pauschl

I have a wilderness electric 36 BL kit on my bike. I love it but the smart chargers have given me much grief. I've had several (from WE) and they all do the same thing. If I follow instructions and first plug the charger into the batteries then into the wall outlet the charger will almost always go directly to finished charging mode (flashing green). At times when I can stay and watch it I've left it like this and occasionally it will start charging (red light) but usually it will just sit like this and I've damaged batteries like this because they sit with a low charge.

So after I ride I first plug into the wall outlet and have to do this a few times until the charger will show solid green and I can hear the motor running inside. Then I have to plug it into the batteries in one quick move so it will start charging. If I do it slow or jiggle it at all it will go to finished charging mode and I have to keep trying until I get it plugged in and it stays on red... VERY annoying.

Has anyone experienced this? Do you have a suggestion for a reliable charger? I also am interested in using a solar charger. Any suggestions?

knurly

While 12v solar battery maintainers won't charge your battery quickly, they might be safe to leave unattended. If you have a 36v battery, I would string 3 regular solar chargers together to get the volts needed. Of course, the solar idea does you no good if you happen to get to your campground late in the day. An hour for lunch wouldn't give your battery much of a boost neither.

Short of a pocket nuclear reactor that folds into a utility tool, maybe a hydrogen fuel cell is what you're wanting?