have used foot notes (*#) for detail, thx ...
So, we have purchased two electric bikes to take along on our trips. Now I'm seeking advice here on how we might charge the bike batteries ("BB's") while on the road.
For most anticipated bike use (touristy ride in the park, around town stuff) I think we'll be able to rely on charging while driving. However with these bikes I see us doing some targeted rides, at least for the first 2 years, where we would stationery camp for 3 nights (camp, day ride, camp, day ride, camp).
My thought is to charge the BBs at night, after the day's ride, using the inverter and house batteries. If the next day has nice weather we will be riding and wanting full BBs. If the weather is lousy we'll prob be driving, rolling on to another place, charging as we drive.*1.
It's pretty easy for me to come up with a working number of ~62Ahrs of use. *2. Question is, how do we replace that, charging the house batteries during the second day while we are riding ...
Solar:
~600+USD. Don't have it. Initially was thinking a small suitcase set up that could be carried forward to a future rig. Read up a bit, now think we'd need 250-300w panels min, maybe 36v, complete with mppt charger. Summer time use, north of 49* latitude, some of these rides will be on the west coast beaches (could be foggy even in August). Lots of variables. I don't know what to expect for a day's total charge ??
Generator:
~200-800USD. inverter generator. Don't have it nor really want it but could make a case for one because live in an earthquake zone. Don't want a 2000w - too big to carry. That means 1000w which is small for home back up. Could be cheap and turnkey but could/would I leave it running while away riding ??
House battery addition:
~100USD. Already have 4 house + 2 truck. Could add 1 more battery, a cheap one. Would want separation ability. Bit of wiring involved. Kinda oddball.
Bike Battery addition:
~500USD. Buy a spare BB. Works with both bikes, giving us 50% more range, maybe give us 2 days travel. Redundancy. Still need to charge them. Wait a year and the market might have higher capacity BB at same price ??
Human power:
Do nothing. If run out of juice then pedal manually. Cheapest and easiest. Some of these trips will be remote, some with tide considerations, might be 15+ miles in/out. These bikes are heavy (60+ lbs), if we have to push them that will suck !!
Sorry this got long, thanks for reading.
What to do ? Comments welcome !
*1. Our rig has no solar or generator but has a fairly robust alternator charging system with heavy ga wiring to 2 x ~200Ah battery banks, a 2000w inverter and a 45 amp house battery charger. We rarely camp more than an overnight.
*2. The BBs are Lithium-Ion rated as 11.6Ah at 48v, so 555 watt hours, and are normally charged with a 120vAC 2A charger, reportedly for up to 5.5 hours. If we use a bit more than 1/2 battery capacity per day ride x 2 bikes we'd use ~600 watt hours or 50Ah at 12v. -- if I have this conversion correct -- Add another say 25% for losses inverting to 120vAC then converting to 54vDC for BB charging and we're at ~62Ah required for replacement (!).
Edited by klahanie, 06 April 2018 - 04:50 PM.
