Portable battery charger.

[Kimonha]

Hello all.
Does anyone know if something like this:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stanley-CAR...Parts_Accessories&hash=item27c488207c&vxp=mtr
would work for a 36 volt 20 amp battery which pushes my 750 watt motor on my boxbike?
If so, this would be a great solution for me to charge my bike at work without them
hassling me about using their electricity.

Thanks,
Kimon

 

[deardancer3]

I know nothing, but dont see how this would stop using your employers Power. here are some reviewss and more specs.


d

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod1841149#spec

 

[dogman dan]

Maybe I'm confused too, whats the plan, mail it home each night to recharge the battery each night? How's it going to get home? I'm thinking this is a jump starter device with an internal battery? If not, then it still plugs in like any other charger.

If you need more range to make it to work and back, you will simply have to carry enough for both ways. Another lithium battery is going to be much lighter than that thing to carry back and forth.

I humbly suggest you find a better employer if they truly hassle you about at most 10 cents of electricity a day. Do they get it that in 5 days you eat 50 cents max? If they get it, and still complain about that, I wouldn't work there one hour. At worst, you could have the bookeeper deduct it from your pay. Hell, go generous and offer em a buck a paycheck.

In some cases of course, there simply isn't a good place to plug in. That's unfortunate but different from the boss busting your chops over a dime a day.

You can prove how much you actually use easy, with a killowatt meter on your charger.

 

[Kimonha]

I thought the portable battery charger can be charged at home and it would hold enough energy to charge the bike battery from anywhere. For example,
if I were to ride my boxbike 1 hour to the beach which is the limit of my battery and then recharge it with the
portable charger, I wouldn't need a wall outlet.

Yes, my employer is a school district that will not even allow us to have a coffee maker or tiny fridge in our classrooms.
Having a large boxbike next to my desk and a plug going into the wall might raise some bureaucrat's eyebrows.

 

[docnjoj]

Hey Kimon!
Your employer can get 20 bucks a month for your riding to work. Perhaps tell him or her that if you are in the US.
otherDoc

 

[Kimonha]

I do recall that when I went sailing a few years ago the owner of the boat showed me a charger that will re charge his boat
battery in case it dies out at sea. It was the size of a shoe box.
Wouldn't that kind of thing be available for bicycles?
The difference between that and a second battery would be that it would not require me to change the wiring, etc. no?

 

[Kin]

Bro, you can't get around the fact that if you carry around battery to power a charger to power a battery you'll be better off with just a bigger battery.

The only reason why I can see the whole "have a backup battery in your trunk to recharge your car battery if it dies" making sense is if the backup battery is some sort of more shelf-stable one-use chemistry, or just for when you screw up and accidently leave the lights on in the car. Even then, it only makes sense for the specific starter motor battery situation.

 

[LI-ghtcycle]

You know another idea would be to have a second battery at your work with a solar set-up charging it, and use that top up your current battery, and this can be done pretty cheaply with some used SLA batteries from the local battery factory store, and you could possibly make it into some kind of school project for the students.

 

[mettleramiel]

I do recall that when I went sailing a few years ago the owner of the boat showed me a charger that will re charge his boat
battery in case it dies out at sea. It was the size of a shoe box.
Wouldn't that kind of thing be available for bicycles?
The difference between that and a second battery would be that it would not require me to change the wiring, etc. no?

Either this guy was flat out lying to you, misinformed, or you didn't understand hi properly. Anything that charges a battery would need some kind of power source, so a small charger to help in case the battery died at sea would have to be gas powered or something. In order to charge your bike something like you suggested there, it would have to be able to store more energy than your bike's battery making it comepletly pointless to use.

 

[dogman dan]

Sure, there are lots of devices out there designed for emergency jump starting a car or whatever.

They work great. But they are generally made with lead acid batteries that weigh a ton. Too bad about the employer, but it's clearly the kind of enviroment where strict rules have to be implemented. Bend a little, next thing you know some guy lives in the class room and has brought in all the comforts of home. I'ts not a jerk boss so much as I thought it might be.

Have you actually tried to get permission, and explained how small an amount of energy it's really taking? Stuff like letting you charge is actually good PR for the school if he wants some. Maybe you could acess a plug in another location, like a maintenance room or something?

Bottom line though, if your range is too short, you just gotta go buy more battery. Carrying some heavy jump starter is not the answer. You just need more lightweight lithium. It's not that big a hassle to run one battery down, unplug and run some more on a second pack.

The only other solution would be to chat up people who live right next to the school. Perhaps you could rent a plug a short walk from work?

 

[Kin]

The only other solution would be to chat up people who live right next to the school. Perhaps you could rent a plug a short walk from work?

It's a huge stretch, but maybe you'll be lucky if you search at :http://www.plugshare.com/. Overall, you're best just striking up a friendship. If it's a safe enough place, maybe you can even make the battery easily removable so you can detach, plug up, and bike the last block.