Portable power station

vRSG60 · Jan 29, 2022

Has anyone used a portable power station (Jackery type thing) to operate a mains powered battery charger?
My garage is a mile from my house and has no mains power. In winter the GS battery lasts about 2 weeks, I blame the tracker.

I’d be looking at using the power station to operate a typical mains powered battery charger so I don’t need to keep taking the battery off the bike and bringing it home to charge should I need to.

nick.ct · Jan 29, 2022

That would work but if you leave the portable power station connected to your bike for an extended period, it too will go flat

Wapping · Jan 29, 2022

er-minio had a lot of success with a solar / Optimate set up.

vRSG60 · Jan 29, 2022

nick.ct said:
That would work but if you leave the portable power station connected to your bike for an extended period, it too will go flat

Yes but my thought being, I use the power station to run the battery charger to fully charge the battery then leave it 2 weeks and do it again with a fully charged power station.
Next question would be what size power station to charge a 12V 200A 12Ah battery.

Wapping · Jan 29, 2022

Or just rig up a solar charger and forget it.

vRSG60 · Jan 29, 2022

Wapping said:
Or just rig up a solar charger and forget it.

The power station would also be used for camping.

I’ve tried solar panels and got Jack shit out of them in winter!

Wapping · Jan 29, 2022

vRSG60 said:
The power station would also be used for camping.

I’ve tried solar panels and got Jack shit out of them in winter!

Ah, more than one purpose. That makes more sense.

A basic solar panel probably won’t do that much. Link it to the proper Optimate gear and it will work wonders.

nick.ct · Jan 29, 2022

vRSG60 said:
Yes but my thought being, I use the power station to run the battery charger to fully charge the battery then leave it 2 weeks and do it again with a fully charged power station.
Next question would be what size power station to charge a 12V 200A 12Ah battery.

12v x 12Ah = 144Watt Hours

Assume 50% efficiency

Means you'll need a power station with a minimum battery capacity of 288 Watt Hours

Deleted account 220319001 · Jan 29, 2022

I've been eyeing up a Jackery for weeks now, crazy price yet on marketplace there are loads cheap which makes me wonder about them being genuine.

Price new is around a £1 per ah = 500ah = £500.

nick.ct · Jan 29, 2022

Cabby said:
I've been eyeing up a Jackery for weeks now, crazy price yet on marketplace there are loads cheap which makes me wonder about them being genuine.

Price new is around a £1 per ah = 500ah = £500.

The power stored in a battery is measured in Watt Hours, not Amp Hours (Ah at what voltage?, meaningless statement)

Deleted account 220319001 · Jan 29, 2022

nick.ct said:
The power stored in a battery is measured in Watt Hours, not Amp Hours (Ah at what voltage?, meaningless statement)

Aye that's what I meant.

vRSG60 · Jan 29, 2022

nick.ct said:
12v x 12Ah = 144Watt Hours

Assume 50% efficiency

Means you'll need a power station with a minimum battery capacity of 288 Watt Hours

So the cheapest 240Wh would do. Can’t imagine 50% efficient in this day and age.

JJH · Jan 29, 2022

Am I stupid? Just get a big car battery and connect it with jump leads. Even at 50% efficiency’s it must give you 6 weeks? And then charge it up. Or am I missing something? JJH

nick.ct · Jan 30, 2022

vRSG60 said:
So the cheapest 240Wh would do. Can’t imagine 50% efficient in this day and age.

If your bike battery (144Wh) is flat, it takes more than that 144Wh to charge it up (battery gets warm for example)

Your 240Wh power sation only achieves / produces that with optimum discharge conditions (when it's new, temperature, power draw etc)

In addition, add the conversion losses, power station battery volts to mains volts, mains volts back to DC to charge your bike battery

50% was a guesstimate but probably not far out

Stevie4scoops · Jan 30, 2022

vRSG60 said:
Has anyone used a portable power station (Jackery type thing) to operate a mains powered battery charger?
My garage is a mile from my house and has no mains power. In winter the GS battery lasts about 2 weeks, I blame the tracker.

I’d be looking at using the power station to operate a typical mains powered battery charger so I don’t need to keep taking the battery off the bike and bringing it home to charge should I need to.

If it were me, I would fit a charger lead directly to the battery therefore bypassing all the bike's electronics and connect this via another appropriately fused lead to a fairly large car battery.

This will obviously have a much larger capacity than the bike battery and maintain the alarm/tracker etc for much longer.

I would then monitor the car/external battery to determine how long it takes before becoming discharged and then take it back to the house before this time to charge it.

DrFarkoff · Jan 30, 2022

2 weeks is a tad short current draw should be minimal

Is the battery actually in good condition ?

A leisure battery for a boat / caravan would be a good power source its made for long slow discharge

and considerably cheaper than the powerstation thing :aidan

Wapping · Jan 30, 2022

SteveC10 said:
If it were me, I would fit a charger….

You seem to have missed the OP’s declaration that he wants to use a portable power station (I had to Google that up, to discover what it is) for two separate purposes:

1. To keep his motorbike battery charged, which (remarkably perhaps) is flattening itself in two weeks

2. To use whilst camping

One stone, two dead birds.

wessie · Jan 30, 2022

DrFarkoff said:
2 weeks is a tad short current draw should be minimal

Is the battery actually in good condition ?

there seems to be a trend forming in recent posts of some trackers draining batteries in a couple of weeks - most likely where the tracker has to keep boosting power to talk to base due to a weak cell phone signal.

John Armstrong · Jan 30, 2022

JJH said:
Am I stupid? Just get a big car battery and connect it with jump leads. Even at 50% efficiency’s it must give you 6 weeks? And then charge it up. Or am I missing something? JJH

That's what I did when I had a garage without mains power. Though it doesn't have the multiple power outlets the portable power station has, but it's way cheaper.

Stevie4scoops · Jan 30, 2022

John Armstrong said:
That's what I did when I had a garage without mains power. Though it doesn't have the multiple power outlets the portable power station has, but it's way cheaper.

Connect it to an inverter.

Portable power station

Well-known member

Well-known member

Moderator

Well-known member

Moderator

Well-known member

Moderator

Well-known member

Registered user

Well-known member

Registered user

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Grumpy Ole Git!!!

Moderator

Registered user

Well-known member

Well-known member

Similar threads