Turbo Trainer & Solar Panels

I think the Stac trainers run on their own (rechargeable) batteries.

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Can it run everything in the shed? If I’m putting out 250w I could run the turbo, the tv(120w) and the fan (80w). Would be good incentive not to stop early

For an hour? Unfortunately even the best equipment will convert and store only a fraction of that.

I’m sure there are engineers on there that have the stats.

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Hmm good point - wasn’t being serious but looking at bicycle dynamos are 80% efficient so maybe

You could probably just get a solar battery maintainer from your local auto-factors/halfords. You would find out pretty fast if the panel was big enough or not. It would be a starting point at least.

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This has the details of how Team Sky uses batteries to power their Kickrs for warm ups before races. Stages, Wahoo sponsor Team Sky, CycleOps sponsors Trek Pro team, and Team Lampre on ROTOR Power, Movistar on Power2Max | DC Rainmaker Plenty light enough to just take inside to recharge when needed.

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+1 this.
I use deep cycle batteries to run my telescope mount and all the heaters that stop the dew ruining this. It also runs my laptop and all the camera equipment for several hours when I find the time and energy.
The power requirement is the same as the Core and it’s easy to get DC 12v fans.

My rule has always been to get a battery that’s got twice the Ah I’ll need. That way you never drop below 50% charge and the batteries last many years.
There are also things like cheap watt meters and voltage regulators (with fuses) that can be wired inline to protect your $$$$ equipment.

Using solar panels to charge works OK, but I’ve always found it easier to make the power supply portable and charge it on mains power.

The builder in me wants to bypass the need for all that and find you an easier way to get power into your garage. Are you sure you can’t run power easily?
There are so many ways to skin a cat.

It would be interesting to see how this system holds up if someone attached the charger while in use. No inline fuse. No voltage regulator. Nothing to stop you reversing polarity by accident.
At least Sky can just grab a few more Kickrs if needed. Cheap as chips really. ;).

PS. Seeing as I already have a decent portable power supply handy I’ll try it on my Core later today and let you know how much current it draws at various resistance levels. I’ve been meaning to test it out anyway.

If the numbers I found for the Core are accurate, ~1.5A at 240V requires at least 360W to run.

HTFU, man.

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I’d caution you to be really really careful with testing out your Core with this stuff. If you aren’t already aware, people are frying the speed sensors in their Kickr Cores left and right because of simple ESD, rendering the trainers useless. I can’t imagine that Wahoo would honor a warranty replacement if you hooked up a power supply other than that which came with the unit.

Anyway, that’s something to consider. Much more here.

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I appreciate the words of caution. I would not recommend anyone void their warranty or risk damaging their expensive turbo trainers.
That’s what I was getting at with my comment about Team Sky’s setup.

I’m really not too concerned about hooking the unit up. The camera chip alone on my other gear is worth more than a Kickr and I had no issue designing that setup without endangering delicate electronics.
There’s nothing special about the new power brick Wahoo sent me.

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Odds are you’re a smarter dude than me on this stuff! :+1:

I don’t know about the core, but the power supply for the Kickr steps down the wall voltage and may switch it to DC. If you have any electronics background you can check the output of the power supply. You may be able to use solar cells with a battery and a step down circuit depending on what the Core needs. Going the inverter route would be less effecient.

Not smarter. Odds are I’ve got way more experience at making mistakes with electronics. Lots and lots of mistakes!

For anyone who’s interested…
The Kickr Core chews a couple of watts at idle.
General spinning at 100 to 200 watts chews less than 10 watts once you settle your cadence.
The highest spike I could achieve when stomping on the pedals with the resistance turned up was 67 watts.

If I ditch the 7 watts from 67 to allow for the switching adapter doing it’s thing you end up with 60 watts divided by 12v = 5amps.
The switching adapter was putting out 12.5v when not under load and is center pin positive on the output.

HTH with some calcs for batteries if it comes to that.
Personally, I’d just sell the Core and buy a Neo.

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Something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Battery-Generator-Rechargeable-Inverter/dp/B01MA4YVNP?tag=trainerroad-20 (from a thread about battery powering fans).

IANAE (I am not an electrician)!

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I came here to suggest something like this, a big ‘power bank’. That CHAFON model states it has 31 AH (amp-hours) and also has a port for solar charging - bonus! So, if you pull less than 10 amps, then you have about 3 hours of battery. Looking around online a 21-inch box fan on high pulls maybe 16 amps, and 10 amps on low. A trainer wont pull hardly anything, - right? So that CHAFON would get you about 1.5 hours with a fan on high. You could also look for a used UPS if you need a deal. Just haul it out to the shed, use it, then haul it back to the house, and recharge it for next time.

Just got round to reading all your comments. I think I’m just gonna have to get a big ass extension cable and hope the neighbour doesn’t complain. Eventually I’ll try my luck and ask if I can run a power cable on his back wall into my garage

Thanks people

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Hi…you need panel, an inverter, battery for off daylight time and a charge controller if you go that route, breakers, fuses and connections or adapters to power the trainer. While you could do small loads, and maybe they make kits for this, it seems expensive for a somewhat severe limitation.

prototype pcb

Tacx Bushido runs on its own power. Might be the easiest option.

I live in a forest, so when the wind kicks up, we occasionally loose power.


I was curious whether I could run my Kickr 17 off a battery. The power supply output is rated at 12 volts and 5 amps. I put an inline meter between the power supply and the Kickr and measured my most recent workout–McAdie +1 followed by 30 min of endurance. Here’s a screen shot of the meter showing less than 1 amp/hr for the 2 hr workout.

Peak current was just over 3 amps.
My conclusion is that a not very big battery would get you through most of the TR workouts.

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