# E-bike camping



## cakeface (12 Jun 2017)

Hi all I'm thinking of taking my self off for a weeks camping tour on my e-bike. I have no experience of campsites, do facilities usually include somewhere to recharge batteries? Not contemplating any of this Ray Mears wild camping lark.


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## mjr (12 Jun 2017)

Where are you thinking of going? I've seen "Ecotap" e-bike charging points (green pillars next to bike stands) in the Netherlands, but it's probably safest to check with sites first.


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## AnneW (21 Jun 2017)

Interesting for me as I'm looking to cycle JOGLE and need to see where I can recharge.


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## rualexander (22 Jun 2017)

Most campsites have electricity hook-up sites for campervans and caravans, just ask for one when you check in to the campsite, and plug your bike battery into the hook-up using whatever cable you use at home plus a suitable adapter for the hook-up point.


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## Tigerbiten (22 Jun 2017)

Depending on what time you arrive and want to leave, it may be cheaper to ask if you can charge the battery overnight in the office, £1 extra to a local charity vs £5 extra for an official electric pitch.

I've found on my travels that ..........
The UK and northern europe tends to use the blue waterproof adapter.
Southern and eastern europe tend to use their local domestic plug.


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## Topfmine (28 Jul 2017)

Interesting point about the future of E bikes remote charging. I suppose when technology advances you will be able to stop and charge your bike with solar or a inverter type power pack or pedal back power and recharge you batteries?????? So you are independent in remote areas where there is no electric. I think this can only happen when battery technology advances way past lifepo4. We are at an age where someone can make a name in battery technology just like the inventors who developed the motor bike and car or aeroplane around the 1900s. I do hope that standards are formed with batteries and made simple rather than a mish mash of different voltages and sizes which will leave a lot of perfectly good bikes redundant as I have mentioned in another topic.


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## Salad Dodger (7 Aug 2017)

In UK, power is usually delivered to camping pitches by a very heavy duty cable, with a blue tubular 3 pin plug on one end, and a blue tubular 3 pin socket on the other end. Neither end will fit your normal 13amp, 240 volt mains plug, which you presumably have on your charger. It is the responsibility of each camper to provide his/her own cable - the campsite does not provide them.
I suppose you could make up a cable with the correct blue socket on one end and a 13amp domestic socket on the other end, but it would be a faff, and to have the cable long enough to stretch from the electricity "bollard", which often serves 4 pitches, you would probably need 15 metres of heavy duty cable, which will be heavy and bulky to carry about with you.
In Northern Europe, some sites use the same types of plugs as UK sites do. Others use bollards with the local 3 pin design of sockets. In our campervan we carry a small conversion lead - 1 end with Euro 3 pin plug, the other with blue UK socket, which we can then join on to our UK standard power lead to feed power to the van.
It would be much easier to ask if the campsite staff will charge it, for a fee or a donation, from their mains power, but if they refuse then you are stuck!

One last thought - I have seen people charging phones from the shaver point in campsite washrooms. Not sure how practical it would be to attempt to recharge a whole ebike battery in that way......


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## mjr (7 Aug 2017)

Salad Dodger said:


> I suppose you could make up a cable with the correct blue socket on one end and a 13amp domestic socket on the other end, but it would be a faff, and to have the cable long enough to stretch from the electricity "bollard", which often serves 4 pitches, you would probably need 15 metres of heavy duty cable, which will be heavy and bulky to carry about with you.


I may be overlooking an obvious problem but couldn't you just use something like https://www.campingworld.co.uk/en/Kampa-Mains-3-Pin-Socket-Adaptor-2016/m-16948.aspx and alarm-lock the bike or battery to the bollard or near enough for the usual charging cable to reach?


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## AnneW (24 Aug 2017)

We've just done a test weekend of cycling and camping in Buxton, having bought something similar to what mjr mentioned. Which was fine when the weather was good, but it all had to be put away when it rained. I've come up with a plan to deal with that involving an emergency survival bag from Go Outdoor. I will let you know how it goes on our next trip.


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## jimelec (9 Oct 2017)

Hi
I did Lejog in August on my gtech and camped about half the way B and B the rest
Used a made up camping connector blue to 13amp plug with thin wire for weight / length ratio 
No problems on campsites
Whole trip took 18 days and really enjoyed it, I used google maps cycle routes and co pilot on iPhone
Missed not having gears so have changed bike to Carrera and hope to the other way next year and camp all the way
I’m no spring chicken and am fairly overweight hence ebike


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## chriscross1966 (9 Oct 2017)

Salad Dodger said:


> In UK, power is usually delivered to camping pitches by a very heavy duty cable, with a blue tubular 3 pin plug on one end, and a blue tubular 3 pin socket on the other end. Neither end will fit your normal 13amp, 240 volt mains plug, which you presumably have on your charger. It is the responsibility of each camper to provide his/her own cable - the campsite does not provide them.
> I suppose you could make up a cable with the correct blue socket on one end and a 13amp domestic socket on the other end, but it would be a faff, and to have the cable long enough to stretch from the electricity "bollard", which often serves 4 pitches, you would probably need 15 metres of heavy duty cable, which will be heavy and bulky to carry about with you.



If you make your own cable up it could be very much lighter duty as all it is powering is the charger, not potentially a kettle... About 15 years ago I did some touring on a Sinclair C5 towing a cycle trailer, I just made sure I booked into sites with electricity and I had made up a lead that would allow me to charge the C5 batteries and do my phone and laptop. As the whole lot pulled less than 2 amps I made the lead up out of 3A rated cable to save weight...


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