Meetup Message Board Update

   Hello to all my fellow Toronto e-bikers, blog readers, and just curious guests! Today I finally figured out how to regularly post news and updates from an excellent Meetup group called Toronto Electric Riders Association or symbolically  - "TERA" of which I am active and proud member myself (which makes me wondering  - should I call myself now "TERArian" or "TERArist"? :-), so here it is. Now every visitor of this blog will be able to learn about this abundant source of all kind of help, advice and assistance for all active and interested e-riders of T.O. I hope within the time these updates will bring many more new e-bikers from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, US and from around the world to TERA where we can share our visions, ideas and thoughts.

*Please do not reply to this message*
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You asked that we send you a summary of Meetup message board activity. The following is a list of discussions with new messages posted since October 10, 2012 3:45 AM.
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TORONTO ELECTRIC RIDERS ASSOCIATION
Forum: Private Group Discussion Forum
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STRATEGY - Public Works and Infrastructure Committee meeting October 11
http://www.ebikeriders.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=27275032
Latest message by m3chen on October 10, 2012 at 3:32 PM

Lock is in the hospital
http://www.ebikeriders.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=27606732
Latest message by Katie Tucker on October 10, 2012 at 6:38 PM

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TORONTO ELECTRIC RIDERS ASSOCIATION
Forum: Where to buy an e-bike or e-bike accessories?
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Advice needed to get my ebike back on the road.
http://www.ebikeriders.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=27704592
Latest message by Lubo Ebiker on October 10, 2012 at 2:33 PM

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TORONTO ELECTRIC RIDERS ASSOCIATION
Forum: E-bike Experiences
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Changing from large scooter style e-bike to smaller
http://www.ebikeriders.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=27422432
Latest message by Fred Weigel on October 10, 2012 at 8:35 AM

My experience using LifePo4 so far and some advice
http://www.ebikeriders.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=26277482
Latest message by Ramon on October 10, 2012 at 9:38 PM

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TORONTO ELECTRIC RIDERS ASSOCIATION
Forum: E-Bike Technical Forum
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I guess it had to happen sooner or later ... :(
http://www.ebikeriders.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=27453472
Latest message by m3chen on October 10, 2012 at 3:17 PM

BMS wiring
http://www.ebikeriders.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=27724582
Latest message by Tariq Aziz on October 11, 2012 at 12:20 AM

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TORONTO ELECTRIC RIDERS ASSOCIATION
Forum: Biker Bar
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Who Killed the Electric Carriage?
http://www.ebikeriders.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=25424232
Latest message by Allan Harmsworth on October 11, 2012 at 2:27 AM

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TORONTO ELECTRIC RIDERS ASSOCIATION
Forum: Top 20 Questions with Snappy (but accurate) comebacks.
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Winter Riding - I am planning on leaving on my pedals but removing the chain
http://www.ebikeriders.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=27189872
Latest message by Andy McKenna on October 10, 2012 at 10:17 AM



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If you do not want your e-bike battery look like this...

   If you do not want your batteries look like in the picture above, here's my personal humble piece of advice that works with any charger. Just to be on the safe side after one morning I've found my battery almost "red hot" (but luckily not melted, swollen and fused together) I've got the idea to use a regular cheap mechanical cyclic timer along with the chargers I plug in the timer. I set the timer to turn OFF and ON every 15 minutes, so the batteries and chargers have time to cool down and chargers detect the charging state of the battery better when just turned ON as I've noticed after dealing with about a dozen of  different chargers for the last 5 years of e-biking.

   This way chargers do not have a chance to get stuck in the ON state charging indefinitely until the battery melts. Besides, since the timer is 24 hours while only approximately 6 to 8 hours is needed for a complete charging of the battery, you can set up additional 3 or 4 zones or charging modes for your battery like extended charging periods or extend the cooling time. If that sounds too complicated or too "techie" to you, you can always order the right timer already setup for all these modes just by letting me know that you need one, pay by PayPal or e-mail and get it soon by a regular mail or UPS or you can purchase it thru E-bay if  it is more convenient or preferable way for you.

   You can find timers anywhere, even in dollar store these days, but make sure they are mechanical, cyclic and are able to switch as often as every 15 minutes to make sure your charger doesn't get too much rest during the night shift :-). Usually cheap timers are able to switch ON and OFF only every 30 minutes, so those with better 15 min timing resolution are a bit harder to find, but not too hard. I picked one from Walmart for 20 bucks or so which comes with the power bar, so you should find one like those easy as well.  So, that's just my two cents in preventing battery melting - the cheap and easiest way (at least until you're rich enough to afford a better charger that does not melt any batteries at all :-) Obviously aforementioned method is just a preventive measure, it is not a panacea to prevent overcharging. After all there are also just plain faulty batteries with shorted cells and so on, so keep an eye even with timer on your charger and battery as often as possible. But panacea or universal and foolproof method of preventing battery melting actually does exist. That would be a thermal shutdown protection, which turns off the charger as soon as the battery temperature reaches the certain temperature threshold like let's say 40C. I'm going to look for this sort of solution, so stay tuned and visit my blog or sign up for updates.  

   And if you find a better solution or even cheaper 15 minutes timers here in Toronto, let all the readers here know posting down bellow your findings in the comments. That would be your two cents :-) Thank you in advance!

Lubo Ebiker.

Tranquillity of trailing the trailer on a green forest trail :-)

  Greetings from Lubo Ebiker to all my blog readers and visitors!

   Let me congratulate everyone with the beginning of a new 2011 e-riding season we all were patiently waiting for so long and can finally enjoy it after another extremely long and cold Canadian winter :-)  

   EbikerLubo.BlogSpot flips a new page for this wonderful season to keep you inspired and well informed on the latest trends in e-biking here in Canada, particularly in Toronto and GTA as well as in the whole world.

   Because of a substantial interest, on demand of my fellow Toronto e-bikers from Ebikeriders.com  for those, who is not a member of that excellent forum for TO e-bikers yet, I decided to post few pictures here of my improvised trailer I made myself last year from a regular heavy duty dolly, heavy duty caster wheel base as a hitch and a wire fence clamp to reliably keep them together that could  be all  readily and easily purchased  in Canadian Tire  or Rona here in Canada anytime or anywhere in the North America in Home Depot or Lowe's stores.

   Here are few words I have published recently at EbikeRiders.com as a quick review of daily usage of such a trailer out of my personal experience.

   "A big heavy duty wheel caster from Home Depot or Canadian Tire bolted upside down without a wheel on top of the rear rack, a heavy duty dolly (not a P-handle) for $50 from Canadian Tire plus a fence clamp to piece it together - works fine as an improvised trailer for me for the second season already.

   Cost-wise it's much cheaper than bicycle trailer for kids and much more convenient and versatile just like any other dolly would be. Removes easy from the bike by removing only one nut and bolt. Lets me easy bring batteries to an apartment on the 6th floor or bring half of a skid of bricks from a nearby construction site, takes 3 times more load than e-bike can handle :-)

   Speaking of the way to attach the trailer, there are pros and cons for all of them. For instance, if you extend the rear fork on one or both sides and hitch the trailer flat, then it doesn't block stop light, but it's harder to extend the fork and you can not take longer loads, also there is more load directly on the already heavily loaded rear wheel yet bypassing shocks, which soften the extra load and stress on a bumpy road. If you attach under the rack, the load might block rear lights and there is a good chance to damage the plastic when backing up with the trailer at sharp angle. So the best way for me so far is when hitch is installed on the top of a rear rack, but I have to extend my rear lights and remove the trunk box, which is ok for me, but might not work for somebody else. The best way I guess is to make the hitch easily removable too using some wing nuts and attach it in a way that is the best for a particular application or task.

   Now, word of caution. Out of my experience 350W bike is good only for up to about 100 lbs and when it's cold outside and no steep hills just for short trips. I successfully fried yesterday my smaller scooter's motor controller halfway to that exhibition, which is sad, though not a big deal for me, since I basically was waiting for the controller to die so I can finally replace it with a full size 12 FETs much better Daymak controller like I did on my first bike last year, but if that was my only bike I would have to shell out about 150 bucks to fix it and wait for a couple of weeks for repairs.

   For safety I also tie it with a cable and lock to the bike rack. Another thing to mention, speaking of safety are brakes, they better be disk brakes, but drums are sufficient, provided that they both work fine.

   Frame also flexes alot even with only 100-200lbs trailer on bumpy roads of which there are many here in TO, so some plastic might come off prematurely or even crack where it locks. Yesterday actually I got my trailer flipped for the first time when going at full speed on Willson Ave east of  Dufferin St, the road there was worse than in Ukrainian village :-) The bike was ok though, the hitch allowed enough freedom  for the trailer to flip on it's side without flipping the bike along with it. I just had to hold  the handlebar firm to still keep the scooter upright, so it's better to slow down on a bad road to some 15-20kmph, though it's easy to get used to going at full speed with the trailer behind after a while like with the car.

   Police never stopped me so far questioning the trailer or hitch design, so it probably does look solid, well done and reliable from their point of view.

   Speaking of drivers, some hesitate to pass or drive slowly behind staring at  the trailer, slowing down the traffic behind them and then blaming blocking of the road on us, especially ladies, so I must watch my mirrors and encourage them to pass safely time to time, even though the trailer is not any wider than the bike's handlebar, but  that's often the case even without the trailer for some mysterious reason. Some cheer up laughing and yelling jokes, when I'm moving big loads, others stop and admit that it's good idea worth to remember, trying to have a better look at the hitch, etc.

   Future improvements - wider wheel base to avoid flipping and maybe larger wheels for better coasting plus installation of light reflectors, red-white strips or even perimeter lights for safe riding during the dark, use bike flashers. Also it makes sense to extend the rear and front plastic dirt deflectors and make sure there is one on the dolly as well, otherwise dolly gets dirty quite fast. For the controller I'm going to install a fan or two with a switch to keep it cool when towing heavy loads at lower speed uphill during the hot summer day. Bolt removable big plastic box or two to the dolly to haul the small stuff, etc.

   For straps, those ratchet straps from a Dollar Rama work fine for me. The color is bright orange which I didn't quite like initially, but it definitely does add to the overall safety and visibility on the road :-)"

   That's all for now. If there's going to be even more interest here, I'll continue to post on that topic and eventually write more in depth review of my trailing experience here in TO. 

   If anyone has any questions, ideas or suggestions regarding my trailer, I'll do my best to answer timely them all here as well, so questions are welcome.

   Now here are some pics I took at my e-bike with the trailer attached, they are pretty much self-explanatory. You can click on them to enlarge for a more detailed view or right-click and open in a new tab for your convenience...

DISCLAIMER

   All said above is not to encourage anyone to make a trailer the way I made, using my hitch design or ask me to make one  for them, even though I can do it properly thanks to my extensive personal experience, or even to promote trailing at all, because obviously I cannot take responsibility for everyone's actions, safety or driving habits, except my own. 

   This blog article serves rather as an overview of my own two years long experience of towing the trailer  with an e-bike which I would like to share with all fellow e-bikers around the world who feels confident and seasoned enough to use my experience properly, carefully, safely and securely for their own good, and at their own risk to make their life easier and e-biking more practical and popular, giving the world another chance to live cars at home and e-ride instead, thus keeping the air cleaner, road safer and living  - greener. 

Retail Outlets Can Now Profit from Customers Needing Electricity Access for e-Bikes and Laptops

 

Pay-per-charge service makes recharging batteries as easy as buying long-distance minutes
LINCOLNSHIRE, IL and KITCHENER, ON, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ - Retailers across North America can now offer a revolutionary new service to customers whose cell phones, iPads, computers, e-bikes, e-scooters and other electronic devices need a charge. 2D2C, Inc.'s new SafePlug(R) Model 1200-P3 pay-per-use electrical outlet makes it safe and easy for retailers to provide pay-per-use electrical outlet access to the public.
"Customers will be able to purchase a pre-paid card that entitles them to a number of charges. They will simply touch the card to the SafePlug electrical outlet to have access to power for a set period of time to use or recharge their electronic device," said Steven Montgomery, Chief Operating Officer at 2D2C, Inc. "In today's world, recharging electronic devices and vehicles anytime, anywhere is going to be a necessity."
Everyone can relate to the frustration of running out of battery charge on computers or handheld devices prior to taking a long flight, or being stuck in a remote location with no means to recharge. Montgomery anticipates high demand for the SafePlug outlets in convenience stores, airports, hotel lobbies, malls and more. The device received eager interest on October 8, 2010 from retail store owners at the NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores) trade show in Atlanta http://www.nacsonline.com/nacsshow/Pages/default.aspx).
The SafePlug 1200-P3's patented technology adds a high-value and high-return offering for retailers, while being affordable and convenient for users (for more detail go to: www.SafePlugOnDemand.com). The P3 pre-paid cards required to activate the outlets are available in either a plastic key-fob version or a credit-card sized paper version. The cards can carry retailer labeling and color advertising information for added benefit and can be dispensed from kiosks or at the counter.
The SafePlug 1200-P3 outlet will turn on electricity to its receptacle socket only after it reads a P3TM pre-paid card. The P3 card will be pre-loaded with a set number of fixed duration, charge-time credits. For example, a 20-minute charge time can typically restore 30-40 percent capacity for Li-ion rechargeable batteries commonly used in newer e-bicycles, e-mopeds, laptops and cell phones. Montgomery feels that most customers stuck for power won't mind the wait.
"It's truly a revolutionary design due to its built-in security to prevent 'power theft' by users who haven't pre-paid. The SafePlug outlet has LED indicators to show when it's charging and the credits left on the P3TM Pre-Paid Power card," said Montgomery. "The SafePlug system incorporates a lot of the features customers are familiar with when buying long-distance minutes or using an ATM, so it's going to be easy for people to start using the service."
The device even has 'anti-bully' technology to prevent someone from removing a customer's charge plug and inserting their own; the outlet will recognize the change of equipment and cut off the power feed. For the retailer's peace of mind, the SafePlug 1200-P3 system has built-in security features to prevent tampering with the pre-paid-cards or counterfeiting.
"The possibilities for this product are only limited by imagination," said Montgomery. "Wherever people are living, working, travelling or relaxing, they take electronic devices and the reality is, even the most sophisticated device is useless without a charge."
About 2D2C Inc.
2D2C, Inc. (www.2d2c.com) develops electrical wiring innovations for safety, energy and security. 2D2C, Inc. holds a number of patents on electrical safety and wiring devices and licenses its technology to other companies. Additionally, 2D2C, Inc. sells its own "SafePlug" product brand (www.SafePlugOnDemand.com). (SafePlug is a registered trademark and P3 is a trademark of 2D2C, Inc.) 2D2C, Inc., a Delaware company, was founded in 1999 with headquarters in Lincolnshire, IL and operational facilities in Kitchener, ON Canada.
SOURCE 2D2C, Inc.