Charging for long distance cycling

Spchakravarthy

I want to use my TomTom spark for long rides such as 600KM & 1000KM, can I use a Power Bank to charge it without disturbing the activity? Can it record activity & charge at same time?

tfarabaugh

Spchakravarthy wrote:

I want to use my TomTom spark for long rides such as 600KM & 1000KM, can I use a Power Bank to charge it without disturbing the activity? Can it record activity & charge at same time?

No, you cannot charge and record at the same time. Any time there is a change in power state (plugged in to unplugged or vice versa) it automatically stops the activity. If you have it plugged in before you start the activity you can run it plugged in and eventually the power bank will run out and it will go on to battery power. However, you cannot the wear or mount the watch, it would need to be in a pack and if the charger gets loose at all (which is likely to happen in your pack) it will detect a change in power state and reset. Your best bet is to run it with all sensors off (HER, bike sensor, music, backlight, etc.) to maximize battery life and have two watches. When one is close to running out, stop it and start the next and join the files together later. You will have two separate activities in MySports but can get a single file to upload to Strava or other sites.

I hope this helped answer your question. If so, please mark it as a solution so others can look for it if they have the same question.

Spchakravarthy

I observed that there is a soft reset (what tomtom calls it) when I plug in the battery bank, but not when I plug it out, so can I first plug in the device & start activity & plug out after the activity (like after 40 to 65 hours)? my battery bank is 13000 mAh & I think it would survive for that long. Is it safe to use like this? does connecting the device for so long duration overcharge it?

tfarabaugh

Spchakravarthy wrote:

I observed that there is a soft reset (what tomtom calls it) when I plug in the battery bank, but not when I plug it out, so can I first plug in the device & start activity & plug out after the activity (like after 40 to 65 hours)? my battery bank is 13000 mAh & I think it would survive for that long. Is it safe to use like this? does connecting the device for so long duration overcharge it?

If the battery bank is fully depleted and it moves onto the watch battery then it would not detect a change in battery state and not reset. But again, how are you going to use the device if it is plugged in as you cannot wear or mount it and it can't get unplugged if in a pack? Keeping ti plugged in will not cause overheating or overcharge it, it will be fine, but you still need to consider how you will use it. I would suggest trying it out a few times on test rides (or just plug it in an leave it sitting on a table) to make sure it does what you want before trying it out for real.

I hope this helped answer your question. If so, please mark it as a solution so others can look for it if they have the same question.

Spchakravarthy

Yes, I will test it couple of times before the race day, thanks for the suggestion.. Will sort a way to keep the device plugged in whole time & post the pic here.. thanks for the suggestion

gl00

Spchakravarthy wrote:

Yes, I will test it couple of times before the race day, thanks for the suggestion.. Will sort a way to keep the device plugged in whole time & post the pic here.. thanks for the suggestion

can't wait to see your design for that! obviously a lot of tape could work, but I sincerely hope you'll find an elegant solution

also really curious to see the traces of your rides! sounds exciting!

nunoaomaia

Hi Spachkravarthy,

How did you solve this question?

This year Iam going to do some long distances and I am With this doubt too.

KevinMcGinn

so i managed to get mine to work - in action:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MMvpzQzWcnAazR5HA the image is not clear due to glare but i assure you it works.

Setup:
1) https://photos.app.goo.gl/pUcbrvTP3gTYLGMs6
2) https://photos.app.goo.gl/eeZszzXGGWKp1kAq6