Things somebody should make

deacon

deacon

minor bike philosopher
In the Ebike section we need a place to give small businessmen some good sound advice. A place to make a suggestion, when we find that we need something and can't find it anywhere. Like now.

Today is one of those days when I might take off for a ride but I'm not quite sure. The road is wet but there is no real rain falling. So what is it that I need today which I don't need most other days. Why a shower cap for the battery pack.

I have no desire to ride with water falling from the sky. However someday I'm sure I will get caught in at least a mild downpour. At such a time, I would like a small lightweight plastic rain hoodie with an elastic bottom. Something I could have in my tool pouch and just whip out on a moment notice to cover my battery pack. I have mine open on top so that I can charge it from the battery terminals. I use two of those battery maintainers from wallymart, twenty bucks each they don't blowout when you cross the wires accidentally. The duct tape I use to hold the two sla batteries together could probably take the water but why submit them to it.

Yes I know a plastic grocery bag and a bungee would work but why not a small thing one with plastic that would fit in a small packet and i could just carry with me in case I get caught out in a sprinkle.

So what I need is one of those shower caps women sometimes wear in the shower, but one on steroids.


So what would you advise someone to manufacture.
 
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No I am just a dreamer not one to actually follow through. If you wish to pursue it be my guest.
 
Deacon,
Maybe just carry a roll of syran wrap and wrap the battery up tight and water proof. Cut it off with scissors when you get home. ??? Not very neat and tidy but might work until you find the steroid shower cap.
.trk.
 
Actually I did that for a while then I reconfigured them a few times lol... Oh well it was just a random thought anyway. Also I can't seal them up since I use the terminals to charge them up individually.
 
At the grocery store in Columbus Ohio they sell what I think you are looking for. They are called bowl covers and should be in the plastic wrap isle. They come in many different sizes and some cool colors too. Hope that helps.

JJ
 
You know those are all good thoughts and we probably should find just the right size box with a lid somewhere. The battery pack for a pair of 12ah batteries is 6 x 8 x 4 so if you come across anything let me know. something with handles would be really good.

I leave the trailer hooked up to the robo tandem and remove the pack for charging. The power trailer for the bubba bike comes into the house for charging. But it could use a box with a top. It's in a box but it has no top and the box isn't strong enough to be hoisting around much. So if you find something let me know.
 
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I found a couple of small "shoulder" bags in the backpack section of Walmart. They look like mini backpacks, but with shoulder straps and are made with the same heavy nylon fabric as better backpacks. They're the perfect size for a 24 volt dual battery pack. On the top, there's even a carrying handle. Makes for moving the pack around much easier as the whole thing becomes the pack. Just have to make wiring harnesses to stay with the pack. The double pull zipper top makes it easy to pass the harness through a small hole anywhere along the top of the pack.

I happen to use nylon panniers off my rear rack for my packs so this bag and pack fits perfectly into them, but they're fairly weather proof in their own right.

I forget how much I paid for those bags, but they were cheap.

I was also thinking of modifying them to fit as panniers themselves. Just need some metal strap for the "hook" over the rear rack and 1/4" plywood and rivets to hold everything together. The commercial panniers have a 1/16" thick plastic sheet on the inside and everything is secured with screws and nuts.

The board is cut to fit the back of the bag on the inside. Use the rivets and some washers to secure the board to the bag. Form a couple of hooks with the steel strapping and secure to the back of the now reinforced bag with either rivets or short screws and nuts and connect a small bungie cord with a hook at the bottom of the bag to keep the bottom from flapping. Tadaaa! Totally sealable pannier style battery packs.

Neat thing about this setup is it gets the pack off from the top of the rear rack and drops the center of gravity lower for a more stable ride. Of course if you're using a trailer you still gotta figure out where to mount them. But at least you'll have totally self contained and weather proof units that can be easily removed for maintainence.
 
That might work, I'll try to remember to look. I don't usually think of fabric but I could do that no problem since the trailers have a holder built into them.
 
jjstanza said:
At the grocery store in Columbus Ohio they sell what I think you are looking for. They are called bowl covers and should be in the plastic wrap isle. They come in many different sizes and some cool colors too. Hope that helps.

JJ
Click to expand...

Yes I have used jjstanza's idea many times. here's what they look like. (elasticized bowl covers)
 

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Here's another idea, how about 2 brushelless hub motors, one to keep the bike moving and the other to recharge the battery while you are riding. Has anyone thought of this before, I mean another hub would only be like 5-10 pounds.
 
Actually I tried a pusher and a hub together. It blew both my fuses but you could make it work. However the recharge would be less than you expend. If not you would have perpetual motion. You could just as easily hook up a small dedicated alternator/generator on the none drive wheel somehow. I expect that would be less expensive and work better.

Anything would help I expect. I think the big break will come from automobile technology in the next couple of years. I have already seen the cells from a Toyota hybrid on ebay. When they get the technology for the batteries into full production they should drop like a rock. When that happens a 50 ah lithium polymer battery will be possible for a bike. A fifty amp hour should give you about 60 miles of helper engine or 40 of mostly motor running.

Of course the flux generator might come first.

Part of our problem will be with more power people will try to turn the ebike into a mini motorcycle. And that my friends will cause regulations just like the mopeds are fighting now. As long as the bike stays under twenty five miles an hour, I think the lawmakers will be hard pressed to do much to them. "Especially the home brew bikes like mine," he said wishfully....
 
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