Collective genii of the mig welding forum, please lend your brains to a problem I have to solve.
Later this year I am taking part in the Dunwich Dynamo, a 112 mile overnight bike ride from London Fields to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast. There are quite a number of participants and reading accounts suggests that you don't really need a map as you can just follow the lights of those in front of you. Me being an ex-boy scout wants to be prepared, and so I thought I'd used my phone and power bank to act as sat nav, as I can't justify the cost of a Garmin GPS or similar. As Ianticipated heavy phone battery use with the phone using GPS navigator I've going to use my Anker PowerCore 2 portable power pack (battery) in a waterproof top tube bag and a Topeak Drybag to put the (Android) phone in. Trouble is, in their quest to make the drybag, well, 'dry' they've not fitted a waterproof charge port for the cable. The top of the bag (see below) is a double-Ziplock type closure which is then rolled up and has a PVC flap which Velcro's over the lot.
I'd solved the prob by getting a 1m long USB to micro USB lead, snaking from the frame top bag to the top of the case, and sort of rolling the cable up with the Ziploc done up against it and relying on the rolls to keep the water out. Both ends of the cable needed right-angled plugs to allow them to fit their respective sockets, due to the size of the phone and power pack in their respective cases and it has to be 1 metre long to allow for the cable to reach the top of the case, snake in through the rolled to and then down to the bottom again to reach the charge port.
We've just today been and got new phones, despite me thinking I'd keep the one I had I was seduced by faster processing time and a seemingly better camera! Only trouble is the new one's USB C and can I get a right-angle USB A to USB C without it being a cotton braided outer on the cable? Can I ********!
Does anyone own a charge cable with a braided outer cover and, if so, do you know if the inner cores are still placcy insulated? Are they sealed into the plugs at each end or can air/water get in? I know the plugs will be inside the bags, but if it ****** down I can imagine the water wicking along the braiding, getting into the plug and shorting things, which I don't want!
My other plan is to cut an opening into the bottom of the case (probably a small slit) to allow a straight plug through to plug into the bottom of the phone. The case sits on a bracket on the handlebar stem so slopes backward/downward, so hopefully such a breach would be out of the oncoming spray of rainwater and any water running off the case would run down around where the cable entered. I was thinking that sealing the cable in would be politic, would silicone sealer do the job? Alternatively, does anyone know of a glue-in grommet/port which would seal against a USB C-type connector which I could fit into the bottom of the case to do the job better? That funny rectangle at the base doesn't do anything, it almost looks like it was designed for some models to have a charge port fitted but no such option exists?
If you're tempted to tell me to stop being a cheapskate and buy a Garmin I really can't afford to right now, or at least can't justify the expense vs expected use, and am also kinda trying to be a low-cost problem solver at the same time
Answers on a post card to...…….
Later this year I am taking part in the Dunwich Dynamo, a 112 mile overnight bike ride from London Fields to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast. There are quite a number of participants and reading accounts suggests that you don't really need a map as you can just follow the lights of those in front of you. Me being an ex-boy scout wants to be prepared, and so I thought I'd used my phone and power bank to act as sat nav, as I can't justify the cost of a Garmin GPS or similar. As Ianticipated heavy phone battery use with the phone using GPS navigator I've going to use my Anker PowerCore 2 portable power pack (battery) in a waterproof top tube bag and a Topeak Drybag to put the (Android) phone in. Trouble is, in their quest to make the drybag, well, 'dry' they've not fitted a waterproof charge port for the cable. The top of the bag (see below) is a double-Ziplock type closure which is then rolled up and has a PVC flap which Velcro's over the lot.
I'd solved the prob by getting a 1m long USB to micro USB lead, snaking from the frame top bag to the top of the case, and sort of rolling the cable up with the Ziploc done up against it and relying on the rolls to keep the water out. Both ends of the cable needed right-angled plugs to allow them to fit their respective sockets, due to the size of the phone and power pack in their respective cases and it has to be 1 metre long to allow for the cable to reach the top of the case, snake in through the rolled to and then down to the bottom again to reach the charge port.
We've just today been and got new phones, despite me thinking I'd keep the one I had I was seduced by faster processing time and a seemingly better camera! Only trouble is the new one's USB C and can I get a right-angle USB A to USB C without it being a cotton braided outer on the cable? Can I ********!
Does anyone own a charge cable with a braided outer cover and, if so, do you know if the inner cores are still placcy insulated? Are they sealed into the plugs at each end or can air/water get in? I know the plugs will be inside the bags, but if it ****** down I can imagine the water wicking along the braiding, getting into the plug and shorting things, which I don't want!
My other plan is to cut an opening into the bottom of the case (probably a small slit) to allow a straight plug through to plug into the bottom of the phone. The case sits on a bracket on the handlebar stem so slopes backward/downward, so hopefully such a breach would be out of the oncoming spray of rainwater and any water running off the case would run down around where the cable entered. I was thinking that sealing the cable in would be politic, would silicone sealer do the job? Alternatively, does anyone know of a glue-in grommet/port which would seal against a USB C-type connector which I could fit into the bottom of the case to do the job better? That funny rectangle at the base doesn't do anything, it almost looks like it was designed for some models to have a charge port fitted but no such option exists?
If you're tempted to tell me to stop being a cheapskate and buy a Garmin I really can't afford to right now, or at least can't justify the expense vs expected use, and am also kinda trying to be a low-cost problem solver at the same time
Answers on a post card to...…….