eBike Charging Station

Convert your Bosch eBike battery charger into a convenient wall-mounted charging station. It keeps the charger where it is needed and provides a tidy and compact solution for all its cables. Moreover, if combined with a plug-in timer, it allows to prolong the longevity of your battery and to reduce the fire hazard of charging your bike.

Features:

• Battery charger
  • Designed for the commonly used Bosch eBike Systems Standard Charger (4 ampere).
  • Stored nicely out of the way, right where it is needed.
  • Slides easily in/out from top, if charger is needed elsewhere.
  • By replacing the rails holding the charger, the design may be adapted for use with other chargers (e.g., Bosch Compact Charger 2A or Bosch Fast Charger 6A) or even chargers of other brands.
• Plug-in Timer (optional, but recommended)
  • Prolong your battery lifetime (time after which you have to replace it by a new one) by not fully charging your battery to maximum capacity every time, but only when you need if for a longer trip [1], [2].
  • Reduce fire hazard by avoiding overcharging and automatically disconnecting the charger from the power after the specified time [3].
  • Located at a convenient height for viewing its display and operating its buttons. Typically wall outlets are located close to the ground and at locations where you keep your bike, they are often covered with a splash proof lid, making use of a timer impractical without an extension cord.
• Cable management
  • Power cable (220-240V) stowed away in hidden compartment.
  • Hidden compartment easily opened via hinge at bottom.
  • Cable guide connecting hidden compartment to top, to keep power cable in place when the compartment is opened and closed.
  • Charging cable (36V) wraps around integrated spool in base, when not in use. The plug then rests nicely on top, behind end of power cable.
• Design
  • Power outlet and hidden compartment are fitted in replica of the Bosch Standard Charger.
  • Charging station resembles two chargers sitting next to each other.
  • Rails holding charger have large holes to allow maximum airflow for cooling while charging
• Printability
  • Maximally uses Prusa MINI's available print area.
  • Split in multiple parts to reduce supports, fit in Prusa MINI's print volume, and maximize strength.
  • The parts can easily be assembled with a few screws and sliding the rest together.
  • The sliding parts are fully locked together via the two screws that attach the charging station to the wall.

NEW: Added version with customizable adaptor for mounting a power outlet with different mounting holes than the original design (can vary between countries). The user can easily create his/her own adaptor. The bottom part has fixed sizes (see pictures), the top part can be customized to fit the holes and shape of your power outlet. The design and print files of this new version are stored in a separate folder.

Note: As several people indicated they preferred a compact version that is trivial to assemble, I made a standalone version of the wallmount available in print Bosch eBike Charger Wallmount.

Other materials:

• Wall outlet: mine has brand Niko (the small holes I used to screw it to the pillars form a rectangle of 62.5mm x 39mm). You can consider buying a black version, if you intend to use it without plug-in timer.
• Power cable: I used an old computer cable. The grey color blends in nicely with the color of the grouts of my wall.
• 4x screws 30mm x 3.5mm (+ 2 extra for version with customizable adaptor)
• 4x screws 16mm x 3mm
• Short iron wire to be used as axis for front hinge
• 2x screws 60mm x 5mm for mounting to the wall
• 2x wall plugs matching the wall screws
• Enough cable clips to neatly guide the power cable to the fixed wall outlet.

Here is its Printing, Assembly, and Installation Manual.

This is my second 3d print design. The first one being a Goniometer that I specifically designed and printed to accurately measure all the angles of the iconic shape of the Bosch battery charger (which has not a single right angle!).

References:

1. Battery University, How to prolong lithium based batteries
2. Electric Bike Review, Battery charging routine
3. Cycling Industry News, Bike Shop Tips: Safe Storage and Charging of Electric Bike Batteries
    

Change Log:

• 2021.02.05: Added Printing, Assembly, and Installation Manual.
• 2021.02.10: Added link to standalone wallmount version.
• 2021.02.14: Improved hinge design (narrowed holes + easier wire insertion).
• 2021.02.20: Added version with customizable power outlet adaptor.

Print instructions

NOTE: Most of the information below is also available in the Printing, Assembly, and Installation Manual which includes many pictures.

This is a multipart print. Everything is printed in PETG for strength and flexibility. I used Prusament PETG Galaxy Black, with very nice results.

1. Left Rail
   
   The left rail is laid on its side (biggest holes on print bed) to minimize supports and maximize the strength. Originally, I printed it parallel with the X axis, but the latest PrusaSlicer complains about toolpaths outside the print area. Therefore, I rotated it 45 degrees.
   
   Settings:
   • Print settings: 0.15 mm QUALITY to obtain the smoothest possible curves.
   • Supports: Everywhere. They are certainly needed for the hooks and also the top holes.
   • Perimeters: Increased to 15 to have no infill at all.
      
2. Right Rail 
   
   Same as Left Rail.
    
3. Curved Lid 
   
   I printed the curved lid upright under an angle to reduce the overhang of the front part. I thought this would give the cleanest top surface. Note: If you lay it flat on its the top surface, you will need a lot less support. But the result may be less visually pleasing. 
   
   Settings:
   • Print settings: 0.2 mm QUALITY (to obtain higher strength and perhaps better glitters on the Galaxy Black).
   • Supports: Everywhere. They are needed for the hinge at the top and for the horizontal plane with nooks at the bottom.
   • Support blockers: I used support blockers on the sides, because it is not needed there, and to keep the holes of the hinges open.
   • Perimeters: Increased to 7.
      
4. Power Lid
   
   I printed the power lid upright under the same angle as the curved lid to have the same print layer lines on both parts of the lid. Note: If you lay it flat on its top surface, you will probably need no supports at all.
   
   Settings:
   • Print settings: 0.2 mm QUALITY.
   • Supports: Everywhere.
   • Perimeters: Increased to 7.
      
5. Replica Body 
   
   This can be printed in the normal position. I only added supports for the "power connector" at the back. Make sure the hole of the hinge at the front remains open (no supports!). 
   
   Settings:
   • Print settings: 0.2 mm QUALITY
   • Supports: Only for support enforcers. I added only one support enforcer around the "power connector" at the back of the box.
   • Perimeters: Increased to 10 such that the pillars that contain the screw holes consist entirely out of perimeters.
      
6. Upper Plate
   
    This can be printed in the normal position. No supports needed.
   
    Settings:
   • Print settings: 0.2 mm QUALITY.
   • Supports: None.
   • Perimeters: Increased to 4.
   • Top and Bottom layers: Increased to 7.
      
7. Bottom Plate
   
   This can be printed in the normal position. 
   
   Attention: This part contains a lot of tunnels for the hooks of the rails, for the cable guides, and some extension holes in case I needed something to keep the low voltage plug in its place (is not needed). These have to be bridged. Make sure you have no supports in here, as they will be virtually impossible to remove! 
   
   Only the two hooks to connect the lower to the upper plate need support. It is a bit tricky to remove these supports because they are so narrow. I used the blade of an iron saw to remove them. 
   
   Settings:
   • Print settings: 0.2 mm QUALITY.
   • Supports: Only for support enforcers.
   • Added support enforcers for the two hooks that connect to the upper plane.
   • Perimeters: Increased to 4.
   • Top and Bottom layers: Increased to 7.
      
8. Cable Guides (not really needed) 
   
   The cable guides were added to keep the power cable down between the charger and the replica body. It turns out that they are not really needed. They also have a strange shape, because after I had printed all the parts, I found out that it was better to mirror the cable guides. But since I already had the holes in the lower plate, I had to make the guides fit the existing holes. In the end it doesn't matter much. You can also easily do without them, so I would recommend to print them only if you have trouble to keep the power cable tidy between the charger and its replica. I printed them upright, with a brim of 5 mm. No supports. If you want the guides, you will have to print the file twice, as I wanted to avoid stringing between the two instances.
    
9. Adaptor (customizable adapter version only)
   
   The adaptor should only be printed if the mounting holes of your power outlet don't match the specifications of the original design. In this case, it is probably easier to design an adaptor from scratch than to modify the one I provided. The bottom part should match the specifications as in one of the pictures, such that it fits with the holes in the Upper Plate and Replica Body. The top part should match the mounting holes of your power outlet. The adaptor will be mounted 40 mm below the Power Lid. Make sure to subtract the height of the part of the power outlet that sticks out above the adaptor.