Charging my E Bike - OFF-GRID!

[@sparky100]

Hey Cameron remember me. Martin Beattie (worship guy). Just about to retire and buy a motor home. Fine over 3000miles on my e-bike in 18 months. Ur info on inverters was great 👍

[@brianhodgson7895]

Hi Cameron. Done the same ride on Monday, passed you but going opposite way ,though it was you. Great day.

[@Northumberland.55]

Hi Cameron , I do the same while out in my camper to charge my ebike , can I make a suggestion about that resettable trip fuse behind your inverter , get it changed for a better type (Mini or mega fuse ) I had one fitted to my dc to dc charger and it only tripped well passed it’s rating . Better safe then sorry !

[@davidwales9100]

Hi Cameron during lockdown I converted my Peugeot Partner van to a small camper van/E bike carrier. I always had the problem of charging my E bike battery whilst away from home .so I purchased a converter from ALDI, fitted myself and have never looked back.

[@thisisme4595]

Perfect video for me. Same bike too

[@tgribbon1962]

Hi Cameron I have a power invertor in my van but my best purchase is a Poweroak 400wh power station which i can charge on the vans 150watt solar panel i highly recommend this power pack

[@Apaxcad]

Fit like mate, At 10:02 you see the input out put of your Invertor. On the output side P = VI so the current your E-Bike charger is pulling out of the invertor is 249/240 = 1amp. Am not sure what the invertor is pulling out of your Aux battery>? I would say that the 1500W invertor can deliver 6amps. You said that your e-bike is 750W thats irrelevant as its the battery charger wattage that the invertor sees which looks like 250W place confirm cheers...

[@CameronMcNeishOutdoors]

Yes, correct. The battery charger is 230W.

[@timsands7288]

Find your videos very informative Cameron

[@thenoworriesnomad]

Iv got the same Bose speaker, iv had it for 4yrs and its superb, mine is wired to a 12v socket with a switch...👍👍, I also use a Pure sine wave inverter to charge my Mac...👍

[@mariekeegan2216]

Great info to know, thanks

[@dougieranger]

Already subscribed Cameron and this comment will help the algorithm.

[@CriftinsCampers]

PS I would strongly suggest you invest in a proper battery monitor . If you can afford it go for one of the excellent Victron BMV unit or one of their smart shunts or if on a budget then an Aili monitor is fantastic value for money. I have two Ailis one in each van and there is a video on my channel where I waffle on about them That way you can reasonably accurately monitor the state of charge of the battery plus see how much current in AH is available. As you probably know its good practice to keep a lead acid battery at 100% as often as poss and to aim to never discharge it below 50-60% for maximum life ( I personally aim to not discharge mine below 70- 80% on average)

[@robincurwood]

Hi Cameron,a quick question. Do you use what three words? If so can you please put them in the description of your location (of your camp sites). Love the info that you share.

[@stum8374]

Hi Cameron,is that really the best place to put it ! I would try and put under the pass seat.

[@fionapearson8572]

Cameron I enjoy your channel - have done for some time. However, I have a heartfelt plea. Could you please stop putting the flashing lights on your videos. They really are migraine inducing - literally. Heaven know how they affect people with epilepsy. Thanks x

[@anio6865]

Can I hook up a 3000w inverter to a 150w solar panel to charge 2 48v 20ah lithium ion batteries ?

[@DoctorFish10]

There has to be a better way than taking DC power from your battery, converting it to AC in the inverter, then changing it back to DC for the Bosch battery. I know this is the only option just now. Enjoyed the vid 👍

[@DoctorFish10]

@@CampervanEcosse Indeed, the leisure battery is likely charging DC to DC (I know mine does), the solar is also DC to DC. A Jackery is essentially a DC battery, with a small inverter so same solution in a different package. A solution may well be cost prohibitive, but there is a certain irony with having all this DC technology onboard it still relies on converting to AC and back again.

[@davidwands1899]

@@DoctorFish10 A "step up converter" will turn 12 volts into 26 volts, so all the Ebike manufacturers can simply install a lead from the "step up converter" direct to the Ebike battery....... that aside, don't electric cars have their bonnet, boot and roof covered in solar panels so they charge whilst in motion ? Why don't electric cars and ebikes have dynamo's fitted so they charge the batteries whilst free wheeling down hill ? But more importantly, why are we allowing Liz Truss to govern over Scotland ?

[@TheJohnmtb]

Great video Cameron!! Where did you do the bike ride, it looks a nice one!! Was it a circular?? Thanks

[@CameronMcNeishOutdoors]

Yes, a circular route from Moy over to Strath Ossian then round Loch Ossian

[@CriftinsCampers]

You've made a mistake with your wattage assumption, you said your bike battery is rated at 650w, unless I misunderstood then that is actually its output i.e that is the power it can provide to the bike. A constant 650w load on your battery would be significant and would flatten it quite rapidly. That is not the power the charger should ever draw from an inverter. That info was being displayed on the inverters screen, initially it said 11.6v and 249 watts, then towards the end as the leisure battery became more discharged it said 11.4v and 288w. That equates to 21.5A increasing to 25.3A respectively being drawn from your battery. That would be quite a hit on your battery if run for a considerable period of time i.e an hour or three, and Especially if you only have the one typical 100Ah leisure battery. This draw will be offset by the equivalent of any Solar coming in but with a 160w panel on a good sunny day the most you will probably ever see from that will be around 10-12A Definitely a good idea to drive whilst doing so. I also hope the van has an efficient B2B and not archaic split charge.

[@themoodyteam]

Good explanation. I’ve always treated solar as a bonus to any other battery top up.

[@CriftinsCampers]

@@themoodyteam That really depends on the size of the solar array versus your average daily power draw, if you can put back in what you take out every day then you can be off grid indefinitely. Where people go wrong is not monitoring a batteries state of charge taking out more each day than they can put back in, end result battery bank slowly gets more deeply discharged to the point damage is being done or they need to be recharged via an alternate method. Summers rarely a problem it’s the rest of the year when the balance needs to be right, I own two vans one with 300w of solar connected to two 104Ah AGM batteries the other with 400w connected to a 200A Lithium battery I work on the basis we typically use around 40-50A during a typical dark evening through to breakfast. As long as it’s not dreadfully overcast, foggy or raining I can reasonably expect Solar to usually put that back by the next evening. If it’s sunny I can also tilt the one on the van with the 300w panel so even in January we can get a reasonable output from it. The difference then between tilted and flat is a factor of five or more, it’s quite significant. One of the downsides with lead acid batteries is the extremely long time they take to get from around 80-100% because during that stage the current tails off significantly. Its why Solar is quite beneficial because to do it with engine running still takes a few hours so you may as well let solar do it! Different story with lithium, they take as much current as you can throw at them so if not fully charged by Solar it’s not a big problem just 30-45 minutes idling/driving using a decent b2b will put a decent amount of current back in. Therefore it is not as critical to have a lot of solar or tilting panels when using lithium.

[@themoodyteam]

@@CriftinsCampers thanks for your thoughts. We don’t have a big energy use (cook with gas, use a couple of efficient LED rechargeable lamps), so less worried about the day-to-day battery usage, tho’ things can always change! We spend more time in one place now when touring, trying to see more in each area. So I might not run the engine for 2-3 days. Good point about lithium batteries 👍

[@themoodyteam]

@@CriftinsCampers Also, goes to show the benefit of initially installing decent battery monitoring equipment. I’ve just got a display on the switch array, which tells me the voltage of my battery when there is a draw on it. It’s a bit basic.

[@CriftinsCampers]

@@themoodyteam here’s a link to the video I made about the bargain priced Aili unit. I have one in each van and they really are very good value. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIqsoZl-Z8qJfLs

[@eddiewoolfie3891]

Just qurious Cameron, what's the size output of your solar panel?

[@eddiewoolfie3891]

Sorry Cameron I jumped in too quick there. That a great size out put from your solar panel, our is only 120 Watts. We have just added an echo delta mini power station to our moho livery, check the out, fantastic 👍

[@eddiewoolfie3891]

Sorry to bother you but the Ecoflow is fantastic, it has a great compliment of options built in including an inverter that would easily charge your bike, camera equipment and mobiles. It also can be charged from the solar panel and has a quick charge option when on 240v, fantastic piece of kit, check it out 👍 You could do away with your inverter. I can run a small induction hob and low powered kettle (I have an 800W kettle) from it no problem, have a wee look at them online 😀

[@CameronMcNeishOutdoors]

@@eddiewoolfie3891 Yes, I've previously looked at similar chargers but the inverter was already installed when I bought this camper so I was curious to discover how well it worked, or not. Seems to do the job so I'll probably just stick with it and save myself a few hundred quid. Thanks for the info.

[@mamadjun]

Height of irresponsibility leaving a lithium-ion battery loose at the back of a van free to move about and catch fire in case of accident.

[@CameronMcNeishOutdoors]

It isn't loose. It's bolted to the floor. And a Merry Christmas to you...

[@themoodyteam]

@10:50 & @11:45 it makes no difference if you are driving or not. The leisure battery will charge whatever. The only advantage of driving is to top up your leisure battery, which your solar panel is doing anyway, albeit erratically due to the weather. Leisure batteries, unlike engine starter batteries, are designed to be run down/low and repeatedly charged. The only problem you would have is if you parked up off-grid for a few days and there was heavy use of your leisure battery eg recharging your e-bike battery every night. However, the solar panel should help keep your leisure battery topped up. TL:DR I think that you are being over cautious 😉 EDIT: The leisure battery will PROVIDE POWER whatever.

[@davidwands1899]

By driving whilst using the inverter the power is coming from the engine alternator, which is also charging the leisure battery.

[@themoodyteam]

@@davidwands1899 sorry, but are you saying that there’s a direct connection from the alternator to the inverter? I thought that the inverter could only draw power from the leisure battery?

[@davidwands1899]

@@themoodyteam When the engine is running the van's alternator is supplying the leisure battery, and therefore the inverter, with a 12 volt current. I have just installed 3 x 110 amp leisure batteries and a 3kw inverter in my motorhome. We only ever use our motorhome off grid, so I need extra power to cover 2 laptops, 2 phones, 1 tv, 1 automatic satellite, lighting and water pump.