Is "E" Bike battery charging a big problem off grid? (1 Viewer)

jumar

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Hi, when we finally move on to E Bikes in years to come, will charging be a problem, for example, current motorhome, 1 leisure battery 115 amh, 1 solar panel 150w.....we tour in the summer months.
A new motorhome is also due, about the same time, so I need to know what my needs would be to provide sufficient power to charge up 2 batteries on a regular basis...
At home during winter months, no problem....any new thoughts on my question? I have read with interest postings from previous years.
 
Oct 9, 2017
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I will be interested in the replies/advice given in this thread as I’m looking at getting an ebike for wife in near future. When away in van we are rarely on electric so would be looking to recharge via inverter (size?) with leisure battery charged via solar panel, or engine when on move. I have got a Honda generator (came with van, but not used in the 7 years we have had the van), but would rather recharge bike battery via other means. Wife happy (?) to do 25 mile ride on the flat, so would be looking to recharge every 2 or 3 days of riding. Sometimes we stay on an Aire for a week, so solar essential. So far whittled down to crank drive (Bosch, or similar), with 500w battery. Anticipating to spend about £2k on bike - Kalkhoff, Cube, Scott etc.
David.

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Oct 29, 2008
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We charge 2 ebikes on our inverter, but you should use a good pure sinewave inverter. We have 140w of solar and 2 batteries.
 
May 31, 2015
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As you know I use an e-trike on the wheelchair when we was at totana last year, in the rapido we only had a small 150w inverter and it charged our bike batteries very well so if you only want an inverter just for the bikes you don’t need a fancy expensive one. If your getting a new van then having a better inverter to go with tha solar would be advantageous...

When the sun is out ours didn’t use much from the batteries but most of the time we charged them whilst we drove around....
 
Oct 9, 2017
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Jezport.
Having seen your advert a while ago, I was wondering if you still had it for sale. Despite looking through forum the other day (I remembered your name) but was unable to find it. I want to get a pure sine wave inverter, but not sure if 600w is big enough for my (future) need for the ebike. I’m very interested in yours.
David.

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Oct 29, 2008
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Pure sinewVe will run any type of item. Some chargers with switchmode power supplies will overheat when run on squarewave inverters. Items with motors can also have issues and certain items can be instantly damaged with squarewave inverters.
 
Dec 12, 2010
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I've got a crappy 600 watt inverter which was on offer at Machine Mart, we use it to charge the Kalkhoff batteries (one at a time) while we drive between destinations, it's wired directly to the leisure batteries (1 metre away) and works fine.

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Lenny HB

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I use a 1000 watt pure sine inverter as it gives me the option to charge both batteries at the same time, Although it will trip if I plug both batteries in at the same time, need to plug one in leave it 30sec before plugging the second one in as th charger start up current is higher than the running current.

Your single battery is no where near big enough and you could do with more solar. On the last van I had 190A/H of batteries and 200 watts of solar, if I charged both batteries from flat (in June) it would take a few days for the batteries to recharge from solar. I now recharge the batteries way before they are flat. I've fitted a 3rd battery to my current van and just about to fit a 3rd 100W solar panel to cope with e-bike charging.
 
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jumar

jumar

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Getting the picture...please continue to post...thanks to those who have provided some thoughts so far.

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Jan 19, 2014
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Our Studer 200w inverter:
IMAG1002.jpg

Probably not big enough for bike batteries but nice and compact, lightweight, low standby current, pure sine wave great for the electrical toothbrushes and TV.
Was quite expensive but the case is metal so you can T-Cut and polish it :ROFLMAO:
 
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Robert Clark

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When we charge our bikes it pulls about 20a from the batteries, so charging them while driving may be worthwhile.
 

hilldweller

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[QUOTE="jumar, post: 2656114, member: 23578 1 leisure battery 115 amh, [/QUOTE]

This is 115 / 2 = 57Ah usable at 12V so 12 * 57 = 690Wh. Watt hours are the true energy.

A typical battery is 36V 10Ah so 360Wh.

Now do you see the big picture, the bike battery represents over half your leisure battery. And it's worse due to losses in the charging circuits.

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bigtwin

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Aye, as has been alluded to in the above posts, you don’t get ought for nought!

You’ll need more inherent capacity and replenishment capacity if you’re going to charge via inverters.

Ian
 

Terry

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you need at least 1 more l/battery (y) 2 if poss but don't go daft or your vehicle charger will struggle and need upgrading ....as a rule of thumb 100 amp hr batt requires a 10 amp b/charger so 200 amp batts require a 20 amp charger ish
Terry
 

jumartoo

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I don't understand any of the above but @jumar is taking a siesta :LOL: but I'm sure he'll respond later!!!

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brynric

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I have seen a Bosch e-bike charger to run from the 12v socket.
Having said that I know nothing about price, availability or efficiency.
Charging bikes will become more of an issue as they become more common so other solutions may well arise. Some places in Europe have ebike charging points for example.
 

Lenny HB

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I have seen a Bosch e-bike charger to run from the 12v socket.
Having said that I know nothing about price, availability or efficiency.
Charging bikes will become more of an issue as they become more common so other solutions may well arise. Some places in Europe have ebike charging points for example.
£150 and takes twice as long to charge a battery about 6 hours for a 300w probably 8 for a 400w so you would need two of them.
 
Jan 11, 2011
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Hi Jumartoo
We charge two 36v bike batteries off a 350w pure sine wave inverter via two 95amp batteries backed up with a solar panel can show you when we visit totana end of Jan beginning Feb

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