Newbie

[hallii]

Hello all, I am Geoff and live in Worcestershire, Mrs Halli and me own a motorhome fitted with 160 watts of solar panels. We rarely have electric hookup so it's charging from the solar panels via 2 x 85 amp hour lesiure batteries.

I am looking for 2 x folding e bikes but the 44 amps at 12v that the inverter would draw is putting me off a bit. Is there any set up that will allow a charge at a slower rate with reduced current draw?

Any motorhomers out there with any comments on how they manage charging?

Geoff

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You need one of these type of small petrol generators. This is a Kipor IG770, or you can buy cheaper ones from Aldi or wherever from about £60. You need much bigger solar panels to realistically charge two e-bikes. I would say that you need at least 400w panels to charge one unless you plan to go to Spain or somewhere else where it's always bright sunshine.
NEW KIPOR IG770 PETROL GENERATOR PURE SIGN WAVE | eBay UK

 

[funkylyn]

wisper do a 12v lead as an extra.....you could then have some sort of ''power ace'' which you can charge thru the cigarette socket whilst travelling, then plug in your bike battery with the special lead.....thats one solution, also i find that EHU maybe alternate days ?
I am facing the same dilemma at the moment and I think the power ace solution is probably the best, I have a generator but never use it.....actually never even take it with me.....what a waste of money that was (for me ) other people seem to love them .......

Lynda

 

[Cyclezee]

some sort of ''power ace'' which you can charge thru the cigarette socket whilst travelling, then plug in your bike battery with the special lead.....thats one solution, also i find that EHU maybe alternate days ?

Lynda

Hi Lynda,

What is a power ace and where do I find one, the idea of charging from a 12v car socket on the move is good, how well does it work?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You can charge with any inverter through your 12v car socket, that's effectively what the Wisper charger is, but you can get one in Maplin for about £20. However, you must remember that it'll take about 40 - 50 aH out of your battery, which will flatten it, so only use the charger while the engine's going.

 

[Cyclezee]

Thanks for the explanation D8veh

 

[funkylyn]

Hi Lynda,

What is a power ace and where do I find one, the idea of charging from a 12v car socket on the move is good, how well does it work?

They used to be called that years ago.....but now they are the units with jump leads and sockets ......lots of different names.....look on amazon......i will too in a minute .....get a strong one.......there is also one that you can also charge by hand (foot) like the wind up torches....we never went anywhere without our '' power ace'' they are really useful.
Lynda

 

[funkylyn]

This is the wind up one........FREEPLAY FREECHARGER WEZA PORTABLE ENERGY SOURCE

 

[funkylyn]

try this one too.....on amazon......RING AUTOMOTIVE RPP 210 12v 40ah POWER PACK......the great thing about these when you are motorhoming is that you are using them instead of risking running your van battery down, then recharging whilst driving the next day....really useful ......perhaps someone on here who knows more about the draw from recharging bike batteries can confirm how useful they are for that particular use ?
(I'm not very electrical !)

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I'd love to see inside one to see if there's really 40aH. Normally, these devices are only a box with 12v SLAs in. Some have an inverter attached as well like this one. They're good for charging laptops and phones, although they can destroy some phone chargers because the inverters don't produce a true sine wave. In theory, you'd get about one charge of your bike from one, but I'm a bit suspicious whether they have that much capacity. Anyway, even if it did, you'd flatten it with one charge, which is not good for it if it has SLAs, which shouldn't be discharged more than about 50% and then need to be re-charged immediately, which, of course you wouldn't be able to do otherwise you wouldn't be using it. A cheap generator is always going to be the best solution for charging an ebike away from the mains I'm afraid.