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[manitou]

I posted this up on the RV forum, but got a lack luster reponse. It seems to me, there should be a way to charge the bike from the van's alternator while under way.  I travel around the country from time to time and often "boondocking".  I'd like to figure out a way to arrive at a place with a fully charged bike to explore, then mount it back up and head out on the road again. A typical driving day for me is about 6-8 hrs.
Seems to me the "easy" way would be to hook up an inverted to the house bank of batteries and run a cord back to the bike.  DC-AC-DC isn't ideal, but all I can figure out... If that would even work.
I suppose no one has tried this set up?

Little more back ground:
http://www.chinookrvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=268

[Erasmo]

If you have AC you should be able to charge if the equipment can handle the draw.

Also does your inverter create a nice sinus or is more blockwavey? The Zero on-board charger might not like the latter.

[Ndm]

I've charged my 2013 s with my off grid solar system, using a 2500w sine wave inverter, the draw on the system from the stock charger is close to 130 amps dc and it really pulls down the batteries, I find it is better to charge from my Honda eu 2000 inverter and only takes about a litre of fuel to top up the charge from 50%, so unless you have a 200 amp alternator you will be frying the stock size alternator (guessing around 100 amps max dc)

[kingcharles]

How about carrying a 2000W generator and run that while travelling?

[manitou]

Ahh dang.. It is a stock 90 amp (maybe 120) alternator. I would like to revamp the solar solution to around a 300watt grid, but even that isn't much.
I have an onan 4kw generator but it's loud and burning extra gas (though not much).
Running it while driving down the road isn't as noticeably loud though.. So I guess that's ok.

[nigezero]

Manitou

This is a really interesting scenario and my long history in off grid solar gets me excited about trying to solve it!

There are 2 issues:
1) Peak power and 2) Energy requirements

Peak Power
This is pretty easy to solve and looks like you are across it - it's simply a matter of the right size inverter, fuses and cabling. the 1300W rating of the charger is pretty short lived - perhaps an hour or two at most, then the charge rates progressively slows.

I agree it's not particularly efficient but the DC to DC rectification and control to allow direct alternator charging won't be easy or cheap if you are buying gear/paying someone else.

Energy
Your big issue is how much energy do you need which is variable. If your Zero battery is flat you need 11.4kWh. But you wouldn't often be dead flat, perhaps half that in many cases so let's assume 5.7kWh. That's around 570 Amp hours after losses. If we assume you can only extract (say) half of the energy from your 90A alternator you have 45A available to keep up with re-charging so that means 12hrs plus. However, you need 108A (probably a bit more) for the first few hours until the charger slows down its rate so that means a battery is your buffer and I doubt you are crazy as Aussies who love regularly driving for 12 hours straight.

So let's assume you drive 5 hours (again at half alt power so worst case) you now have 225AH (or 2.1kWh after losses) that your alternator can deliver. The deficit is thus 3kWh assuming a half empty zero battery. A 500AH battery on your truck could deliver this and only be discharged to 50%. I use 200Ah AGMs in my camper and they are not hugely expensive. My uncle is about to do it with 200AH Lithium batteries which are gaining traction but add a little cost (as we all know) but can perform better handle peak rates better and are far smaller.

So, they key is storage batteries and I suggest minimum 500AH (at 12V). her's an example of a really well made product here in Australia http://enerdrive.com.au/product/epl-500ah-12v-batt/ (disclosure - I know the owner well).

You are asking a lot of everything at 12V but it is do-able and of course, assuming the sun is shining, any additional panels you add all help of course but the bulk power needs to come from the battery.  Be aware that voltage slump (on the 500AH battery) needs to be carefully considered (under heavy charging) or the inverter will drop out due to low voltage

[manitou]

Thanks for the attempt.  I have 3 group 31 AGM's that are about a year old (they run my house bank that the inverter would be directly connected to). 
For the short term (tomorrow), I'll rig up a cord from the outside 110 outlet to the bike and charge off the 4K generator. I will pick up a 2000 watt continuous pure sine wave inverter soon (Black Friday special anyone?) as well. 
Solar upgrade will take a while longer to arrange.

[firepower]

why not tow with back wheel rolling use regen to charge?

[benswing]

why not tow with back wheel rolling use regen to charge?

As ridiculous as this sounds, it would actually work. 

I had a Mitsubishi iMiEV that ran out of charge just short of my destination.  Got a tow from a friend and by the time we arrived at his place I had 4 more bars of battery.  Almost didn't need to charge once we arrived!

[manitou]

Lol.. Uhh... I'll look into it.

[Ndm]

As I've mentioned I have the 2013 s , they have four mean well power supplies as chargers from the factory, I have separated the input of the 2 and have charged just under 600 watts which is around 60 amps dc from the solar system, you could probably do that while you drive and top up with the generator, maybe a stock fx charger? Anyway the mean well part number is hlg-320-h-54a two in series make for 116volt when they are dialed up to the limit

[manitou]

Ahh.. I assumed it was 1 1300watt charger. (I haven't read the owners manual yet)

[manitou]

10mpg RV carrying an electric motorcycle.. Seems like I should do it the other way around
What's the tow capacity of a 2013DS? (Haha)