Twin Heads SRL Lightcharge

The Lightcharge USB port is an inexpensive option for adding a charger for your devices to your bike if you run a dynamo of any kind. It works pretty well and has stood up to some weather too.

There are options for hub or bottle dynamos (and now a range of colours) but I tested the standard black unit, running it from a SP-PV8 hub dynamo. Fitting it is easy: simply wire in the Lightcharge with your existing light circuit, and the buttons on the front of the head unit allow you to choose between lighting and charging; you can't do both.

The wire from the hub to the unit ends in a micro-USB plug, so it can't be shortened. I found it over-long, so I zip-tied up a few coils to take up the slack. I initially thought the bar mounting mechanism, a simple elastic bungee, was a bit cheap but to its credit it's worked perfectly well. You could replace it with zipties if you wanted a permanent attachment; the Lightcharge is designed so it can be easily removed, although it's not the type of thing that's especially likely to get stolen.

It's simple to use: switch to charge mode, connect your phone/gps/etc via a standard USB port and ride off. Once you've got enough speed up your device will start charging. I used it mostly with an Xperia Z1 compact phone which is a little bit finnicky about what it'll charge from, but it was fine. I found that the 250mA charge wasn't quick, but it was enough to slowly increase the level of charge even when I was recording a track on the phone using Strava, and flicking the screen on from time to time. So in theory you should be self sufficient on longer rides, providing you don't have more than one device to do. Given that many larger devices charge at 1A, you'd be waiting a while to fill up an iPad or similar.

You can't charge stuff up at night, as you need the power to your lights and it's an either/or solution. And I'd be reluctant to use it in the pouring rain as there's no obvious sealing in the USB output. I've ridden with it on the bars with the input cable attached and the USB port cover sealed, and it's been fine in spite of some pretty filthy conditions. If you only needed one specific lead attached, you could glue the lead in with some epoxy resin, or seal it with Sugru. Then it'll probably be fine in all conditions.

The Lightcharge is one of the cheaper options for getting a charge port on your bike. It's not as elegant or quite as effective as something like the Tout Terrain Plug, and it does take up some space on the bars, but it does the job it needs to pretty well and it's simple to fit and use.

Verdict

Simple, inexpensive USB charger for your dynamo-equipped bike