Needed a device for a tour through Europe and I looked at this option and the Revolution but settled on neither. I bought an Igaro D1 instead, the build quality is light years ahead of both.

Hi Tahir,

Thanks for your comments. You’re right that the SON28 is supposedly better at lower speeds. The SONdelux is lighter weight, but outputs less power at low speeds.

Regarding the Supernova hub, you might save money going for a Shutter Precision hub instead. The Supernova hub has basically the same internals as the SP hub.

I agree with you about the Sinewave not needing a cache battery. I like how compact it is and portable. I can move it between my two bikes easily. Since writing this article, I added a cache battery USB power pack like you.

Thanks for the recommendation for the RAVPower product. I am going to look into that!

Cheers,
Lars

I have sold my bike and I am about the buy a new one these days. In my old bike I had SONdelux, Busch & Müller Lumotec Luxos U with comes with a USB on the handlebar control. I was not too happy with what they delivered and reading about the lower speed charging ability of (the then) Bright-Bike I had ordered the Revolution as well.

Revolution was able to charge at slower speeds, 8-9 km/h vs 12-13 km/h, but even then, I would not say that the overall charging was great. That, of course, may not be entirely the chargers’ fault but also the dynamo hub. While delux is light, it provides less power at the same speed compared to, say, SON28.

The new set-up will be a Supernova hub dynamo linked to Revolution. The Supernova is claimed to have better lower speed power delivery. The Revolution would sit in an Ortlieb Ultimate ProE handlebar bag, which has the connectors that you were probably looking for. It will not take much space in the bag and there will be no worries of leaving, yet one vulnerable expensive piece of equipment behind. Also with this, there will be no worries about water-proofness, too.

In completing the set-up; Sinewave Cycles do not have a cache battery and I also believe that this is the right thing not to embed a battery into the product itself. Cache battery, on the other hand, provides a more steady power to the products. I was always concerned when my iPhone had to drop-in and out from charge at critical speeds when going slow.

Therefore I will have a RAVPower Portable Charger 3200mAh External Battery Pack with flashlight as the cache battery. This battery has the ability to charge and discharge at the same time, essential for this use. Cinq5, in my view, is the same product that is re-branded and sold for about 10 times the cost !

Yet to be tested, but I have a feel that this will be a good set up 🙂

Sinewave Cycles Reactor
Supernova The Plug III