Mobile Charging Solution

[djtroy]

Well I was playing with the idea of buying a deep cell battery and an inverter to be able to charge my bike on the road if I wasn't near any power. This just didn't seem like I was going to be able to make that work and the cost seemed a bit much and decided to go with this option instead. It seems to be pretty awesome so far and for $100 its not going to break the bank. Has anyone else tried one of these little things. Its 32 lbs and super portable 63 cc engine.

 

[routrax]

Well I was playing with the idea of buying a deep cell battery and an inverter to be able to charge my bike on the road if I wasn't near any power. This just didn't seem like I was going to be able to make that work and the cost seemed a bit much and decided to go with this option instead. It seems to be pretty awesome so far and for $100 its not going to break the bank. Has anyone else tried one of these little things. Its 32 lbs and super portable 63 cc engine.

I've just been through this with a Shimano powered bike.

Your link didn't work, but I'm guessing it's a generator? If so, it might not work as the cheaper gennies usually have a dirty, non-pure sine wave output. You'd generally want to buy a gennie that has a pure sine wave output as some electronics may not work with the modified sine wave output.

If you go the battery route, and run a shimano system, you could get a Di2 charger (same connector as the ebike charger) that is only 1.5 amps. You could run that off a small 300-ish watts invertor and use your car cigarette socket.
If you use the normal charger, which is 2.5 amps @ 230v, you would need an invertor (or gennie) that could supply over 575watts continuous. It's quite possible that the charger needs much more power at start-up. I bought an 800w invertor to account for this.

You need to look at your chargers draw at the 230v end and match that to your supply.

I'm not an electrical engineer, but have been living off-grid on batteries for 10+ yrs using gennies and solar for charging, so have learn quite a lot!

 

[Russell]

I'm not disagreeing but why would a cheaper gennie have a modified sine wave? I would have thought a spinning alternator would make a create a sine wave?

 

[wepn]

I kind of get why - but why? Actually I really do get it but for me I need to find a cleaner way.

Maybe fuel-cell is better than fuel but I still wouldn’t recommend it. Those cartridges don’t look all that clean and don’t get me started on fuel-cells lol

I think I need to get a levo range extender.

Fraunhofer PEMFC Bike

 

[routrax]

I'm not disagreeing but why would a cheaper gennie have a modified sine wave? I would have thought a spinning alternator would make a create a sine wave?

It's just to do with the quality of the electronics. It's cheaper to make a modified sine wave board, so the cheaper gennies get that. Your charger might be fine with that, but it's something to be aware of and you'd have to adjust your expectations.

It's explained here:

Pure Sine Wave vs. Modified Sine Wave Inverters- What's the Difference?

 

[OldGoatMTB]

If you go the battery route, and run a shimano system, you could get a Di2 charger (same connector as the ebike charger) that is only 1.5 amps. You could run that off a small 300-ish watts invertor and use your car cigarette socket.

Are you saying that Shimano sells a charger with a cigarette-lighter style connector that would charge an e8020? That would be a perfect solution but I haven't found with my Google searches. I'm surprised that Shimano doesn't sell a mobile charger. I'm planning a long trick and would prefer a mobile solution to having to charger at Starbucks or a library. Looked at those battery "generators", which would also be good for charging other devices but those are a bit pricey, too. Though deals are to be had these days.

 

[routrax]

Are you saying that Shimano sells a charger with a cigarette-lighter style connector that would charge an e8020? That would be a perfect solution but I haven't found with my Google searches. I'm surprised that Shimano doesn't sell a mobile charger. I'm planning a long trick and would prefer a mobile solution to having to charger at Starbucks or a library. Looked at those battery "generators", which would also be good for charging other devices but those are a bit pricey, too. Though deals are to be had these days.

You would need an inverter, something like this.
My battery is the e8010 (external), so you would have to make sure you get the right charger.

Also check the rating for your cigarette lighter socket, it would be a nightmare being stuck somewhere remote with your car on fire with your ebike battery inside!

 

[Mr President]

Hi only a year late to the party, but did anyone try any of the above?

I just bought a 300w pure sine wave innverter. i thought it was going to be a bit on the limit for the Bosch 230V x 1,5A charger. When it arrived the literature was suggesting having a power output 3 x what you believe you require, which would make the inverter way under-specced. I can see the need for heavy duty and surge appliances like fridges, but for a small battery charger?

I'm also expecting that the charger will not draw the 1.5 A ever, especially as I only plan to use it for top up scenarios never full charging.

What do you guys think? Possible to get away with the 300W unit or should I up the spec to 600W or even 1KW. If the latter I think I'll just give it a miss.