Re-charging on the go

[Shelley]

Well, it happened today, yep I ran out of juice. I am using a 250 Watt motor, with 24V 18Ah LiFePo4 battery by Prodeco. I got 65 miles on one charge! The good news is when I ran out of power, I was close to my last stop. I got a pedicure and the lady let me plug my battery in while she worked on me. She was so cute and said that I had to let it charge for 45 minutes. I am so glad that I did because it was uphill all the way home with an elevation gain of 357 feet and the temperature was 93! My husband wanted to see how far I could go on a single charge. (Hmmm, why am I the gerbil in the cage ) So now that he has an idea of how far someone could go, I will never let it get this low again. Mike (my husband) sells Prodeco ebikes and regular bikes for the last 37 years.

After having this happen today, I started thinking of places to re-charge if it ever happened again. (Like I would let this happen again, NOT.) Hair stylist always have power right at their stations for blow dryers and clippers. So you could get a haircut and re-charge at the same time. (If they will let you.) I wanted to pay the owner at the nail salon for letting me charge the battery but she wouldn't let me, so I gave the nail tech a good tip!

If you are ever in Albuquerque, NM and need power, Flying Star coffee shops offer it for free. Too bad there wasn't one close to me today but it all worked out.

So where have you re-charged on the go?

 

[itchynackers]

6.6wh per mile. You must've been doing some serious pedaling!

 

[bionx 1954]

I use municipal parks and building that have outside plug-ins and since we are all tax payers I do not think I am "stealing" power. Also shopping malls and fast food shops usaully have out side plug-in most Walmarts do. In Canada all Tim Hortons have outside plug -ins and I never far from a "Timmys"

 

[Doctorbass]

Welcome on E-S Shelley,

you really economize your battery when pedaling at this rate.. wich is good for the health :wink:

On my side.. it's more an ebike like an E-motorcycle but is consume alot more and last alot less time.. but as well it's not the same category

I always bring one of my 1500W cahrger with me.. you just need to find a great 120V plug and it will give you 1Wh each 2.3 sec

ONce you discovered these ULTRA fast charging solution you want them with you on every ride!

At high power it is the same.. i can empty a 100V 15Ah battery in less than 20 minutes.. so stoping to take a cofee and read the news paper dozens of mile away is not a problem.. than in one hour this big lithium battery is full

Today.. a charger that can dump up to 1200W cost less than 200$ on ebay and weight less than 6 pounds

I can charge at ant gas station ( my prefered... it's fueling the ebike for free! )

than few restaurant but usually i can find any 120V socket in less than 5 minutes.. i also memorized fre great place on my gps

Doc

Doc

 

[deardancer3]

In Albq, I found whole foods a willing charging spot if you ask first.

 

[liveforphysics]

I'm running 28s (116v charged) 40Ah pack right now. It's equal to 9 of your batteries. However, I use power at over 10x the rate you use it, so I generally still don't get your range. A cheap price to pay for the fun of a >80mph bicycle though.

 

[jonescg]

Shelly, nice work on the economising! We have 10 amp, 240 V GPOs (general purpose outlets) everywhere you go. Mostly for things like outdoor lighting, pressure cleaners and other miscellaneous uses. Sometimes they are close to the bike locks too. My fiancée will sometimes take the KingPan type 5 A charger with her if she is expecting to run low, but generally finds 30 km a day pretty close to 75% range.

Great to see women posting on the ES! This place is a sausage-fest. I tried to encourage Katherine to join up but she had reservations...

CHRIS

 

[mvly]

Yeah that's some serious pedaling. I think you should just dump the electric part and just pedal... : ) I usually average around 38Wh/mi on my 46 miles round trip daily commute to work and back.

 

[OlderThanDirt]

Last month I rode my mid-drive recumbent in the Seattle-to-Portland double century. Actually, I rode the first 160 miles. Recharged at 100 miles at a Subway restaurant. Average rolling speed was 19.3 mph and I used 8.9 wh/mi using a pair of 38V, 15Ah LiFePO4 batteries. With pedaling, of course! Streamlining really helps. . .

 

[amberwolf]

There is another thread somewhere around here about this same idea, but I can't seem to find it. Miles could probably do it in a heartbeat, but my google-fu seems to have been knocked out of my brain (plus google itself is once again in it's unhelpful mode; they do that to it every so often for reasons I can't understand).

I tried to encourage Katherine to join up but she had reservations...

You should have asked her to cancel them.

 

[dogman dan]

Wallmart always seems to have a vacant plug. I've found a few on convenience stores with an ice machine out front. Very hard to find a plug at any kind of new building. Mcdonalds usually had an outside plug up front too, for vacuming a playland astroturf. Very occasionally, you may find a hot plug in a city park. Motels may have a plug or two, if old enough. Asking for permission is the key, but the cost to them is usually less than a dime.

 

[auraslip]

Dang, looks like we got a winner on the efficiency front. I very much want to build a bike like that. KISS and all. No need to build my own battery pack, or fab up a torque arm!

I tried to start a google maps... group? Where you save charge spots in your town. I don't think it ever caught on, but it'd make a cool app for a smart phone if people actually used it.

 

[Hillhater]

Dang, looks like we got a winner on the efficiency front. .

Well, im not so sure... some would argue that Cancelara rode all day (200km) on a 3Ahr pack ! ..allegedly

..and in terms of cost per mile,..once you add in the price of that nail job... its right up there with Luke !

This is a non contest really.
In order to make reasonable comparisons, you have to at least stipulate no pedaling.

 

[SamTexas]

6.6wh per mile. You must've been doing some serious pedaling!

Could be some serious pedaling moving at around 18mph. Or no pedaling at all at 13mph. Or something in between.

In order to make reasonable comparisons, you have to at least stipulate no pedaling.

And at least disclose the overall average speed.

 

[dogman dan]

I was just noticing yesterday, how huge the difference was in watts between 18 mph and 20 mph. About 200 w more to go 20.

 

[gensem]

Any sugestions on 100v charger thats does 8a and has a good price? I had a look at bmsbattery but shipping is a killer there.

Im planning to bulk charge 24s lipo.

thanks

 

[jonescg]

What voltage is your mains power in Brasil? 110 V is common across the Americas right? Just stick a 12 V bulb in series with an electrical lead and remember to pull it out after 40 min

 

[gensem]

What voltage is your mains power in Brasil? 110 V is common across the Americas right? Just stick a 12 V bulb in series with an electrical lead and remember to pull it out after 40 min

Are you serious???

 

[jonescg]

No, not entirely serious
However, if you did want to make use of the mains power you will need to rectify the AC first using a full wave rectifier. Some high current rectifyers are out there. Then you will need to use in inline regulator (resistor, or bulb since it is fairly wasteful) to lower the voltage down to 100 V. There are some threads on "dirty chargers" around here with some basic schematics that can be used. Again, the simplest ones have no regulation or safety mechanisms, so you would have to stand by and get ready to pull the plug out at 80% charged or something.

 

[gensem]

No, not entirely serious
However, if you did want to make use of the mains power you will need to rectify the AC first using a full wave rectifier. Some high current rectifyers are out there. Then you will need to use in inline regulator (resistor, or bulb since it is fairly wasteful) to lower the voltage down to 100 V. There are some threads on "dirty chargers" around here with some basic schematics that can be used. Again, the simplest ones have no regulation or safety mechanisms, so you would have to stand by and get ready to pull the plug out at 80% charged or something.

Thats where my concerns lies... I ll probably be bulk charging 24s 16ah of lipo and I want something safe because I live in an apartment. So I think a proper dc charger would my best bet.

 

[Pure]

I was just noticing yesterday, how huge the difference was in watts between 18 mph and 20 mph. About 200 w more to go 20.

No kidding. For me the Watts difference from 20mph to 25 is more than 500W. If I want to go on a long ride, I set the CA to not allow more than 20 MPH and no more than 20 amps. With my pack, that will net me roughly 30 some odd miles and no pedaling.

 

[adobian]

News just came out that Walgreen is offering Recharging stations.

 

[amberwolf]

Yep, we know.
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30776

I was just noticing yesterday, how huge the difference was in watts between 18 mph and 20 mph. About 200 w more to go 20.

Or even just the difference between regular upright bike and even a semi-recumbent, at that same speed range. For instance, on DayGlo Avenger (with the geared Fusin), I have to pedal significantly to keep the Wh/mile down to the same 25-30Wh/mile that CrazyBike2 (with the DD 9C) uses. Otherwise it takes more like 40Wh/mile or more on DGA, the upright bike, to do 18-20MPH.

 

[gensem]

LoL.. i was about to order a charger from bmsbattery and guess what...

the charger is like 80 dollars but the shipping is 180 dollars. -.-

Does anyone knows another place that has a 100v charger (adjustable from 75-105v would be even better) to bulk charge 24s lipo.


BR

 

[Shelley]

Welcome on E-S Shelley,

you really economize your battery when pedaling at this rate.. wich is good for the health :wink:

On my side.. it's more an ebike like an E-motorcycle but is consume alot more and last alot less time.. but as well it's not the same category

I always bring one of my 1500W cahrger with me.. you just need to find a great 120V plug and it will give you 1Wh each 2.3 sec

ONce you discovered these ULTRA fast charging solution you want them with you on every ride!

At high power it is the same.. i can empty a 100V 15Ah battery in less than 20 minutes.. so stoping to take a cofee and read the news paper dozens of mile away is not a problem.. than in one hour this big lithium battery is full

Today.. a charger that can dump up to 1200W cost less than 200$ on ebay and weight less than 6 pounds

I can charge at ant gas station ( my prefered... it's fueling the ebike for free! )

than few restaurant but usually i can find any 120V socket in less than 5 minutes.. i also memorized fre great place on my gps

Doc

Doc

I got my hair cut yesterday and my stylist said I could plug my battery in while she works on me, nice. :wink:

What I am not sure if I understand correctly, wouldn't a 120V require a special outlet? And do all of those fast chargers require a special outlet? I have the LiFePo4 24V 18Ah battery. What fast charger would you recommend?

When I ride and use the throttle I continue to pedal, it just seems natural. So I think that is why I got such good mileage on the e-bike.

Thanks everyone for your replies, it is fun reading where you re-charge on the go!