Charging on-the-go

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Revision as of 16:36, 13 June 2017 by Noahsw (talk | contribs) (Added battery options)
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Use at your own risk. I am not responsible if you break your Onewheel, injure yourself, someone else, or burn your house down.


Overview of options

You have to choose what’s most important to you. Every option has tradeoffs on price, weight, capacity, and safety.

Option Pros Cons
Car inverter
  1. Lots of options on the market
  2. Don’t have to carry anything while riding
  3. Safe
  1. Must be at your car to charge
  2. Need to make sure it can handle 300W load
AC battery pack (e.g. Chafon)
  1. Most common solution
  2. Safe
  3. Includes multiple USB ports and outlets
  1. Heavy (10lbs w/ battery and charger)
  2. You must carry charger too
  3. AC->DC is inefficient from energy perspective
  4. Expensive ($300+)
  5. Battery capacity readings are wildly inaccurate
DC battery pack (e.g. solar charger)
  1. Lightest solution
  2. Most energy efficient (DC->DC)
  3. Lots of battery choices
  1. Most technical. Requires soldering.
  2. Safety is dependent on batteries used


Onewheel specs

  • Charger output: 58V 3.5A
  • Charger capacity: 130Wh
  • Wattage required to charge: 250-300W


AC battery pack

The idea is to use an AC battery pack with the standard Onewheel charger.

Option Pros Cons
Chafon CF-UPS008

$290 for 2 charges (288Wh)

  1. Most common option in community
  1. Modified sine wave
  2. Heavy - 7lbs

igoeshopping
$311 for 2 charges (288Wh)

  1. Pure sine wave
  1. Heavy - 7lbs

AMSU
$300 for 2.5 charges (330Wh)

  1. Pure sine wave
  1. Heavy - 7lbs


DC battery pack

The idea is to use a solar charge controller to upconvert a portable battery’s voltage to the 58V that the Onewheel expects. The solar charge controller is typically used to charge a battery via a solar panel. However in this case, your portable battery takes place of the solar panel and your Onewheel is the battery you’re charging.

Make sure you protect your battery with something soft in case you wipeout while riding. I suggest packing foam.

Step 1: choose a battery and charger

Battery options Specs Pros Cons
36V 12.5Ah Lithium Scooter battery $209 for 3.5 charges (450Wh) @ 5lbs
  1. Most bang for buck in terms of cost and capacity
  2. AC charger included
  3. Safe since it's LiOn
  1. No BMS
36V 4.4ah Lithium batteries from eBay $60 for ~1 charge (158Wh)
  1. Cheap ($60)
  2. A couple folks in the community have had luck with this
  1. Lots of fakes
LiFePO4 $35 for ½ charge (42Wh?) @ 1lb
  1. Safe. This is the same kind of battery that the Onewheel uses.
  1. Less than one charge
52V Mighty Mini $230 for 2.5 charges (300Wh) @ 3.3lb
  1. Safe
  2. It should be possible to charge it with stock OW charger (to be confirmed)
  1. Unsure how to upconvert 52V to 58V as the solar charger doesn’t support 52V as input
Lithium battery from Jet.com $129 for ~1 charge (158Wh) @ 2.6lbs
  1. Safe (UL certified supposedly)
  2. Can be charged with LunaCycle charger
  1. No BMS
36V LiGo $150 for <1 charge (98Wh) @ 1.3lbs
  1. Safe w/ BMS
  2. Lightweight
  3. Can be charged with LunaCycle charger
  4. Designed to be rugged
  1. Less than one charge