No room inside - charging an eBike when it is on the bike carrier (1 Viewer)

[LittleGreyCat]

I am asking about this on various fora, but am now calling on the massed knowledge of the MF collective.

I am looking at a lightweight eBike (

Turbo Vado SL 4.0 Step-Through​

)
where you can't remove the battery to take it inside to charge.

Our Rapido 9048DF doesn't have a garage so there is no room for the bike inside.
This means it would have to be locked to the carrier for security, and charged there.

Doing this via EHU is pretty straightforward (with the caveat of weather proofing) but it would be good to be able to charge it when we were driving, especially on long journeys.
Has anyone solved this problem?

 

[DangerMousy]

Good choice of bike We have them too and love how light they are.

Sadly Spesh don't make a 12v charger for the bikes, do you have an inverter?

To be honest I wouldn't be happy charging them on a bike rack whilst travelling......the plugs are firm(ish) and if in a garage they'd probably stay in place going over bumps. But on a bike rack with wind and/or a cover flapping about I'm not sure they'd remain secure. Also you'd have to find some way of securing the "brick" part of the charger too (the cable isn't that long).

 

[Ridgeway]

Can‘t see an easy solution to this as it will all need to need waterproof, vibration proof and also make sure it just doesn‘t swing around and scratch the van or the bike, not easy…

Plan B: look at an alternative bike that does have a removable battery ?

 

[tonyidle]

Good choice of bike We have them too and love how light they are.

Sadly Spesh don't make a 12v charger for the bikes, do you have an inverter?

To be honest I wouldn't be happy charging them on a bike rack whilst travelling......the plugs are firm(ish) and if in a garage they'd probably stay in place going over bumps. But on a bike rack with wind and/or a cover flapping about I'm not sure they'd remain secure. Also you'd have to find some way of securing the "brick" part of the charger too (the cable isn't that long).

Or simply extend the charger output cable?

 

[Ridgeway]

Just an idea (probably a bad one..) if your need is driven by wanting to use power from the inverter that being charged by the alternator as you drive along and then sometimes you may stop at an aire ie you have a nice way to charge them on route but no way to charge them once you arrive. Then your could potentially use the inverter to charge a powerpack whilst driving and then when at an aire use that to charge the bikes ? Not sure if that would be useful ?

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[oldiesontour]

Extend lead from charger to bike as required leave charger in van plugged into inverter or get a bike with removable battery ,or buy a step up charger (12v to 36?) doesn't have to be same make as bike just correct plug for bike.. available but not cheap

 

[DangerMousy]

Just an idea (probably a bad one..) if your need is driven by wanting to use power from the inverter that being charged by the alternator as you drive along and then sometimes you may stop at an aire ie you have a nice way to charge them on route but no way to charge them once you arrive. Then your could potentially use the inverter to charge a powerpack whilst driving and then when at an aire use that to charge the bikes ? Not sure if that would be useful ?

I think that's probably the best option. We occasionally charge ours from a EcoFlow which works well. You can also buy a range extender (basically a small extra battery which sits in a bottle cage) from Specialized which increases the battery capacity by about 50%.

Extend lead from charger to bike as required leave charger in van plugged into inverter or get a bike with removable battery ,or buy a step up charger (12v to 36?) doesn't have to be same make as bike just correct plug for bike.. available but not cheap

The Vado charger is 48v, and has a plug I've not seen on other bikes. But gven the cost of the bike, I wouldn't advise using a generic charger in case it damages the electronics. Certainly wouldn't consider using anything other than a genuine Specialized charger for ours.