New year present to self

My pre planned tour of Scotland in my camping trip might leave me struggling for power, I plan to 'stealth park' and 'wild camp' so my solar panels might not cope in charging my e bike and mini fridge so. I've purchase on of
these bad boys

high tech power as you go

Is 200W sufficient for charging your bike?

I watched a youtube vid on a canal boat owner who used it for all sorts of uses including charging her bike, It took 3 hours and from 100% charge and was left with 35% when finished then he recharged it from his Solar and on a sunny day from the solar panel

they gave this lady a free one to review it so, make your own mind up

and this guy, who seems to know his onions, Bit a Tonkerian with an American accent,

give us the schpeil

Tom,can you charge it off your car battery as you drive ?

Yes Joe I know that but Once I hit Scotland, I will onlu driving 20-30miles from one place to the next, They need 4/5 hours charge from the alternator so I'll need to be resourceful by using , The solar panel which is coupled to a leisure battery as well as the car battery and hopfully get some help along the routes by booking in a BB for a night and getting it fully charged from the mains, I also have one of these for in case I discharge the car battery That will get me running again

Tom I assume you have a split relay charger for your car / leisure battery,but wasn’t sure if you could charge the power bank off the car

Tom

I have one of these.



LINK

I bought it over three years ago and have never yoosed it

Tom

How about a portable generator, you can pick up a petrol one for about £100 and if you are not stopping on camping sites, where they have rules about generator usage, all you would need is a big can and a petrol station

I'll know when I start doing weekend Reccies as the weather is more camper friendly . Tommy Tee, I had a charger like that one yoo have and when I came to needing a jump start, It would not do the job,
hopefully yours is better than the one i got, I'm not investing in a genny because of the bulk and storage space,

Tom

Some of those small generators are small

I have got one of these.
It is about 2X the size of a pack of cards.

I have had it since 2016, and it is still going strong. A few years back, I replaced the jump leads when the plastic part of the alligator clips failed. (They are a generic item)

It has always worked to start car, and also fulfilled all of its other functions successfully. It has had a great deal of use.

You do have to make sure you recharge after use, and also about once a month if not used, or the lithium cells will deteriorate.

Arise Sir Tom ..I have again nominated you in the new year's honours list....hope we are lucky next year

My first car had six volt electrics.

The starter motor did not spin like a modern device does.

It would very slowly complete a compression stroke, taking a second or two. Either car would start, or a quick whir sound, and it would repeat its struggle with the next compression stroke. (In spite of seeming reluctance, car usually did start OK)

Having said all of that, the car came with a much more reliable back up than current practice: it was called a starting handle!

It would even start the car bout the cranking battery if I used one of these to power the ignition.

Thank you Billinge biker and If your nomination is heeded by the Admin and they award me with the appropriate knighthood, I will use my power to Promote you to Earl of Billinge with a , key to the Village with looting and pillage rights to the Rainhill mobs cell in the ignore jail,,

Ena, I remember my dad's ford Prefect and its starting handle, What a device that was, When the battery was flat, just pull out the choke, go the front of the car insert the handle, feel for the compression stroke and give it a ' Sally Wanker' swing keeping the thumb tucked in and vroom, the engine kicked into life,
Today the H+S brigade would walk 500 miles home than allow such a manual. none energy consuming gadget like that on the market,

update on the Jackery, Ena I now know its not man enough to charge my bike, Tonker done some calcs and he reckons from flat, I'd have to charge the jackery 2 and a half times to fully charge it and, That stacks up to my practical test today,, The jackery arrived today with 50% charge, I topped it up to 100% which took 3 hours then, I hooked up my ebike battery to the jackery power unit, The jackery eminently did't like it, the cut out activated and it shut down, After a couple of attempts it accepted the challenge and the fan activated and it was ' game on' After just 2 hours the display was flashing at 8% left and the jackery shut down, So I plugged my ebike battery charger into the mains and it took another 2 hours to be fully charged so, After another consolation with tonker , he recons the 1000 watts model is the better choice but, Its a whopping £700's worth, A cheaper solution is to get a 220 AH leisure battery and tour a hot country, So its food for thought right now,,,,,

Or buy a Jenny

When wild camping, if you are not parked on private property, yoo could get done for drink/driving, being drunk in charge of a vehicle, even if you are parked up, so I would watch it when drinking the fire water

you are correct there Tommy Tee, if you are in a camper with the keys to the car/van/camper you are labile to get done because you are ' in charge' of the vehicle and potentially capable of driving off the the offey for another crate of Guinness So, I have a fail proof plan, I hide the keys in a tree and hope I don't forget where that tree is,,,

Aye, tom.

I know very little about ebikes, but 200W did not sound like very much muscle.

I too am keeping a look out over these options, though my needs are a bit different to your own.

The car, as I have said previous can be pressed into service as a stealth camp vehicle.

However, my ambition is to have it as an all weather long term survival pod. Which means having sustainable heating, cooling, dehumidifier, etc. all of which are power hungry.

I used to enjoy snow camping. My kit was mostly Swedish, and designed for snow use.

My GP cautioned me regards doing so at my age/health, as I do not have the resilience which I possessed when younger, should something go wrong.

Things, of course always do go wrong. The attraction is having the skill set to respond adequately when they do, and knowing how to limit risks to those within your competence to meet.

So, I have to admit there are possible scenarios which would leave me vulnerable. I could fall into water, have everything soaked and find snow drifts obscure my access to fuel for fire, etc etc.

However, much greater possibilities are open to me if I can use my car as a survival pod, as described.

The solution would probably involve a combination of generation and storage: Still looking.

So my present thoughts are, to beef up my battery storage, I presently have a 130 AH leisure battery and intent to parallel to another giving me 260AH and getting another 100watt Solar panel to generate enough ( I hope) to cope with Scottish poor sun hours and .keep the 240 Jackery power pack and hope for the best, All the facts and figures don't mean diddley squat until the acid test on the day so, Come March and, the test runs begin,
I'm on a learning curve and looking forward to my new venture with, Man V nature,,,

Reet so todays project was to make the tailgate open from the inside because, when you're in bed and need to get outside and water the grass, the tailgate is the best way out but, most car/vans are electrically locked, you need to fit a switch to allow unlocking from inside, The hardest part of this operation was getting the plastic cover off the back of the tailgate, those plastic speed grippers are a bugger to get out,, I only broke 2 so a good result,

Have you got trim removal tools, or did you have to improvise? Have to admit, I hate removing trim: always now expect the unexpected when so doing.

A screw driver is my choice of weapon and if used with care and understanding is as good as paying silly money for a trim remover that also breaks the fasteners if used 'el Logo' , Gently gently is my approach to catchy monkey,,

"when you're in bed and need to get outside and water the grass,"

Have a dump here, no flushing involved. Stick the result in a dog litter bin

LINK
you might need one of these as well, handy for that midnight dump