On Bike Power Supply

Disclaimer: This power supply kit is not for bicycle weight weenies. It will add weight to your bike. If you're the type of cyclist who is obsessed with your bike weighing as little as possible and would never dream of adding weight to it and spend a lot of money to remove weight stop reading this blog article now. This is not for you.

However, if you're the type of cyclist who has discovered you need some sort of on bike power supply from time to time, read on. This article will give you an idea on how to build one.

Sometimes when riding his recumbent the blog author recently discovered he needs an on board or on bike power supply to power and help keep his wireless device charged and powered for various uses.

The kit includes:
1. An sealed AGM 12 volt 2.9 amp hour or AH battery.
2. A female DC power connector with insulated female tabs at one end to connect to connect to battery terminal tabs.
3. A male DC power connector with the correct connectors used to attach it to power inverter.
4. Power inverter of your choice.

To build the kit the blog author purchased the male DC power connector and cut off the battery post terminal clamps and crimped the insulated female tab connectors. He then took a male DC power plug and cut off the battery post terminal clamps and crimped the correct connectors to it so it could be attached to the power inverter. Other inverters may vary from the design used in this application. The power inverter with the male DC power connector is also used with a larger deep cycle marine battery as a power source when camping.

When in use the female DC power connector is connected to the battery with the tabs. The male and female ends of the DC power power cable are connected together and the wireless device charger is plugged into the AC outlet on the front of the inverter, the other end connected to the wireless device and the inverter is turned on.

After over 2 hours of continuous use the battery still had a 55% charge. The use included but was not limited to playing music at the same time as using the GPS to map the bike ride the blog author participated in. The wireless device can also be used to take photos, talk and text on, in some cases all at the same time.

The day this was first tested it was very cool to cold out during the ride. It will next be tested on warmer to hot spring and summer days to see how it holds up from inside the seat bag with out overheating.

The kit fits perfectly in the seat bag on the bloggers recumbent bicycle and weighs between 3 and 4 pounds.