The charger gets hot

[McInner1]

As the title says: the charger of my Levo 2019 (700Wh) gets quite hot during the charging process. You can still touch it without burning yourself but it smells a bit like too hot electronics after 4-5 hours of operation.
Is that normal?

 

[jemen]

As the title says: the charger of my Levo 2019 (700Wh) gets quite hot during the charging process. You can still touch it without burning yourself but it smells a bit like too hot electronics after 4-5 hours of operation.
Is that normal?

Yes.

 

[Mikerb]

Ensure plenty of air flow around it and heat sink by laying it on a stone surface. Dont leave it on once charging has finished.

 

[Mattwilko92]

Dont leave it on once charging has finished.

Why not? Once charging has finished the load on the charger unit will be lower and thus will cool down? Completely normal.

 

[Perry01]

Why not? Once charging has finished the load on the charger unit will be lower and thus will cool down? Completely normal.

Because it says in the owner’s manual to unplug it when not in use. Fire hazard.

 

[Mikerb]

So a timely reminder for anyone that needs it. 2 nights ago the fire brigade turned up at my neighbours house at midnight. He had his motorhome hooked to the mains to charge the leisure battery. Late at night he heard a faint beeping sound.....traced it to the CO2 alarm inside his camper. Checked the battery and it soaking wet and too hot to touch. Fire brigade told him he was minutes away from it catching fire. Charging regulator had failed. Fire brigade said dont put trust in a simple electrical component that could fail at anytime. A leisure battery fire by itself would be easy to put out except that it would probably have spread to the materials inside the van. A li-on battery fire is not easy to control...it needs no external oxygen to continue burning

 

[salko]

Because it says in the owner’s manual to unplug it when not in use. Fire hazard.

I think not exactly Fire hazzard, but leaving the battery plugged in for a long time after it is full is not good for the battery ...

 

[TheBikePilot]

It shuts off after the charging cycle is complete. Mine does get very hot. Also after a ride wipe away the battery connectors or let them dry after washing.

I found this out the hard way frying a charger..!

 

[DTZ]

Whilst away in our motorhome over the summer we stayed on a campsite that charged for electricity by the KWH, when we went to leave after a few days the campsite owners claimed we had used a massive amount of electricity. After a few discussions the bill was substantially reduced, but it got me thinking as whilst on that site I charged my bike 4 or 5 times.

Since returning home I have measured the electricity usage of the bike charger using a plug in meter, and I have to say in these days of "green" consumer devices the Specialised charger isn't really very good! (I actually tested two chargers as we have one for each bike)

Whilst charging the battery the charger uses approximately 96-105watts of electricity, charging a battery from approx 20% up to 100% used 0.6kwh of electricity - which is pretty bad for a 500kwh battery. I estimate a full charge of the battery would use approx 0.8kwh - so around 0.3kwh lost to heat / wastage.

What was of bigger concern to me though was the energy usage of the charger both after the charge is complete, but also when the charger is completely unplugged from the bike. In this state (effectively doing nothing) the charger continues to use 16watts of power. If left switched on at the wall outlet it will use this electricity 24x7 - when we consider modern TV's etc advertise <0.01w when on standby the Specialised charger looks to be incredibly inefficient.

Based on these findings I would recommend unplugging your charger from the wall whenever it isn't being used - you will save money!

Please also note that these figures are based on a UK 240v charger system.

 

[TheBikePilot]

Also, if you have a motorhome with a suitable inverter it will suck most single leisure batteries dry for a full charge of one bike..

It draws around 4A as well...

 

[Mattwilko92]

Whilst away in our motorhome over the summer we stayed on a campsite that charged for electricity by the KWH, when we went to leave after a few days the campsite owners claimed we had used a massive amount of electricity. After a few discussions the bill was substantially reduced, but it got me thinking as whilst on that site I charged my bike 4 or 5 times.

Since returning home I have measured the electricity usage of the bike charger using a plug in meter, and I have to say in these days of "green" consumer devices the Specialised charger isn't really very good! (I actually tested two chargers as we have one for each bike)

Whilst charging the battery the charger uses approximately 96-105watts of electricity, charging a battery from approx 20% up to 100% used 0.6kwh of electricity - which is pretty bad for a 500kwh battery. I estimate a full charge of the battery would use approx 0.8kwh - so around 0.3kwh lost to heat / wastage.

What was of bigger concern to me though was the energy usage of the charger both after the charge is complete, but also when the charger is completely unplugged from the bike. In this state (effectively doing nothing) the charger continues to use 16watts of power. If left switched on at the wall outlet it will use this electricity 24x7 - when we consider modern TV's etc advertise
Based on these findings I would recommend unplugging your charger from the wall whenever it isn't being used - you will save money!

Please also note that these figures are based on a UK 240v charger system.

The charger has to have some loss and isn’t comparable to a TV. Your charger is converting 240v AC to DC and also self managing the charge cycle via the BMS for yours and your batteries safety. This cant be done for free (tongue and cheek based on the fact you want zero loss).

 

[DTZ]

Also, if you have a motorhome with a suitable inverter it will suck most single leisure batteries dry for a full charge of one bike..

It draws around 4A as well...

Our motorhome does not have an inverter so the charger was plugged into one of the 240v sockets and ultimately fed directly from the campsite 240v.

When I measured I saw a maximum of 105w at 235v which is actually only 0.45amp.

4amp at 235v would mean 940watts - I can't see the charger ever using this much power and I didn;t see anything like that usage when I measured. My kettle doesn't use much more power than that! I think the 4amp rating may be on the output rather than the input.

 

[DTZ]

The charger has to have some loss and isn’t comparable to a TV. Your charger is converting 240v AC to DC and also self managing the charge cycle via the BMS for yours and your batteries safety. This cant be done for free (tongue and cheek based on the fact you want zero loss).

I'm not too concerned about the loss during charging, but the 16watt power usage when doing nothing (not even connected to the bike) is not at all efficient.

Ultimately though I did these measurements after the campsite claimed we used so much electricity. I just wanted to confirm that the bike charging wasn't using lots and lots of electricity. It was the only item in our trip that hadn't been with us before.

Now I look back at it I think the campsite may have been pulling a fast one, they were the only ones with the access to the hookup cabinets with the meters and they did both the plug in and disconnect of our motorhome and the reading of the usage.

 

[salko]

Burning 16W of electricy for a whole year will cost me about 8,5€ (I'm paying about 0,06€/kWh) so you all don't need to be so dramatic

 

[DTZ]

Burning 16W of electricy for a whole year will cost me about 8,5€ (I'm paying about 0,06€/kWh) so you all don't need to be so dramatic

I wish electricity was that cheap in the UK! I think we average around 14-16p per KW/H depending on supplier

Hopefully you're not in Austria because the campsite was charging me 0,80€/kWh - that would be some mark up!

 

[Mattwilko92]

The charger has to have some loss and isn’t comparable to a TV. Your charger is converting 240v AC to DC and also self managing the charge cycle via the BMS for yours and your batteries safety. This cant be done for free (tongue and cheek based on the fact you want zero loss).

I'm not too concerned about the loss during charging, but the 16watt power usage when doing nothing (not even connected to the bike) is not at all efficient.

Ultimately though I did these measurements after the campsite claimed we used so much electricity. I just wanted to confirm that the bike charging wasn't using lots and lots of electricity. It was the only item in our trip that hadn't been with us before.

Now I look back at it I think the campsite may have been pulling a fast one, they were the only ones with the access to the hookup cabinets with the meters and they did both the plug in and disconnect of our motorhome and the reading of the usage.

16W @ 240v is only 0.06A.

Its bugger all.

Campsite were 100% trying to do you over; they probably spotted you had an ebike which they knew needed charging.

 

[R120]

I use a timer plug, which turns off the charger after a set period. This is the one I use

Variable Rundown Timer Plug

 

[MarkH]

If you think a Levo charge gets hot you shouldn't try the Decoy charger. I can barely hold mine once it gets toward the end of a full charge. I've actually put a USB fan over it in the back of the van whilst I charge it on the road.