The Backwoodsman: Nokia Bicycle Charger

3 volt dynamo

In a recent post about the mobile phone revolution in Africa I wrote that the Nokia Bicycle Charger was the first item on my shopping list. Well last week I got one and fitted it to my brand new Raleigh Royal Touring Bike (review coming soon).

In the box is a 3 volt bottle dynamo, a Nokia DC14 charger, a rubber phone holder, instructions and some cable ties. The charger is fitted with a Nokia 2mm adaptor. The instructions are clear and well illustrated and it took about five minutes to fit. My mobile phone is an aging Nokia 2730, it was half charged when I set off cycling and after a little less than two hours of relaxed cycling (9 to 10 mph) it was fully charged.

I tested the charger for resistance by cycling a 3.41 mile course, on a fully loaded touring bike, over gently rolling terrain, once with the charger working and once without. It took 21 minute and 18 second with the charger on, and 20 minutes and 10 seconds with the charger off. It takes a little more more energy to run the charger but only a little. As a child I cycled old style roadsters with bottle dynamos powering incandescent lights and they produced a lot more resistance.

I tried the charger with a Blackberry and a Samsung Smartphone (with a micro USB adapter), but it did not work with either. I found an interesting post at toddlerontour.com about how to convert it to charge android phones by replacing the 2mm adaptor with a USB port, taken from the end of a USB extension cable. According to this post the charger will then work with most electronic devices that can be charged from a USB port. Although not with IPhones.

Phone straps to handlebars

I’m confident the charger will last. The only moving part is the dynamo and this is a very old and reliable technology. The rubber phone holder which straps the phone and charger to the handlebars, may not last but I have a handlebar bag on my touring bike and the phone and charger can be just as easily carried in that as strapped to the handlebars.

Last year I bought the Freeloader Classic and Freeloader Supercharger, a solar powered phone charging system. It cost three times more than the Nokia charger. Under optimum sunny conditions, which are very rare in Ireland, the Freeloader system will produce a trickle of power. For one third the price the Nokia charger will produce a lot more power and it is not dependent on the vagaries of the Irish weather.

The typical cost of an electric hookup on an Irish campsite is 3 or 4 Euros. When camping wild there is no electric hookup available. The Nokia charger is a simple, elegant, reliable and cost effective way to keep your Nokia phone charged when far from home on your bicycle.

I got mine for 30 Euros from Phonesoline.ie

The Bicycle Charger on the Nokia Website