Suggestions for charging an electric bike/

LuisG

I am considering getting a solar generator for my electric mountain bikes for car camping trips. I haven't taken my e-mtbs camping because of the hassle of charging the batteries. I also don't want to use a gasoline powered generator while camping in nature.

The batteries are rated at 625 watt hours. The battery charging unit that came with the bike uses 440 watts. What are the recommendations for a suitable solar unit to charge two e-bikes at the same time?

jg164

Hi @LuisG,

Answering these questions will help you make a solid energy plan for your trips:

• What is the total watt hours of capacity you want to recharge?
• What is the peak load in Watts an inverter will need to handle?
• How often do you want to recharge your devices?
• How much solar do you need to recharge the power station to do this?
• Do you want to be able to recharge the power station in less than ideal solar conditions and for more hours in the day?

Total ebike battery capacity is rated at 625wH x 2 = 1,250wH

Total ebike battery charger load is rated at 440W x 2 = 880W

Your ebike chargers may loose some of the power they use as heat in the AC to DC conversion process. I would use a kill-o-watt to see what it says your chargers actually used in Watt Hours to do a full recharge on both bikes before you buy a power station to know your real needs.

If I were looking to ride both bikes until drained every day and do a full recharge every night, I would go with the Yeti 3000X recharged by at least 600W or solar ( or more for buffer for hazy days and better morning and evening charging ) like a pair of Ranger 300 Briefcase folding panels ( that kit also comes with a 30ft HPP extension and an HPP to HPP combiner ).

Using a power station with a larger capacity that what you need will also provide some buffer capacity for days when clear skies are scarce and solar recharging is either limited or impossible.

If you are not going to do a full recharge then a Yeti 1500X with less solar might be enough once you make a plan and crunch the numbers.

Let me know what you decide to go with and how you use it!

I have an MTB and am looking at converting it to an electric and am excited to get into eMTB!

Cheers!