Shorten my ebike charger cord?
May 8, 2019 5:41 PM Subscribe
I own the 700c GeoOrbital wheel. I'd like to downsize the power cable of my charger. The cord that plugs into the converter brick is 6ft. I'd prefer one that's 1 or 2 feet long. How can I safely buy a shorter replacement?
The plug is stamped "SELF-MAN SM-006" and "E119543 10A 125V"
After googling around, it looks like this cable would do the trick. Can anyone confirm it won't set my bike's lithium battery on fire?
The plug is stamped "SELF-MAN SM-006" and "E119543 10A 125V"
After googling around, it looks like this cable would do the trick. Can anyone confirm it won't set my bike's lithium battery on fire?
That 18AWG one is rated for 125V, 10A, which is what the plug says right on it. BUT there's not much reason not to get the 14AWG one.
posted by aubilenon at 5:55 PM on May 8, 2019
posted by aubilenon at 5:55 PM on May 8, 2019
Just adding this plug has a huge variety of names to help searching if the 14awg one linked too isn't your choice. They're called IEC cords, D plugs, or HP plugs (that one is especially old).
posted by chasles at 6:05 PM on May 8, 2019
posted by chasles at 6:05 PM on May 8, 2019
There is absolutely no reason to use a heavy duty mains cable to feed a battery charger. Heavy duty cables are for things that consume hundreds to thousands of watts, like gaming PCs and electric kettles. I'd be astonished to learn that your charger consumes anywhere near that, but let's run some numbers:
According to the GeoOrbital product page you linked, the 700C version has a 374 watt-hour battery with a recharge time of 4 hours. Assuming 60% overall efficiency, which is well on the low side for a Li-ion battery fed from a charging brick with a switching power supply inside, that means that the charger needs to draw 374Wh ÷ 60% ÷ 4h = ~150W from the mains supply. At 110V, that requires 150 watts ÷ 110 volts = 1.3 amps to flow through the mains cable into the power brick.
That's way less current than the ten amps that the 300mm 18AWG cable you're asking about is rated for, and since that cable is so short, its resistance would be negligible even with much thinner wires than that. It's fine.
posted by flabdablet at 7:53 PM on May 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
According to the GeoOrbital product page you linked, the 700C version has a 374 watt-hour battery with a recharge time of 4 hours. Assuming 60% overall efficiency, which is well on the low side for a Li-ion battery fed from a charging brick with a switching power supply inside, that means that the charger needs to draw 374Wh ÷ 60% ÷ 4h = ~150W from the mains supply. At 110V, that requires 150 watts ÷ 110 volts = 1.3 amps to flow through the mains cable into the power brick.
That's way less current than the ten amps that the 300mm 18AWG cable you're asking about is rated for, and since that cable is so short, its resistance would be negligible even with much thinner wires than that. It's fine.
posted by flabdablet at 7:53 PM on May 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks for the helpful comments! Using some of your suggested language, I found that Monoprice has some at $1.19.
posted by andythebean at 8:28 PM on May 8, 2019
posted by andythebean at 8:28 PM on May 8, 2019
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Fortunately for you, the 2 ft. 14 AWG version is several dollars cheaper.
posted by jamjam at 5:51 PM on May 8, 2019