Using a lightweight generator to charge Bosch e-bike battery

[The Cycle Tourist]

In short, yes. The Kipor IG770 tank gives 3 hours run time so almost a full charge. The last stages of charge have the lowest gain so 3 hours will probably give you about 95% charge.
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The Kipor generators look interesting 309 pounds on Amazon. Will look into them. Much better price that the 800 pounds or so for a Yamaha 1000

 

[Deleted member 4366]

On mains electricity it takes 2hours for 80% charge and 3.5hours for 100% Can these times be expected with with generator power? The bikes are being sponsored, so the Bosch system it is. Why would it be any different charging them to any other sort of modern battery?

The smallest Kipor can provide enough power to charge probably 4 Bosch batteries at a time - easily two.

It's more difficult to solar charge Bosch batteries because they need a special charger. Also, you can't use a substitute battery of a different type without hacking into the wiring. For most other bikes, you can connect whatever battery you want and charge them from any source, solar or otherwise as long as you can get the charge voltage fixed at 42v for a 36v battery.

If it were my Bosch bike, I'd do the hacking, but that won't be so easy if the bike doesn't belong to you.

You can still charge a Bosch from a solar panel, but you need a charger, an inverter and a heavy 12v battery. With a generic battery, you only need a light inverter regulator. You can still do that with a Bosch, but, again, you need to hack the wiring.

 

[The Cycle Tourist]

The smallest Kipor can provide enough power to charge probably 4 Bosch batteries at a time - easily two.

It's more difficult to solar charge Bosch batteries because they need a special charger. Also, you can't use a substitute battery of a different type without hacking into the wiring. For most other bikes, you can connect whatever battery you want and charge them from any source, solar or otherwise as long as you can get the charge voltage fixed at 42v for a 36v battery.

If it were my Bosch bike, I'd do the hacking, but that won't be so easy if the bike doesn't belong to you.

You can still charge a Bosch from a solar panel, but you need a charger, an inverter and a heavy 12v battery. With a generic battery, you only need a light inverter regulator. You can still do that with a Bosch, but, again, you need to hack the wiring.

You have convinced me .............generator it is and probably a small Kipor. Thanks for everyone's help

 

[D8ve]

You don't need a heavy lead acid battery.
3 s lipo will give you 11 volts to run an inverter. Charging at breakfast lunch and dinner means storing most power in the bosh battery where it's needed. At natural rest points. Reducing the lipo size required.

 

[trex]

I don't think you'd need a generator inverter although I can imagine in remote places, it may give you some re-assurance.
Assume that you want to do 150 miles a day.
That would require about 1kWH. Using the best cells at present, that would be 10S8P of NCR 3400mAH. At 50g per cell, the custom pack would weigh only 4kgs.
Surely, that can be carried easily on the rear luggage rack?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You don't need a heavy lead acid battery.
3 s lipo will give you 11 volts to run an inverter. Charging at breakfast lunch and dinner means storing most power in the bosh battery where it's needed. At natural rest points. Reducing the lipo size required.

Nice idea, but that wouldn't work. Firstly the charging voltage for 3S lipos is 12.6v. Solar charge regulators are just over 14v, so your lipos might blow up. 4S would be 16.8V to charge, which is too high for the regulator. Secondly, you'd need a big 3S lipo pack of maybe 1600wh to charge two Bosch batteries. That's 130AH or 26 x 5AH bricks or about 10kg.

 

[D8ve]

But the Accucell 6 charger will take the feed from a photo cell (12-17volts)and drive upto 6S .
Topping up three times a day into a 400Wh setup means not storing enough for multiple charges in lipo. So 400 watts or around 2.5kg
Perhaps it could be made to work!
Yes carrying mains charger as backup for rainy days but this could provide a realistic storage solution.

 

[v.s.o.p.]

I tried to research this subject 1 year ago and ended up with small honda eu10 generator (83db) as an answer to long ebike run. Until recently I didn't have to much time to play with it but Today ill put it to the test and check if its capable of charging 2 Bosch 400 powerpacks at the same time (with 2 chargers).

 

[The Cycle Tourist]

I tried to research this subject 1 year ago and ended up with small honda eu10 generator (83db) as an answer to long ebike run. Until recently I didn't have to much time to play with it but Today ill put it to the test and check if its capable of charging 2 Bosch 400 powerpacks at the same time (with 2 chargers).

Wow, that is fantastic I will be looking forward to reading how you went. That is exactly the scenario I am looking at. Nothing better than an actual trial, much better than theory!

 

[selrahc1992]

I am setting out on a long distance e-bike adventure in an attempt to set a new world e-bike record of more than 16,500kms at the end of April in the UK, Europe and Scandinavia.
Given that I am keen to avoid the need to plug into mains electricity every day to charge my Haibike's BOSCH Powerpack 400wh battery I have looked extensively into solar, but have decided it is impractical for a number of reasons (lack of sunlight in the UK, cost, finding someone with the knowledge etc).
As such I am now considering the merits of carrying a lightweight portable generator in my cycle trailer. Does anyone have any experience with charging e-bike batteries with a generator and if so are there any potential problems/issues that I should be aware of?

given a choice between lugging 10 tyo 15 kg of generator/solar panels/complex electronics with me & becoming obsessed with teh state of my battery AND severely cutting back teh level of my assistance and having a much lighter bike (im sure at a very low level of assistance on a relatively lighter bike 100 miles per charge may be achievable), i know which i would opt for..

 

[The Cycle Tourist]

given a choice between lugging 10 tyo 15 kg of generator/solar panels/complex electronics with me & becoming obsessed with teh state of my battery AND severely cutting back teh level of my assistance and having a much lighter bike (im sure at a very low level of assistance on a relatively lighter bike 100 miles per charge may be achievable), i know which i would opt for..

Only problem with relying on mains electricity is that we will be cycling in many areas well away from electricity and plan to wild camp as often and when we can. In short we must be self-sufficient

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I tried to research this subject 1 year ago and ended up with small honda eu10 generator (83db) as an answer to long ebike run. Until recently I didn't have to much time to play with it but Today ill put it to the test and check if its capable of charging 2 Bosch 400 powerpacks at the same time (with 2 chargers).

The Honda is OK to take in a car or Van, but too heavy to tow behind a bike. I indicated the light generators above. There's also the Honda EX350, which is the lightest Honda at 10kg, but it's a 2-stroke, so noisier and it doesn't have enough power for to charge 2 Bosch batteries at the same time. The Bosch charger is 4A at 42v, which os 168w output. They should be about 95% efficient, which means 172w input. To be safe, you can round that up to 200w, so any generator that can provide more than 400w should be OK. Obviously, the more margin you have, the better, but weight is very important. The Chinese generators are a little overated, so, if you get one of those, get one of at least 750w to be sure.

 

[selrahc1992]

Only problem with relying on mains electricity is that we will be cycling in many areas well away from electricity and plan to wild camp as often and when we can. In short we must be self-sufficient

i get where youre coming from but, for what it worth, i'd still go with at most an extra set of batteries and occasional stretches of non assisted cycling before taking on all of the palaver (and weight!)that seems necessary from posts here. at most i'd have a small solarpanel to power a tablet and phone.

 

[The Cycle Tourist]

i get where youre coming from but, for what it worth, i'd still go with at most an extra set of batteries and occasional stretches of non assisted cycling before taking on all of the palaver (and weight!)that seems necessary from posts here. at most i'd have a small solarpanel to power a tablet and phone.

I agree with what you are saying. I will probably get one extra battery so we can rotate the 3 and will also get a small solar cell for charging laptops etc. A lightweight generator, one extra battery and a small solar cell is about 13 kg - much lighter than a full-on solar setup

 

[RobF]

I believe wild camping is legal in Scotland, but it is certainly frowned upon in England.

Make sure your trailer is not very wide, many possible sites will be beyond A-frame gates, designed to stop motorcycles.

When wild camping in England, you are usually relying on being unobserved, so you find a site, but don't park until it's nearly dark.

Unobserved also means unheard - fire up the generator and you will likely attract unwelcome attention.

 

[billy.gauthier.5]

nice ! what about dis ???

 

[The Cycle Tourist]

I believe wild camping is legal in Scotland, but it is certainly frowned upon in England.

Make sure your trailer is not very wide, many possible sites will be beyond A-frame gates, designed to stop motorcycles.

When wild camping in England, you are usually relying on being unobserved, so you find a site, but don't park until it's nearly dark.

Unobserved also means unheard - fire up the generator and you will likely attract unwelcome attention.

England must be one of the most over regulated countries in the world. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that it is also illegal to ride on footpaths in the UK. I travel and cycle extensively around the world and the UK is still the only place where I have been yelled (read viciously abused) at for trying to stay alive by avoiding treacherous traffic when cycling on the footpath

 

[selrahc1992]

England must be one of the most over regulated countries in the world. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that it is also illegal to ride on footpaths in the UK. I travel and cycle extensively around the world and the UK is still the only place where I have been yelled (read viciously abused) at for trying to stay alive by avoiding treacherous traffic when cycling on the footpath

same here, i think high population density and a hypercapitalist sense of individual entitlement doesnt help. It can, perversely, be funny - last week a mother tried to ram me with a buggy on my brompton (trying to push me into the road, i was, to be fair, on the pavement, but the road was very dangerous, and i was going very slowly). but the upshot was that it felt paradoxically an experience that made me take myself less seriously

 

[v.s.o.p.]

Done testing overload issue - 1.started the generator (Honda EX7)
2. connected charger nr 1 and there was tiny drop in rpm sound
3. connected charger nr 2 - no change in rpm
4. Both chargers are working, generator is stable and no overload signal is presented.

I would say Honda EX7 is one of the smallest and quiet gens on the market 12kg and 83db

Next ill see what happens if 3rd charger is connected.

 

[v.s.o.p.]

Well im bit surprised but 3 chargers are working fine too. Generator is stable no rpm drop and no overload signal.