ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: ultrarnr on September 19, 2018, 06:40:10 PM
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All,
Having lost power for three days due to Hurricane Florence I wondered how many of us with EVs have generators to charge our vehicles when the public grid is down. With electric motorcycles a small generator putting out 110 volts will work. But for those of you with electric cars a 110 volt generator really isn't adequate. How may folks out there with four wheeled EVs have a 220 volt generator for charging your car when the electrical grid goes down?
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I have used a Harbor Freight 8500 Generator to Charge my Focus Electric at 7KW per hour.
A generator is not advised generally as they are not USUALLY Pure Sine and may damage
the charger. Inverter Generators are more expensive but like Pure Sine Inverters
are much more expensive and don't usually come in very high output. May be okay for temporary
emergency use. My Volt charger won't even engage unless on a pure sine.
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I don't have a car, have a pick up truck but if such a thing comes available I could make it a diesel electric by charging off tractor pto and generator. Back up generator for the house or shop or whatever is probably what to look for. Usually propane, natural gas or diesel. Might even be possible off a solar on the roof? But the membership might be more urban than my situation.
As for me my ktm freeride has a small, maybe the size of a couple of shoe boxes charger, I have cords and plug ends for most any place that has 240 volts. Zero bikes I believe only need 10 amps at 120 volts and come with a cord.
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I believe that other than the FX and FXS they require a solid 15 amps.
I have lost 3 ( or 4 ) chargers from outlets that provide low voltage.
If an outlet doesn't have a strong enough voltage, amps suffer as well.
This is part of the reasons that so many people have cord / cord end issues.
I charge at 208~240 whenever possible. If using 110, I use a 10 or 12 AWG cable to do so
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I have used a Harbor Freight 8500 Generator to Charge my Focus Electric at 7KW per hour. A generator is not advised generally as they are not USUALLY Pure Sine and may damage the charger. Inverter Generators are more expensive but like Pure Sine Inverters
are much more expensive and don't usually come in very high output. May be okay for temporary
emergency use. My Volt charger won't even engage unless on a pure sine.
I have used my 4000 watt RV generator countless times to charge my Zero DS ZF 6.5 without a trace of a problem. I always use one quick charger and the on-board charger at the same time when charging from gasoline.
BTW, I bring the DS ZF 6.5 on all my RV trips and sometimes I boondock far from any RV parks. It's really a great bike to carry on a cycle ramp on the hitch of the RV, as it's light enough and very easy to use the bike's electric motor to safely, slowly power itself up the ramp.
I never checked the waveshape, but I will the next time I run the RV generator. I have checked the frequency and voltage. It stays right at 60 hz and the voltage stays very close to 117 VAC under the ~26 amp load.
Here is what a cheap 1200 watt generator waveshape looks like. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17YhjHJxatg) I expect mine to look better than that, but I would not expect even this distorted sinewave shown to cause any problems to a charger.
-Don- Reno, NV
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I believe that other than the FX and FXS they require a solid 15 amps.
I have lost 3 ( or 4 ) chargers from outlets that provide low voltage.
If an outlet doesn't have a strong enough voltage, amps suffer as well.
This is part of the reasons that so many people have cord / cord end issues.
I charge at 208~240 whenever possible. If using 110, I use a 10 or 12 AWG cable to do so
If I remember correctly, my two Zeros draw 13 amps at 120 VAC per power supply. But these chargers are designed to keep the output steady at any input voltage within its range, so that means if the voltage is low, the charger will automatically draw more current to keep the output wattage the same. The higher current means more heat on the AC cord. So yeah, you always want to use the highest voltage possible within its range so the current and heat and losses from such will be less.
This also explains why 240 VAC will not charger faster than 120 VAC, as the output wattage will be about the same with either voltage.
But I normally charge at 120 VAC using ten gauge extensions. (https://www.harborfreight.com/25-ft-x-10-gauge-triple-tap-extension-cord-62914.html)
-Don- Reno, NV