders buying them are tourers that will only rarely hit the protection circuit (sharp decents).

@Emyr, bertocq has his in a bag which is how the heat builds up. I'm strongly recommending now the D1 is mounted in air-flow for road users.

It's impossible to increase the voltage without reducing efficiency at low/medium speed. It may however be that efficiency has to drop for fast road users by way of two models. They're going fast enough for it not to be a problem anyhow.

The SHIMANO SM-DH10 does the same thing but kicks in early at 6.7v whereas the D1 protection is around 21v. This makes it less efficient (greater drag) at lower speed. https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/shimano-sm-dh10-overvoltage-protection/aid:196629

The new titanium model uses the same system, same protection point, but comes with brackets for mounting on the head tube. The titanium is less effective as a heatsink but at least it'll be in airflow. Certainly in airflow of 25km/h+ it'll not get that hot.

I'm now recommending fast roadies or competition racers place the D1 outside unless they have a device plugged in. Originally the D1 was designed for maximum efficiency at lower speeds, which is retained at higher speeds if a device is plugged in.

Touring cyclists rarely go above the speed at which the protection circuit kicks in (which is what generates the heat). Although the D1 can take the heat, it would be best to charge devices directly and to drop the cache battery (you'll also save some weight).