A long list of things that you can power from your battery

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Lights

I think it would be a poor idea to pull big amps through your CA plug. Yes to lights, but chaninsaw no. The pack voltage feed to your CA is a tiny wire.

You could put a much higher amp wire and plug that connects directly to your battery with ease. And then use a converter big enough to handle your saw.

Lots of the yard tools now run on 48v, or close to it. So you can literally run a 48v bike the same batteries that will run your tools.

When I go ebike camping, I just carry a little 12v 10 ah lifepo4 battery. Then with the usual cigarette lighter plug, it will keep my phone and my ipod charged, run a light in the tent, etc. It will last about 3 days, as long as I can stand tent living.

Teklektiks Yuba Mundo is a significant build. He chose a high-amp DC/DC converter to provide 12V, which allowed him to use a wide selection of automotive components. A fairly compact air-horn that is VERY loud, headlights/tail-lights that are very affordable, FM radio...etc.

As far as non-bike accessories, my favorite interface for disaster survival is 12V. i have a fold-out solar PV panel that when folded up will fit through my front door, so it can be stored inside at night. It would be used to charge a couple of deep-cycle SLA batteries, which would be used to charge laptop, cell-phone, flashlight batteries, etc...Just for the record there are many 48V DC to 120V AC inverters to choose from, so you could easily use a large lithium electric bike battery as a backup for some house-hold component, but...I still prefer 12V as my interface (which is why I will also get a 48V/12V DC/DC power supply like Teklektik...

https://www.electricbike.com/teklektiks-dual-motor-yuba-mundo/

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DC-DC converters are fragile. They don't like hits and slush and dirt. I abandoned them to use full battery voltage for lights. Yet, I still like to have 12v on the street bike.

Ya, the coaxial plug on the CA is only good for ~1.5A, perfect for something like a CycleLumenator and/or tail ElectroIights that has an integrated DC/DC circuit.

I happen to have one of those 90->12V DC/DC converters handy. We could wire it to plug into the charge leads that come off your controller so you can charge your iThingy and other gadgets in the trunk.

DC-DC converters are fragile. They don't like hits and slush and dirt

Click to expand...

Thats a good point. I don't have one yet, so I will be lazily doing research over the next few months, and then procrastinnating over exactly when to buy the model I choose. I like the idea enough that I would investigat adding heat-sinks and potting, plus make some kind of soft suspended mount that would take out the harshest part of a jolt....will have to think about this...all ideas welcome.

One of my friends/students in the local & growing eWorc community of mutual aid activists is embarking on a new build he hopes to have on the road in the Spring. Its kinda prototype for an eTrike enabling the elderly to get outa-doors and into the sunshine more and we're all thinking jeegod the hills. While all of our NE hills are pleasant scenery and awesome biome, they're a bit challenge for anyone but an avid bike enthusiast who loves to pump asphalt. So he wants me to make him one of my awesome A123 packs but with more. A box on the back under the basket that has it all - battery, charger, lights, controller, wires and etc.

So then it becomes a question of what more to incorporate and the USB port is definitely on that list. We've evolved to be a highly wired society of devices and the list seems to keep growing. My laptop has become power hub and I've run out of USB ports on the machine. Bought a couple of AC socket to USB ports for more. How many is enough? What about be out and about with friends and all, digging earth at the community garden and everyone's got their mobile whatever that needs charging? Sin not to be gracious.

So a box with a built in multi-USB port set is sine-qua-non. On the stranger side is AC 120V socket for that portable chainsaw Dogman wants to carry with him, godknowswhy. I think it'd be an excellent deterrent for would-be-thieves. You know the ol' saying about a pound of flesh and I get mad enough sometimes to want that literally. Don't they still sometimes under Sharia law cut thieves hands off? And we every once in a while see a few heads rolling on the ground too over there in abracadabra land too. While maybe not flesh, a buz saw to take off a bumper would be an excellent addition to the arsenal. You hit me on my eBike and you'll loose a bumper. Immediate justice. Don't f*ckwithmemoothaaasob. Don't wannabe another piece of roadkill in the ditch.

But with that AC 120V socket, every variety of plug-in charger can be handled without problem. Including my all time favourite - the laptop, Park side and the sun is shinning? Easily can pull down 3-4 hours machine time, thanks to wifi. But more, why not a coffee pot too?

spinningmagnets said:

DC-DC converters are fragile. They don't like hits and slush and dirt

Click to expand...

Thats a good point. I don't have one yet, so I will be lazily doing research over the next few months, and then procrastinnating over exactly when to buy the model I choose. I like the idea enough that I would investigat adding heat-sinks and potting, plus make some kind of soft suspended mount that would take out the harshest part of a jolt....will have to think about this...all ideas welcome.

Click to expand...

'Loves me some MadRhino and always learn a ton from his remarks but pack voltage LED's also use dc-dc convertors installed someplace on the light assembly.

I keep going back and forth whether I prefer pack supply LED's or 12V Automotive lighting... I don't mind B+/- for the headlight from a CA but the rear lamp is usually a longish wire run and the question becomes, do you use a fuse, is it somehow switched and is the wire run easily damaged by suspension movement, etc?

It's one thing to shoot yourself in the foot..

..it's a whole other thing to reload.

Mods, please lock this thread.