The Skill of finding AC outlet to charge your ebike

[dodo]

As i have read this thread to get more ideas for charge my ebike on long trips i got inspired by Doctorbass solution.

A great exemple about me is the need of fast cahrge my Zero Motorcycle.

My zero power Charger consist of 4 compact meanwell 1000W power supply to get 5kW continuous ( each can give 125% output) with a DC-Dc in serie to get the 58V CC-CV and this DC-dc have a trimable current adjust to accomodate every charging power availlable. This is about 26A at 250V AC input MAX .

Doc

I have found the Mean Well RSP-3000-48 wights only 4kg and could full charge my 1,4KWh pack in 30 minutes

I never have charge´d batteries with PSU before so i have some questions:

Is the Fechters-Limiter a must have to be able to charge with a Mean Well RSP-xxxx ? Is it possible to tweak it for 60A charge?

How to connect the PSU? First plug in grid than to batterie or batterie first and than PSU to grid or is this indifferent?

 

[dogman dan]

I'm bulk charging 14s lipo now, using an old 250-300w kingpan charger from my now dead and gone pings. I have another one coming soon, which will give me the possibility of charging at 500-600w. Two hours with both chargers should fill my 1200wh or so of lipo. I am hoping to do some cross country riding soon, camping along the way. If I go car camping in the boonies, my 800w generator should run both chargers easily.

I just found out a state park 60 miles from home has 14 buck camping with a plug and a hot shower. ( I thought that park had no power) Day only is 5 bucks, getting you a hot shower and ability to beg power from somebody who paid the 14 bucks. 8)

In the west, RV people are generally very friendly folks, and two hours is about the right length for a conversation. Bet most of them would insist on feeding me too.

 

[dodo]

Yeah thats good dogman you are on my side i too think the faster i charge the more fun i will have.
30 Minutes is good for a good fish and chips or so but 15 minutes would be better.

Sometimes when the owner of a plug is not findable to ask for charge its better to have a shorter charge time.

 

[Doctorbass]

As i have read this thread to get more ideas for charge my ebike on long trips i got inspired by Doctorbass solution.

A great exemple about me is the need of fast cahrge my Zero Motorcycle.

My zero power Charger consist of 4 compact meanwell 1000W power supply to get 5kW continuous ( each can give 125% output) with a DC-Dc in serie to get the 58V CC-CV and this DC-dc have a trimable current adjust to accomodate every charging power availlable. This is about 26A at 250V AC input MAX .

Doc

I have found the Mean Well RSP-3000-48 wights only 4kg and could full charge my 1,4KWh pack in 30 minutes

I never have charge´d batteries with PSU before so i have some questions:

Is the Fechters-Limiter a must have to be able to charge with a Mean Well RSP-xxxx ? Is it possible to tweak it for 60A charge?

How to connect the PSU? First plug in grid than to batterie or batterie first and than PSU to grid or is this indifferent?

The RSP 3000 is the most powerfull and the RSP-2000 is the most compact ( high power density) The RSP-2000 have twice more power density than my previous version RSP-1000

The RSP serie have power limiting feature on the output. and the rated current taper at 125% and i
've been using these meanwell for 5 years now and they never overheated in 125% current condition..

once you connect your not fully charged battery to the power supply the power supply will run at 125% of the rated current limit wich is the Constant curent limiting feature they have. no worrie the 25% overcurent is OK and will not damage your power supply! ex: my RSP-1000-48 have 21A rated current and taper at 25.5A constant during the entire charge wich give me 1250Watts of power when the battery reach the top voltage.

These power supply HAVE the CC-CV feature so they act just like a charger. no need the fechter limiting circuit with these. this is what make these RSP serie more attractive!

Your 3000W RSP3000 should be able to output 3750W with the 125% :wink:

But in case where you want to be able to use any AC outley power availlable and not trip the breaker you can add a DC-DC converter in serie that have the feature to limit the current. so you would be able to control the current output and limit it to not trip breaker. That's what im doing with my rsp-1000 and rsp-1500.

buying a RSP power supply make you save money conpare to buying a charger if you compare the cost vs power output!

Also you can wire them in serie or parallel THEY ARE ISOLATED between the inpyut and output so no problem with common ground short !

The 4kW Elcon charger cost 1500$ while the Meanwell RSP-3000 cost about 476$ !!! http://www.trcelectronics.com/Meanwell/rsp-3000-48.shtml


BOTH Elcon or Meanwell have the Power Factor Corrector ( PFC) wich make your charger to maximize the conversion efficiency and allow more output

The RSP-3000 -48 is rated 62.5A so when you will connect to a battery that is lower voltage thna the charger, the cahrger will push current to the battery at 125% rating ( in limiting mode) so output current will be about 85A. If you wnat to turn it down you can add a Dc-Dc in serie with the output. just like i have explaned before)




Doc

 

[dodo]

In Germany we have mostly 230V 16A breaker thats 3600W i hope it have some tolerance for 3750W

What DC-DC converter can i use for the RSP-3000 current limiting?

I have a 1,5KW Elcon its really a nice solid and efficient charger but with 6,5kg too heavy and too big for an ebike tour.

Glad that i only need the RSP and more glad that i can cut my charge time to half.

I buy the RSP-3000 today and post here my experiences later.

 

[Doctorbass]

In Germany we have mostly 230V 16A breaker thats 3600W i hope it have some tolerance for 3750W

What DC-DC converter can i use for the RSP-3000 current limiting?

I have a 1,5KW Elcon its really a nice solid and efficient charger but with 6,5kg too heavy and too big for an ebike tour.

Glad that i only need the RSP and more glad that i can cut my charge time to half.

I buy the RSP-3000 today and post here my experiences later.

I have bought this one: ( you can get two and riun them in parallel with the current share pin connected to have both to share the output current) two would give you 120A max control

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/200923887180?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_2300wt_822

Doc

 

[wayover13]

Grocery Stores have outlets too! Found one outside of a supermarket in Fall River Mills-CA and syphoned off a 90 minute charge next to a Pepsi machine.

This. In the U.S., when we do cross-country touring, large grocery stores--and this includes department store/grocery combinations (like Walmart)--are our charging point of choice. All those we've stopped at have had many unlocked outlets at regular intervals around the perimeter of the building. We, of course, patronize said store while charging. Restaurants--which we also patronize--sometimes have exterior outlets as well. Since we rely only partly on our motor/battery for assist, we typically need to fuel ourselves along with the battery, so perhaps our re-charging scheme will not be as applicable to those who rely far more, or perhaps rely exclusively, on the motor. Finally, we have at times stopped in public parks that have picnic or other shelters and have found working outlets there where we can re-charge.

 

[JennyB]

I'll probably not do it this year, but I've just realised that with my current setup extended wild camping trips would be feasible if I could be sure of a socket within about two hours of going to roost and two hours of breaking camp. 8)

 

[melodious]

Chop their head off #1. Plug in and resume charge #2. Then think about what's ahead #3 (like food and shelter). Repeat. :lol:

 

[USAEBIKECO]

Employers frown about charging at work. They think its costing them a fortune when really its costing a few pennies. lol

 

[bowlofsalad]

Employers frown about charging at work. They think its costing them a fortune when really its costing a few pennies. lol

Sounds like an opportunity for education. I think that is probably a pretty tremendous generalization, 'employers', I am sure not all company owners would mind. I am sure there are some who would, and probably some who might even believe the cost of charging a battery is very high, I'd surely educate them about this.

If you or an individual had an issue with someone about charging something, you could get a device such as this. You can enter whatever local cost per kilowatt hour on the device and the device will not only show the current wattage/amperage for power consumption, but it will also calculate cost for various spans of time such as current (cost so far) day, week, month and year. For finding the exact cost, the device will give you a much more accurate depiction if used for something like a week, this is assuming you might go to work 5 days a week, you probably get the idea, average over a course of time.

With this, you'll be able to show this individual precisely how much it costs or has cost to charge your bike. I've heard of company owners getting real upset about their electricity bill and getting crazy about leaving lights on and things like that. If the cost were really a big deal to them, I am sure paying for the electricity would appease them instantly (and anyone who is wary of letting you use their plug).

Who knows, your little sharing or education might just lead to new ebikers.

 

[bee]

You're welcome to park + charge for free in my basement garage if you find yourself downtown Montreal Doctorbass

 

[dnmun]

so just approach the owner of the plug and offer them 10 cents for 10 cents worth of power and then offer them 10 cents for the use of their plug. that would appear fair to them and at the same time put in perspective the amount of electricity used. that would cover a 48V pack recharging 15Ah in two hours on a strong charger. if it is a convenience store/gas pump then you gonna hang out and drink their soda pop, or so they would expect.

 

[Doctorbass]

so just approach the owner of the plug and offer them 10 cents for 10 cents worth of power and then offer them 10 cents for the use of their plug.

Or offer them a beer and start a great discussion with them to have the time goes by while your bike charge! so you kill two birds with one stone :wink:

Doc

 

[adrian_sm]

Another app that would be good is an average speed predicator

Damn. You got me thinking, so I made a spreadsheet to do just this.
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50875

 

[Blueshift]

I think it would be a good Idea to plan ahead and use google earth or google maps to determine which places will be best on your trip according to how much you will need to stop and charge. For instance if you plan to stop every 15 miles google maps gives you the miles and the listing of the business so you simply call every place in advance before you make your trip. It may seem tedious but 15 miles is only 10 places to call for 150miles. Of course gaps between towns may be further apart so adjust accordingly. Also some place might change their mind about letting you charge, so I would always try to have enough charge just in case of that situation.

 

[dodo]

I buy the RSP-3000 today and post here my experiences later.

Have taken a bit longer but it runs now.
I have modded the RSP-3000-48 to output 63V so i can feed my 18s A123 20Ah pack now with up to 3000W thats 3C not good for the cycle-life but thats ok for me becouse 20 minute full charge makes it worth
It uses 3200W on the AC side and can´t get it any higher with the trim poti SVR2 so no need for DC-DC

I did a test run yesterday asked 3 peoples and all aggreed me to use there plugs and had nice conversations

I will start when i have time for it a new topic for the mod i have made with pictures.

 

[Doctorbass]

I buy the RSP-3000 today and post here my experiences later.

Have taken a bit longer but it runs now.
I have modded the RSP-3000-48 to output 63V so i can feed my 18s A123 20Ah pack now with up to 3000W thats 3C not good for the cycle-life but thats ok for me becouse 20 minute full charge makes it worth
It uses 3200W on the AC side and can´t get it any higher with the trim poti SVR2 so no need for DC-DC

I did a test run yesterday asked 3 peoples and all aggreed me to use there plugs and had nice conversations

I will start when i have time for it a new topic for the mod i have made with pictures.

All right! that's great new! :wink:

I guess that you found the voltage send trace on the pcb and corresponding resistor voltage divider that you moded?


I guess you are in europe with 240V right?

Doc

 

[dnmun]

so just approach the owner of the plug and offer them 10 cents for 10 cents worth of power and then offer them 10 cents for the use of their plug.

Or offer them a beer and start a great discussion with them to have the time goes by while your bike charge! so you kill two birds with one stone :wink:

Doc

this is actually the idea behind the japanese kanja for the charging locations in japan i think it is like ChaeMeDo and it means 'have tea together' as in a visitor resting while traveling on the roads when people carried things on their backs to town. i think that is how it got started.