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[avernon82]

Just dropped a down payment on an FX 6.5. The dream would be to get solar panels and 200 AH of battery storage for my Westy and charge the FX off the van at night and ride during the day. See any problems with this plan? Was hoping to use the 800 watt inverter installed in the VW.

[Doctorbass]

There is a very simple DIY solution: buy a regular 120V inverter, open it and find the HV DC section ( it is usually about 115Vdc) and get the wires out and connect to your quick charger charge port  =)

That worked for me.

Doc

[avernon82]

I'm confused, can you use a DC current to charge the bike? That would be more efficient.

[gman669]

A 12 volt 200ah hour will charge 2.4kwh of the 6.5 that it can nominally hold. The solar setup you need would be relatively large to lug around to recharge the battery everyday. If you do the math it takes a lot of energy to recharge the zero. A generator and quick charger would be cheaper and take up less space...there is a thread on here about a solar camping setup if you really want to go that route.

[protomech]

650 watt charger probably needs 750 watts AC. The inverter will need 850+ watts from the battery (71 amps @ 12V).

A typical 200 Ah deep cycle battery will fully deplete itself in about 2 hours with an 80 amp load.

Realistically you will only charge about 1.3 kWh (20%), not 2.4 kWh from the "200" Ah battery.

[avernon82]

I think I've resigned myself to a generator. It's not nearly as cool as solar, but waaaay cheaper and more practical. I run a fridge and a heater from my house battery, so that's asking a lot from the system.

[KrazyEd]

I don't know if you have a Harbor Freight Tools near where you are, but, I see a 900 watt peak / 700 watt running generator
for sale all the time from them for around $100. Try to see if they will let you try it first. I have seen some people post that
some generators don't work properly, or, that might be inverters. I have one of their 8,500 watt generators, and, it will charge
the 20KW battery pack in around 3 hours. Best for THAT one to be run at a truck stop. 3 hours of full speed, less noticeable.
I could probably add a little riding time to the FX at the same time.

[avernon82]

I think i want the honda 2000i. I'd like to be able to use a quick charger as well. The Honda is also pretty quiet. Not quite sure how to calculate how big of a generator I would need...

[Ndm]

I have the honda eu 2000i and it works great you can run it for about 8 hrs on 5 litres of fuel

[ZEM Tahiti]

 If you buy then run a generator 5 hours at home to drive an electric bike for 2 hours, it appears quite weird to me, specially if it is on a regular basis! Regarding emission, it is about the same, regarding noise it might be worse ..  Probably better to get a fuel bike then!

[Ndm]

I only use the generator for emergency backup power at my off grid cottage, when riding far from a plug it is the best option, the full draw from the charger is a little over the panels comfortable output, I can turn two of the four meanwells off and charge slowly on sunny days, but I use the generator so infrequently that I need to rotate in fresh fuel on occasion

[KrazyEd]

If you buy then run a generator 5 hours at home to drive an electric bike for 2 hours, it
appears quite weird to me, specially if it is on a regular basis! Regarding emission, it is
about the same, regarding noise it might be worse ..  Probably better to get a fuel bike then!

I believe that a generator is a FAR greater polluter than the utility providing power to your home.
Even if run on the dirtiest fuel, they run up to a certain speed, then stay there, so, "less" emissions
than driving an ICE vehicle around all day going up and down through the gears and RPM range.
I also believe that motorcycles also produce "dirtier" exhaust than cars.  The thought would be
that since you get so much better MPG on a motorcycle that you MUST put out fewer emissions.
Some of today's cars get as good or better economy than many motorcycles. Not to mention
that if you and 4 buddies go to a movie, you might all climb into ONE car. If on bikes, everyone
rides their own, increasing the fuel used, and emissions produced many times over. Cars are
subject to VERY stringent emission regulations, bikes, not so much.  Here are a couple links to
back that up:

http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html

https://rideapart.com/articles/busting-the-mythbusters-motorcycle-pollution-claims

The first link seems to have gone out of their way to be as accurate as possible.
As much as I enjoyed MythBusters, I have to question their results at times.
but, at least it is something. Even if you were able to charge the battery off of
your ICE car while driving, it would put a greater strain on the charging system,
using more power, and, thus more fuel. Plus, the added weight of the battery
would cause greater power use to haul it around, increasing fuel use even more.

[avernon82]

sorry, I never clarified that this would only be when camping with no access to utility 120v ac.