Charging your e-Bikes with solar cells?

amberwolf

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Make sure you come back to post your results.

Or better yet, put your survey *here in your post on this forum*, where we can answer directly in our posts to you. (then those of us like me that can't access your survey could also help you)


If you are going to be like all the others that come here for answers and not bother to post the results back here, there's no reason for anyone to bother filling out your survey, as it adds nothing to the knowledgebase here on ES or the world, and just disappears down a hole.
 
amberwolf said:
Make sure you come back to post your results.
Or better yet, put your survey *here in your post on this forum*, where we can answer directly in our posts to you. (then those of us like me that can't access your survey could also help you)
If you are going to be like all the others that come here for answers and not bother to post the results back here, there's no reason for anyone to bother filling out your survey, as it adds nothing to the knowledgebase here on ES or the world, and just disappears down a hole.

A rabbit hole. :pancake:

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No problem! After the results have been concluded and analysed, we will post them here. However, at the moment, we are not getting enough responses to conduct the research properly. Social inclusion is one of the most important aspects of new and sustainable innovations so it would be beneficial for us all to fill out the survey and help the researchers gather more results. Thanks!!
 
We have been informed that the link does not work. We have pasted the link link here. Please try again and let us know

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSccAyzMZ70IenSYnoTXIL1cu5abEegOfnafQW1UWrZdxca0nw/viewform
 
Hi All,

We are a team of students doing research into the possibility of developing a wheel which consists of solar cells. A standard (front) wheel of an electric bicycle is swapped with the wheel which consists of solar cells. These cells will generate solar energy and charge your battery while you bike/ park outdoor. This could possibly extend the range of an electric bicycle and results in more use of green energy. We have also received many concerns about side winds, gyroscope effects, increase attractiveness to thieves, minimal energy generation from solar due to angles and areas, durability, etc. However, we would like more suggestions on the social and technical concerns about the concept.

For this, we want to focus on you guys! and your behaviour when using your e-Bikes. We have developed a survey to study the current e-Bike users and to innovate the technology for the betterment of society!

Please help us fill out this 2 minutes survey via the link below:
https://goo.gl/forms/9jirfp3jfOZoxqbx1

or this: (they are the same but we were informed that the first link does not work on some computer)

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSccAyzMZ70IenSYnoTXIL1cu5abEegOfnafQW1UWrZdxca0nw/viewform

Looking forward to your responses and thanks in advance! The results will be updated here after the analysis is complete
. We are simply not here to get responses and leave!!

**We are not the developers of the technology but are simply performing the technical and social feasibility for an integration project**
 
Link seemed to work for me in your most recent thread and I completed the survey. You're welcome.

However, I would suggest not authoring additional threads as you appear to have done? I didn't post in your most recent so that perhaps it's less trouble to clean it up?

Good luck with the survey and please do return with some results.
 
I am building my own Solar Ebike battery charger, using an "Off the Shelf" Itek 280W Solar PV Panel. It produces 171.3Watts of energy per square meter, and it's dimensions are 39" x 65" It has a PEAK efficiency of 17.13%.
http://www.solardesigntool.com/components/module-panel-solar/Itek-Energy/2513/iT-280-HE/specification-data-sheet.html
While there are certainly higher efficient solar cells out there, I think most are under 25% peak efficiency.

My Ebike battery will be a 16S (60V Nominal) x 32Ah RC LiPo pack, and will have 1894 Watt-hours of Energy capacity.

Assuming my solar panel produces the maximum output of 280W (It won't), and my DC-DC converter is 100% efficient (It isn't), it will take 6.7 Hours to fully recharge this battery. In reality, with a good sunny day, I expect it to charge at about 1/2 of that rate, or hopefully 140W to 160W. As such, it would probably take 2 full days to recharge from empty. - With my 1.5 square meter Solar panel.

I think you will find that to provide a "reasonable" amount of solar charging capacity, you will need a pretty large solar array. Making a wheel or two with solar cells will not get you very far, very fast.
 
teslanv,
a normal DCDC converter wont work well for solar charging. what you like to use is a MPPT battery charge controller.
MPPT means maximum power point tracking which is really important for good efficiency (the power of the panel changes all the time)

I'm also searching for a solar charging system for a 16s battery. the problem is there seem to be not many options out there for such high voltage.
most controllers are for 12 or 24v, and the cheap boards from china are crap..

Genasun makes excellent controllers, but they told me the highest available CV voltage they offer is 62V which is unfortunately too less for 16s.
any suggestions welcome :)
 
madin88 said:
teslanv,
a normal DCDC converter wont work well for solar charging. what you like to use is a MPPT battery charge controller.
MPPT means maximum power point tracking which is really important for good efficiency (the power of the panel changes all the time)

I'm also searching for a solar charging system for a 16s battery. the problem is there seem to be not many options out there for such high voltage.
most controllers are for 12 or 24v, and the cheap boards from china are crap..

Genasun makes excellent controllers, but they told me the highest available CV voltage they offer is 62V which is unfortunately too less for 16s.
any suggestions welcome :)
Yeah, I contacted Midnite Solar asking if they could customize a charge controller for me. They won't.
Also thought about using an MTTP to 12V, then to an iCharger, with Parallel balance charging to the 4S packs.
 
mikepool96 said:
No problem! After the results have been concluded and analysed, we will post them here.
Must take an awfully long time to analyze. Nearly half a year later, and no results posted here on ES yet, despite the above claim.

The only thing done was to create a whole new spam thread for the same thing, which looks like it's merged with the original (which is missing it's OP).
 
teslanv said:
Yeah, I contacted Midnite Solar asking if they could customize a charge controller for me. They won't.
Also thought about using an MTTP to 12V, then to an iCharger, with Parallel balance charging to the 4S packs.

Some Midnite and Morningstar charge controllers can be programmed to work with modern lithium batteries, you just need to download the free firmware and reprogram once you purchase. Or have your retailer do it, but many probably won't want to/want to mess with figuring it out. FYI it voids the warrantee. And you won't be able to boost the voltage, only reduce, so the Genasun is still the way to go if you have a tiny array. If you have enough panels to string to 48v, for instance, then you could use, like, a morningstar tristar to do it, or you could make 24v strings and run a 24v RC-style system. The marine version of the Kid by Midnite strikes me as a nice MPPT charge controller for something larger, like a solar tandem or actual car/trike thing. It is another CC that you can program to charge lithium batteries.
 
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I think talking about the different applicable charge controllers out there is not a bad idea. Here's a link to a Morningstar page that shows which of their products are compatable w/lithium. Note that only some of them will run on a 48v system.

https://www.morningstarcorp.com/morningstar-news/can-morningstar-solar-charge-controllers-charge-lithium-ion-batteries/
And here's a link to download their utility, which you need in order to play nice with lithium. You can actually set a custom charge profile, which would theoretically allow for a custom/rare chemistry battery.
https://www.morningstarcorp.com/msview/
 
Oh oh... Somebuddy used the term "normal". :lol:
 
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