USB charging without draining the battery

[Magz]

Hi guys!

 

The point of this charger is to safely charge your USB devices wether the ignition is on or off.  
The problem for me is that if i connect a normal usb charger to the battery, it will be drained after some time.  And i don’t want some of my devices only to charge when the ignition is on. 

 

So i went for a optimate USB 0-100.  Connected this to a SAE plug, and ran the leads to the battery, with a 15A fuse.

This way the charger will always have power.  It turns off the USB port after 3 hours, from the point you stop the motorcycle.  OR if detects 50% or lower battery status, it shuts the unit off.  So you will always have enough power to start the engine.

 

The install:

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by Magz

[Magz]

Connected the battery leads, and pulled the leads under the right side of the tank

[Magz]

Zip tied the wire to the frame under the tank.   Then pulled off the right panel.  Screws to remove the panel shown here. 
 

There are 3 screws to pull out in the last pic.  It’s all black here, so it was difficult to get the screws on camera.

 

After the panel was off, i pulled the leads from the battery through the inside of the panel(sorry forgot to take a picture).  And zip tied then to the existing wires.

Edited July 25, 2020 by Magz

[Matth]

Im thinking if it turns off at 50% bike battery the engine wont start.

 

could you not have your optimate battery connected to your usb or ignition so it stops charging when ign key off immediately and you charge your phone from the small battery with what ever charge is in there?

Tidy job buddy!

Edited July 25, 2020 by Matth

[Magz]

For the last step, i pulled the lead to the instrument panel, and once again zip tied it to the inside plastic panel.  
For the last step i had som double sided tape on the side of the instrument panel, and stuck it there.  Nice and sleek.

 

Now the beauty of doing it this way is that if you have a SAE motorcycle charger.  You can unplug the USB charger. And plug in the SAE lead to the motorcycle charger to the battery from here. Or if you have a SAE compressor and so on..  It’s fused with 15Amps, so the leads will handle it.

 

[Magz]

4 minutes ago, Matth said:

Im thinking if it turns off at 50% bike battery the engine wont start.

 

could you not have your optimate battery connected to your usb or ignition so it stops charging when ign key off immediately and you charge your phone from the small battery with what ever charge is in there?

The engine should start at 50%.  If not, there is something wrong with the bike.

 

If i understand your question right.  There is no battery inside the optimate. It’s a «smart usb charger», so it runs diretcly off the battery.  It is not a powerbank.  I have been using this for a couple of weeks now.  And haven’t had any issiues with low battery.   
It has 3 LED diodes on the side to indicate battery status at all times.

 

[duggram]

I'm not understanding why this charge/whatever is needed.  My phone charges so fast on my bikes it's not a problem.  I've never had to charge my inReach Explorer on the bike so I don't know how long it would take.  So why can't you charge your devices while you're riding?  I missing something.

[Magz]

20 hours ago, duggram said:

I'm not understanding why this charge/whatever is needed.  My phone charges so fast on my bikes it's not a problem.  I've never had to charge my inReach Explorer on the bike so I don't know how long it would take.  So why can't you charge your devices while you're riding?  I missing something.

 

This charger functions as a regular charger while driving.  But the difference is that when you shut off the bike it continues to charge for 3 hours without risking flat battery.  For me this is great because i can charge my gopro’s, or computer after the ride while i’m camping.

 

Stay safe

[ScorpionT16]

I installed a power hub that auto shuts of with the ignition, all accersories wired to it, and a USB 3.0 Quick-charge outlet in the front, phone charges super quick, off the bike why not just use a portable power bank, and quick charge the bank while riding using a USB SAE connector at the back?

 

INNOVV Power Hub 1

---

INNOVV Power Hub 1 was developed to meet customer's needs......A customer writes...... " Hi INNOVV, Can you guys develop a power management box to get a reliable switched power source for your motorcycle camera and other devices installed on my motorcycle? It should be simple, solid build, and reasonably...

 

Seems odd to leave you computer, gopros etc... Out on the bike for just 3 hours while camping imo

[duggram]

4 hours ago, Magz said:

 

This charger functions as a regular charger while driving.  But the difference is that when you shut off the bike it continues to charge for 3 hours without risking flat battery.  For me this is great because i can charge my gopro’s, or computer after the ride while i’m camping.

 

Stay safe

You have a computer that charges off of 5volts?  Also, have you looked at the customer reviews on Amazon?  I wonder if it will always work the way you are expecting.  I hope it does but I'm not sure I would feel good about trusting that device to leave me with a enough battery to get home.

[Magz]

On 7/27/2020 at 12:17 AM, ScorpionT16 said:

I installed a power hub that auto shuts of with the ignition, all accersories wired to it, and a USB 3.0 Quick-charge outlet in the front, phone charges super quick, off the bike why not just use a portable power bank, and quick charge the bank while riding using a USB SAE connector at the back?

 

INNOVV Power Hub 1

---

INNOVV Power Hub 1 was developed to meet customer's needs......A customer writes...... " Hi INNOVV, Can you guys develop a power management box to get a reliable switched power source for your motorcycle camera and other devices installed on my motorcycle? It should be simple, solid build, and reasonably...

 

Seems odd to leave you computer, gopros etc... Out on the bike for just 3 hours while camping imo

That seems like a really good solution i must admit.  The reason i went with the Optimate was that i tend to forget to charge my powerbank sometimes.  And because of my clumsyness, i like the idea of having a possibility to charge the go pros when i go wildcamping.  If i forgot to charge the powerbank.  
But if the optimate doesn’t work out in the long run, i will seriously consider something like the one you linked.

Cheers

[Magz]

On 7/27/2020 at 3:10 AM, duggram said:

You have a computer that charges off of 5volts?  Also, have you looked at the customer reviews on Amazon?  I wonder if it will always work the way you are expecting.  I hope it does but I'm not sure I would feel good about trusting that device to leave me with a enough battery to get home.

You are absolutely right. I wrote computer, but i really ment tablet.  My bad.   
I have not checked out the Amazon reviews before.  I will have a look.  
The unit has worked fine for me since i added it 3 weeks ago.  But i will report back if it fails on me.

Cheers