I have been successfully using the jawetec bikecharger in combination with several devices for several trips at my bicycle, and I really like it. Today I received the information Jawetec’s web page is no longer available. Currently I have no clue whether their bike charger is still available somewhere. Since this great little gadget has been mentioned many times within this blog, please be aware that any links to the Jawetec page from this blog have become obsolete. I do not know, what happened to the company. In my opinion the Jawetec charger is one of the most useful accessories with bicycles and dynohubs, and I very much regret if production is stopped. There are similar products out there, but those are more expensive than the lightweighted, sophisticated, reliable and small Jawetec bike charger.

By the way, in spite of the fact that this blog has not seen updates for quite a long time, the Big Dummy is in happy use. 2009 milage compares to 2008′s. Snafu Knob Job tires, however, show far better durability than the Fat Franks used before. Apart from that, the Token bottom bracket again shows up some outer slackness, so I will probably use ordinary Shimano square tapered or whatever in the future.

The image shows my new ensemble of USB gadgets, the mobile power supply chain I will be using for further touring. Located uppermost is the JaWeTec bikecharger, that I had used formerly. See my previous posts about this topic. The bikecharger is connected to the dynohub und will create constant DC of 5V at its USB-out which is wired to DC-in of the new lightweighted SwissBatteries PowerTank M. This basically is some sort of optimized rechargable LiPo battery pack with some electronic circuit. The PowerTank will on the other hand permanently feed the Garmin GPS (without internal batteries) at its USB-out. This works, but I need to test whether the bikecharger will be able to keep up enough power level to ensure continuous operation of the GPS in the long run.

Today I received the JaWeTec USB charger for dynamo hubs as like SON or Shimano DH-3D71 or Alfine or similar. This is a small box with an ordinary USB type A connector which provides 5V of direct current and 500mA, which should be sufficient to feed any USB charged devices according to USB specification. It is protected against overvoltage up to 50km/h as to manufacturers documentation and may switch off automatically at extreme voltage or heat. The little box has got 50g in weight approximately and can easily be removed from bicycle by unplugging its connector in the dynamo cable. The box unfortunately is not water resistant. I will attach it at downside of my Medion PNA and put the complete unit into some transparent plastic bag.


The chargers power supply cables had to be soldered to the original cables of my edelux headlight. I opened the protective coating around the dynamo connectors, made a soldering joint for each of the two wires and put new shrink hose around each connector. The charger cable runs along the speedo cable up to the handlebar where it can be connected to the box which will be installed together with the navigation device is mounted.

Update: unfortunately the Jawetec charger is no longer available as to my knowledge.

Using some pocket navigation or GPS device for big dummy touring may seem a good idea. For those, using dynamo hubs, JaWeTec in Germany provides some interesting solution for charging USB devices as like PNAs, music players and whatever. A similar device is available at Stollberg Elektrotechnik in Germany. For real outdoor freaks, there even is some 12V solar charging device available (Switzerland), and there is another German supplier with lots of useful navigation equipment and accessories for bicycling usage.

Late addendum: Zzing provide some USB dynohub charger with internal batterie buffering. It works similar to the Jawetec charger but will keep up delivering power even when cycle stops or goes uphill slowly.
Another very flexible solution could be a combination of a small unbuffered dynohub-USB charger (see above) with the SwissBatteries PowerTank which is some sort of mobile power buffer rechargeable in several ways and providing USB out.
Also I would like to mention Pedalpower+, an Australian supplier with several very interesting dynohub solutions, even providing DC hub generators.
And here is another one I recently found: Busch & Müller E-Werk is a brand new universal dynohub charger, apparently without an internal battery buffering, similar to the Jawetec charger.