I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
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I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
- YouTube
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@mattgrayyes This is the kind of problem, the EU is really good at. Legal E-Bikes should have a standard charge connector (SCC) (USB-C). The market should compete to make the smallest charger for this standard, mains electricity socket to SCC. Cafes, service stations, car charger companies, trains should compete to implement the standard so all the rider has to carry is a cable.
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@mattgrayyes The image of the Dutch bike chargers looks like they have a cable rather than a socket. Is there a standard socket on ebikes to receive charging?
@diffrentcolours @mattgrayyes no there is not. When I first got my ebike in 2009, the charger was rather massive. That charger eventually failed and the official replacement was considerably smaller and gained an IEC input. That made it easier to carry around. A detachable battery pack helps too. It still charges just as slow as ever, but was great when I was commuting 1h20 each end of the day.
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I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
(www.youtube.com)
@mattgrayyes Not only must I follow you for this brilliance, but also because your wheezy laugh is incredibly infectious!
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@mattgrayyes Not only must I follow you for this brilliance, but also because your wheezy laugh is incredibly infectious!
@Remittancegirl @mattgrayyes I sing with Matt and can confirm! A joy to be around
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@Remittancegirl @mattgrayyes I sing with Matt and can confirm! A joy to be around
@noodlemaz I kind of got the sense that this was the case! @mattgrayyes
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@mattgrayyes Personally I'd settle for more/all e-bike models to be able to being charged via USB-C PD, which allows for 240 W for quite a while now. Just to get away from these awful, heavy, and vendor-specific charging bricks.
@mschomm The first 240W capable charger I saw is still quite a brick though.
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@mattgrayyes Fun fact about the kettle test: Back when I still worked on energy management systems I used a kettle as a dummy load all the time. I had a bunch of incandescent lights to do the 50w to 200w range and a kettle that did about 2kw for a moment on a good day. Used it to test charging stations, electricity meters and some smaller battery systems. (We did get a proper electronic load at some point.) The main problem with the kettle was that the noise kept summoning people that wanted some hot water to the lab. Folks kept drinking the coolant from my dummy load.
When a colleague did some investigation into the security of vehicle charge points, he used something else though: https://youtu.be/pUEp3uWAWqY?si=BJgFhl0kMjpkVq5X
(Full video: https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9092-ladeinfrastruktur_fur_elektroautos_ausbau_statt_sicherheit German but should have English translations)
@sebastian @mattgrayyes "Folks kept drinking the coolant from my dummy load" is such a funny sentence

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I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
(www.youtube.com)
@mattgrayyes absolutely brill. Also here in deepest old N Wales we have lots of pre car infra (for example no road access the last 80meters to my cottage). On lane/track/gatepost bike charging would be utterly useful here.
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@mattgrayyes This is the kind of problem, the EU is really good at. Legal E-Bikes should have a standard charge connector (SCC) (USB-C). The market should compete to make the smallest charger for this standard, mains electricity socket to SCC. Cafes, service stations, car charger companies, trains should compete to implement the standard so all the rider has to carry is a cable.
@jbond @mattgrayyes not a bad idea, since most ebike batteries don't charge particularly fast. Ditto for power tools. There's no reason why my drill batteries don't have USB-C PD at least as an option.
Only problem is most plug socket USB C supplies of the sort you find in cafes and trains only do +5V not the full PD spec. -
I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
(www.youtube.com)
@mattgrayyes Brilliant video.
I am amazed that the charger I have to carry is nearly as large as the battery itself.
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I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
(www.youtube.com)
@mattgrayyes I need this for my wheelchair among other things >.>
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I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
(www.youtube.com)
@mattgrayyes
Extremely cool project! -
@alda @theresnotime @mattgrayyes imagine any public transit with USB-C
They basically started rolling out USB-A in the late 2010s, so we’re only *checks watch* 20 years away from getting USB-C in the open public spaces
@whophd @alda @theresnotime @mattgrayyes Rip. Hamburg's Hochbahn (Subway and busses) already got combined USB-A & USB-C ports.
I only see them being used very rarely though. They also only put out just enough to charge something like a smartphone (Something between 5V 1A and 2A I think, so 5 to 10W). Almost anyone is carrying a power bank by now capable of way more current. -
I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
(www.youtube.com)
@mattgrayyes exceptionally nice.
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@whophd @alda @theresnotime @mattgrayyes Rip. Hamburg's Hochbahn (Subway and busses) already got combined USB-A & USB-C ports.
I only see them being used very rarely though. They also only put out just enough to charge something like a smartphone (Something between 5V 1A and 2A I think, so 5 to 10W). Almost anyone is carrying a power bank by now capable of way more current.@Natanox in Moscow, Moskva-2020 metro trains only have USB-A (5V@3A), while some buses have USB-A and USB-C. i'm not sure what interfaces Moskva-2024 has
i have never seen either being used
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I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
(www.youtube.com)
@mattgrayyes brilliant! Now I'm wondering if you could do faster by replacing the BMS...
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I hacked car charging to work with my electric bike!
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
(www.youtube.com)
@mattgrayyes the kettle was the funniest thing I've seen all week, lol. Great idea too! -
@whophd @alda @theresnotime @mattgrayyes Rip. Hamburg's Hochbahn (Subway and busses) already got combined USB-A & USB-C ports.
I only see them being used very rarely though. They also only put out just enough to charge something like a smartphone (Something between 5V 1A and 2A I think, so 5 to 10W). Almost anyone is carrying a power bank by now capable of way more current.@Natanox @whophd @alda @theresnotime @mattgrayyes yea I’d rather see the local AC outlet variant than gamble on a USB port
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And of course it involves a custom circuit board. Companies like PCBWay and JLCPCB have made custom circuitry far easier than before, but I wonder what might happen when those shut down with no replacement.
@csolisr Engineering companies will always need to manufacture prototypes. They might stop catering to individuals, but the service will exist (for a price)
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@Natanox @whophd @alda @theresnotime @mattgrayyes yea I’d rather see the local AC outlet variant than gamble on a USB port
@cinebox @Natanox @whophd @theresnotime @mattgrayyes As someone with a background in the electrical trades, I'd advice against running 230 V AC on a city bus.