Hello, looking at how to charge an ebike whilst tootling round in my van, T4 may last another few years, will be replaced by another similar size van, off grid so solar panels will be involved, any good You Tube recommendations to save me watching countless naff films,super simple explaining for an electrical dummy, thanks.
Depends on your ebike charger, my Bosch 4amp charger will run off my 105ah Fogstar Lithium through a victron 12v/250va inverter but draws over 20A which makes cable runs tricky. It's much happier and more efficient with the 2A charger.
If you want to charge multiple times fast in a weekend then you'll need a bigger setup or lots of solar. Mines fine for 2 rides in a weekend charging overnight.
My recommendation for a 'simple' solution you can use for a bit and swap to another van later would be to look into;
Bluetti power station, that you can charge before leaving home, plug in bikes and charge them.
You can plug solar directly into the power station, but it will be slow....
Bluetti charger 1, that you can wire into the battery/alternator in the van to charge the battery when driving quicker than you'll be able to without loads of solar...
the charger 2 would do the same, but also allow you to plug solar into the charger 2 to then the charger will manage both with 1 plug.
Just buy a mobile power station, much easier and more convenient than hard wiring a setup into your van these days…
The likes of DJI, EcoFlow, Bluetooth etc all have their own models that would suit, most do their own solar panels, but crucially now for van owners, most do their own dedicated inverters which are super easy to install and mean you can charge the power station whilst you’re driving along much more quickly than a solar panel would charge it too. Or you can just take it in the house with you when you get home, and charge it there too…
I started off with an Allpowers battery pack as I didn't want to mess with the vans wiring and would also have something as a back up at home. I did look at getting a larger one but then a good deal on a spare battery came up so 2 minutes to swap beats charging speeds and I'll just recharge at home or in the hotel, etc.
How do you work out what size battery pack you need?
For instance, enough to charge a Bosch ebike (400wh battery) a couple of times? I'm guessing the answer is more complex than merely "800wh"!
I don't know about others, but Anker power banks charge fron the vehicle 12v socket as well as mains
My 105ah lithium will do my 500wh through an inverter once and still run the fridge and heater overnight.
If you're sleeping in the van and want to charge overnight, then a built in system with diesel heater, fridge, lights etc is better than a power bank. If you're staying in hotels, just charge in the room (I wouldn't leave an ebike in a van in a hotel carpark)
Another vote for a power station. My Anker charges from 12v, mains and solar. Buy one on sale not at RRP, as they all seem to be permanently 'discounted'.
I’m on my second van with a leisure battery bank, solar, b2b charging, inverter etc.
If i converted a 3rd van…I’d certainly be considering one of the all in one power stations as suggested above. If there is a way to plug them in for alternator charging it would be ideal, and you could plug in your permanent mains and 12v sockets so you could still have them in convenient locations.
Another vote for a power station. My Anker bluetti charges from 12v, mains and solar. Buy one on sale not at RRP, as they all seem to be permanently 'discounted'.
I have a ps72 and get two full charges into my trek fuel exe
How do you work out what size battery pack you need?
For instance, enough to charge a Bosch ebike (400wh battery) a couple of times? I'm guessing the answer is more complex than merely "800wh"!
You'd need to allow for some conversion losses, the efficiency of the charger and the battery degrading over time. If it were me I'd probably assume a ~1200Wh battery would charge a 400Wh battery twice with a sensible margin left over.
I don't have an ebike so never done much research on this but is an ebike battery charger that works directly from a 12v supply possible to buy? i.e. a charger that takes 12v and converts it directly to 48v and not 12v -> 240v AC via an inverter -> 48v in the ebike charger. Taking out that middle conversion (from DC to AC and then back to DC) will do wonders for your efficiency if capacity of a leisure battery and solar is a limiting factor.
A power bank is the answer. More van conversions are using them over leisure batteries and inverters. The van is wired up as in any other permanent install but using a power bank instead. Advantage is that it can be removed to use elsewhere or charged in the in house.
Chargers can be installed to run from the alternator or from solar. Charging from a hook up is the same as from any 240v socket.
My Atomess came with a 12v charger that plugs into one of the cigarette lighter sockets. Takes a while to fully charge but it’ll work from a switched 12v socket, so won’t deplete the vehicle battery.
is an ebike battery charger that works directly from a 12v supply possible to buy?
Bosch used to do one, but been discontinued for a long time. Does seem like a gap in the market but any "fast" chargers will draw 20a plus which is more than a cigarette lighter socket can take. The market would be pretty small, ebike owners with a van and sufficient battery capacity and cabling. And then you'd need one for your particular battery manufacturer.
Jackery have a sale on at the moment.
f there is a way to plug them in for alternator charging it would be ideal,
You mean like this...? 🤔
Ta for the replies am I right in thinking a 700wh battery would need a minimum1500 power bank to charge it from 0 to full or am I making that up. Happy to admit electrics are a whole new world for me.
have not researched the subject but that looks bang on the money. I wasn’t sure if the power stations were capable of accepting high amps on the 12v side but it sounds like that brand does 🙂
or lots of solar.
In the UK?
have not researched the subject but that looks bang on the money. I wasn’t sure if the power stations were capable of accepting high amps on the 12v side but it sounds like that brand does 🙂
You’re not putting 50+ amps into the power station at 12V though are you… That’s the entire point of this alternator charger! It’s basically an inverter and charger in the same box, coupled with a smart app, you can control how the unit charges…
Ta for the replies am I right in thinking a 700wh battery would need a minimum1500 power bank to charge it from 0 to full or am I making that up. Happy to admit electrics are a whole new world for me.
I think that’s being more than a little pessimistic… From what I understand, about 30% losses is more realistic (so 1000Wh required to fully charge a 700Wh battery)…
Of course, a 1500Wh power station would give you a nice bit of headroom though I guess…
Chat GPT / your AI of choice is useful for working out the battery sizes and how many charges you can get etc if you are lazy like me and dont want to manually do the maths.
I have a full off grid setup in my campervan, 280ah lithium battery, 50A dc-dc charger for charging it while driving, 400w of solar on the roof and all hooked up to a 1600W inverter - so I can run air fryer etc and charge the ebike, use my PC and whatever else. Definitely overspecified for your requirements but depends on what else you are powering in the van while away / having headroom for the future.
The cables for the inverter from the battery are 70mm^2, so a bit unwieldy and expensive!
I'd probably need less for the future, I'd probably have an e gravel bike so smaller battery and a lot more sunshine so solar on the roof. Ta for the help all.
Already been well promoted but another vote for a power station here.
I looked at doing a full install with a leisure battery, inverter etc in my van when I bought it but to do it right, its expensive (parts only, I can do it myself), and I have to be honest I'm a serial car changer so I'd lose all that when I inevitably change vehicles in two years.
So I bought a factory refurb ecoflow River max which was comparatively buttons. Its proved very, very useful. Its only a little 576wh If I go away for a weekend I can do a full overnight charge of my Levo SL and its range extender, plus a bit of lighting and phone charging. We also use it loads in the garden in Summer, its lives in the van, it can also power my boiler at home in case of a power cut, etc etc. Itll do 1800w on mains too, useful for power tools. Can charge from mains at home or shore power, 12v from the car, or Solar up to 600w.
They are only getting more and more power dense for the money too, so I'd definitely reccomend.
As for efficiency, yes you do need to calculate it, but as above I think the OP was being a bit more pessimistic, even with all the step up/step down from Power station > Mains charger > Ebike battery, I think its at least 75% efficient, more than 80% probably.
Not expensive either, look at all the big brands factory refurbs...! You'll need something bigger for full fat ebikes but its still going to be way cheaper than doing a leisure battery install in a van, that is far less versatile.
Yep power bank it is I don't want to set up the van then have to transfer it all and easier to set up!