Can Bosch Ebike battery be used as a power source during power failure?

[Bill_12831]

Is there an inverter available to be able to use your ebike battery to power small appliances during a power failure? That would be a good idea since solar generator/ or large power banks can be pretty expensive and since I already have a 500WH battery that would work well. I have a Ryobi electric leaf blower and weed eater and ryobi sells a 300w inverter so you can use your batteries to power ac or usb devices.. It's great.

 

[Sifu Ben]

Not so much but a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has a built-in inverter and 120v outlet in the back powered by the battery pack for its dual electric motors.

 

[rich c]

How to run your off-grid Tiny House with an Ebike battery

I would label myself as ‘Tiny Curious’ in that I have dabbled in Tiny House building, but I have yet to actually live in one myself. I have spent the last year building a tiny house wit…

www.electricbike.com

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

It's a lot harder to connect them in series to get the desired voltage and amperage.

You could pick up a 5 kWhr Nissan leaf or Chevy volt module on eBay for a $1k or $1.5K and convert that into auxilary power source.
To get the same output using eBike batteries, you would need 8-10 Bosch packs!

Here someone is selling 24kWhr pack (even at 75% SOH, it can delivery 15+ kWhrs)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nissan-lea...-Gen-2-Battery-Pack-400v-24-kwh/114071317761?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

One problem is that e-bike batteries are generally too small to power very much for very long.

Goal Zero makes decent, if somewhat overpriced, power packs that work well for home power backup during short periods.

In general if you want to do more than keep your laptop running and charge your cell phone you are going to be spending some money, or have pretty solid electrician skills and the ability to hustle.

 

[zzRider]

If you really are concerned about power outages (do you live in California?), then get a Generac whole house generator. They can run on natural gas or propane (you'll need a propone tank w/gas).

Generac 70351 Wi-Fi Guardian Series 16kW Home Standby Generator 1ph Alum Enclosure

Nationwide Generators offers Generac Guardian 16kW 7035-1 with Mobile Link standby generator at a reasonable price. With 5 year warranty, the Generac 7035 generator facilitates you with power generation as well as protection for essential utilities in your home.

www.nationwidegenerators.com

 

[antboy]

I'd probably keep my bike battery as a bike battery only.

Tangentially, I've been casually looking into portable power station solutions. Has anyone tried the Ecoflow EF Delta as opposed to the Yeti? www.ecoflow.com

Seems to be comparable to the Yeti 1500x, if not better in some cases, but a slightly smaller 1260Wh battery as opposed to 1512Wh. The Ecoflow is about half the price, and 30% lighter.

 

[Bill_12831]

I'd probably keep my bike battery as a bike battery only.

Tangentially, I've been casually looking into portable power station solutions. Has anyone tried the Ecoflow EF Delta as opposed to the Yeti? www.ecoflow.com

Seems to be comparable to the Yeti 1500x, if not better in some cases, but a slightly smaller 1260Wh battery as opposed to 1512Wh. The Ecoflow is about half the price, and 30% lighter.

There's another brand called Bluetti they have a 2000w /1700wh one on sale the Bluetti AC200 looks pretty interesting.

 

[Taylor57]

If you really are concerned about power outages (do you live in California?), then get a Generac whole house generator. They can run on natural gas or propane (you'll need a propone tank w/gas).

Generac 70351 Wi-Fi Guardian Series 16kW Home Standby Generator 1ph Alum Enclosure

Nationwide Generators offers Generac Guardian 16kW 7035-1 with Mobile Link standby generator at a reasonable price. With 5 year warranty, the Generac 7035 generator facilitates you with power generation as well as protection for essential utilities in your home.

www.nationwidegenerators.com

I was looking at the Generac. I believe you can run them direct off of your natural gas line. One concern would be, what if the electricity and the gas went down at the same time ie earthquake, fire etc...

 

[FlatSix911]

Another option if you have an Electric Vehicle... connect a 2500W inverter to your car battery.

 

[Dallant]

Yes, Generac sells NG powered systems that automatically start when normal electric systems go down. Having spent the better part of a week with no power here in the Midwest, I’m considering one. Generac has just started advertising solar energy collection systems that look very interesting.

Request a Solar Battery System Quote | Generac

Request a quote for a Generac PWRcell Solar Battery and prepare your home with a solution from the market leader in standby power.

www.generac.com

 

[Dallant]

I’ve also wondered what other uses there might be for my Bosch battery. It’d make one hell of a great flashlight!

 

[Alex M]

In theory, 500WH fully charged will let you run/recharge the laptop, phone, a couple of small LED lights - for 2 days max. Not a fridge or A/C. As said, voltage is the problem since inverters are typically 12-24-48V, and Bosch is neither.

Generators suck. They are fine as long as they work and if you can stand the smell and if it will start on the day that you need it which is not guartanteed. You will have to maintain and exercise it every few months to make sure it's in operable shape. But for fridge or A/C this is the only thing that will do, short of a monstrous solar and huge battery bank.

For light loads, i.e. excluding fridge and A/C - the easiest is to get some 12V*120 AH Li battery. Or a couple of 12V*100AH in parallel, flooded or AGM, and float them at 13.x when not in use. So called power packs like Goal Zero are essentially a Li battery with inverter and a couple of receptacles, may or may not make sense financially (compared to battery + inverter), but this is an easy way for those who don't know how or don't have time.

 

[Cowlitz]

Perhaps an RV like setup would power a small 12 volt fridge and other things like fans and recharge your electronics. I do that in my little travel trailer using 100 watt solar panels. Works fine. It won't run the ac or the hot water heater or anything big. It does keep the propane fridge going, the ceiling fan, the lights, and recharging small stuff.

When I lived in an area that PGE would cut off during hot weather, and this was in the 1990s and they did it to us because we lived in a very poor, rural hard to get to place (up the Klamath River) I used camping gear to get by. My neighbors had a generator and we'd put it in the back of my low riding pickup and go around charging up refrigerators. I made coffee for everybody. We'd go to the river and cool off because it was hot. I wish I had a battery powered fan like I do now. That makes life easier.

 

[Dallant]

I just used my 10 year old old TroyBilt 5550 watt generator for almost a week straight, day and night. Loud and certainly limited but we ran our fridge, chest freezer, TV, coffee maker, microwave, fans, etc. Used a lot of gas and certainly missed ac but I was damn glad to have it. I put some fresh gas in and start it every few months and then run it out of gas. Change the oil every other year since I almost never use it. Starts like a charm every time.

 

[Alex M]

A lot of good will a small 12V fridge do, when you have a 20 cu.ft monster full of groceries and a freezer chest.

Small 2.2 cu.ft 12V compressor fridge - like those in trucks and boats - will draw 250-300 WH per day or 20-25 AH@12V. Yes, a single 100W solar and 100 AH 12V battery will run such a fridge and a couple of lights forever, total cost of the setup under $300 including battery and controller, easy to put together. No fuel, no noise, no maintenance - it just works.

Propane RV fridges made in the last 15 years need 12V supply in addition to propane, to run the thermostat. Not much, ~100-150 WH per day, this is peanuts for even the smallest solar.

 

[draver]

If you really are concerned about power outages (do you live in California?), then get a Generac whole house generator. They can run on natural gas or propane (you'll need a propone tank w/gas).

Generac 70351 Wi-Fi Guardian Series 16kW Home Standby Generator 1ph Alum Enclosure

Nationwide Generators offers Generac Guardian 16kW 7035-1 with Mobile Link standby generator at a reasonable price. With 5 year warranty, the Generac 7035 generator facilitates you with power generation as well as protection for essential utilities in your home.

www.nationwidegenerators.com

I have two portable generators that I can run in parallel for 4600W output. They will run my whole house lights (All LEDs), two refers, computers, TVs, etc. One can run off of natural gas or propane and they both run well on gasoline. About $1500 total for everything, including the natgas conversion for the 3000W unit. It's best to use things they were designed for unless there is an emergency.

 

[Cowlitz]

A lot of good will a small 12V fridge do, when you have a 20 cu.ft monster full of groceries and a freezer chest.

Small 2.2 cu.ft 12V compressor fridge - like those in trucks and boats - will draw 250-300 WH per day or 20-25 AH@12V. Yes, a single 100W solar and 100 AH 12V battery will run such a fridge and a couple of lights forever, total cost of the setup under $300 including battery and controller, easy to put together. No fuel, no noise, no maintenance - it just works.

Propane RV fridges made in the last 15 years need 12V supply in addition to propane, to run the thermostat. Not much, ~100-150 WH per day, this is peanuts for even the smallest solar.

Because I lived in an area where they would suddenly cut our power off in the summer, or it would go off during storms in the winter, I did not have such things because I didn't want to have to have a generator. You can keep large appliances cold without having to run the generator constantly.

My emergency food supply was and still is non perishable foods.

A generator is something else to have to worry about maintenance on, and getting stolen. Then the gas runs out and you can't get more if the roads are cut off during a storm or flooding afterwards.

Trying not to drift too much here, but your emergency power source expenses depend on how badly and how much you want to keep your stuff running. Now this is the way I think, and many don't, but a TV is not a necessity. Nor are lights. I've got some wonderful lights that last 10 hrs (left them on while the party was still going and went to bed). They recharge using solar energy and are called Luci Lights. For cooking? Camp stoves or the trailer stove. Heat? I've had wood stoves for that. The gas stoves also work well.. So, I've already eliminated stuff that won't need to be powered.

If you live on water from a well, that's a pain and I stored water for that.

 

[draver]

Because I lived in an area where they would suddenly cut our power off in the summer, or it would go off during storms in the winter, I did not have such things because I didn't want to have to have a generator. You can keep large appliances cold without having to run the generator constantly.

My emergency food supply was and still is non perishable foods.

A generator is something else to have to worry about maintenance on, and getting stolen. Then the gas runs out and you can't get more if the roads are cut off during a storm or flooding afterwards.

Trying not to drift too much here, but your emergency power source expenses depend on how badly and how much you want to keep your stuff running. Now this is the way I think, and many don't, but a TV is not a necessity. So, I've already eliminated stuff that won't need to be powered.

A small (1600-1800 Watt) portable generator uses very little gasoline per hour and can be modified to run on propane or natural gas quite easily. Having a multifuel unit gives you great options. You will be able to charge your phone and iPad to find out what's going on, run your fridge every few hours, etc. Natural gas is probably the best fuel for generators since it's delivery is seldom interrupted by any sort of common disaster. Propane is second due to the safety and ease of fuel storage. I can run my 3000W gen. for about 5 hours on one 20lb. BBQ tank. I run it once a month for 30 minutes under load to check operation. Once your 500W battery goes dead, then what?

 

[Taylor57]

Fortunately I have a doomsday shelter