Endless Sphere

Speaking of airships... EVer wonder how small a zeppelin would shrink in it wasn't full of hydrogen? :mrgreen: Point is only... the "canvas-covered collapsible velo" covered in thin film solar watt fits in a bag for "transporting across oceans". (That is, until yah get those inflatable sponsons...)...

That's a lovely design! Have you considered making a custom small windshield for your feet to lower the turbulence? Thank you. It's been a long process with a lot of iteration ( more on that here ). I commuted to work for a few months with this front fairing. It was lovely for keeping my feet warm ...

What about a recumbent? It has a similar position and aerodynamic advantage over normal road bike position. You can pack it into a normal bicycle box. The only problem is stop and start is more difficult, but you can get used to it. Some recumbent even come with a tear shaped back end compartment T...

Assuming around 5% encapsulation losses (3-5% reflection plus some transmission losses), the total PV array rated output at STC should be around 330 watts. So I'm assuming there is no practical/economical anti-reflection coating for the encapsulation compound? Short answer: no, not really. The enca...

"velomobile"?... Looking at the speed and distance covered by people touring in velomobiles, I couldn't help but notice that they were similar to what I was doing with an ebike except they didn't have a motor or batteries that needed constant charging. I even flew to Holland to test ride a Mango ve...

My custom-made PV modules arrived last week. Here's a quick peek at what they look like. The red/black panel is the honeycomb/carbon fiber/kevlar support panel on which I will be mounting them. There are four modules with 4x6 cells each for a total of 96 SunPower Gen III bin Le1 cells at 3.62 watts ...

I'd consider adding a bit more distance between the solar trailer and bike as well. Definitely. I had always intended to leave more space but the prototype trailer shown above is my first successful one-wheel trailer design. Previous versions failed because the main trailer boom tube flexed too muc...

Are you considering a solar trailer for your ebike? Do not underestimate the impact of even small amounts of shading on your solar array, especially if you're using SunPower cells. As a 10 year veteran of the residential solar industry with extensive experience modeling PV energy production on shade...

Now we're getting to the good stuff! Thanks for posting this analysis and the sample logs. Zooming in on the longer regen segments helped me better understanding what's going on. ...and the faster down you went the LESS regen torque you would have on the motor because at a higher RPM fewer Nm are ne...

Thanks for the work you’ve put into this.

On iPhone 8 Plus running iOS 11.4.1 and latest Chrome browser, I can’t scroll the results. Just seeing the 2 ads.

I like the simplicity of the design enabled by a single wheel and furthermore by not including cargo capacity in the trailer. The frame looks like it has some modular components. I tried a 2-wheeled Burley Flatbed cargo trailer before this ( project history here ) but I didn't like how it limited m...

Great question - last time I flew over with a 48v, 7ah LiFePO4 pack in my F'ing carry on.... Whoa. I wasn't expecting that. My knowledge about transporting Lithium batteries over oceans is entirely theoretical at this point so I appreciate you sharing your first-hand experience. I was well on my wa...

Nice! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. ...40a Grinfineon controller w/ a 48v 13.5ah battery Assuming you mean lithium, what's your plan for getting access to a 48v 13.5ah battery pack in Europe? Are you arranging to have it shipped before you leave? Will you leave it there when you'r...

Oh - I was already quite sure that amorphous solar cells - especially when curved - wouldn't come close to a monocrystaline flat array that gets aimed even halfway decently. My musing was simply that given you already have the structure built is it worth slapping some of them on? Could they help de...

Very intersting. At 35km/h 326W is about 9,3Wh/km and this with zero human power input. Was this incl. your solar trailer or without? Would be interesting how much drag the trailer adds. Honestly, I didn't even think about the trailer because I currently can't attach both the tail box and the trail...

Looks like a good surface for some flexible amorphous solar cell ... Just thinkin' out loud ... I hear you. And I tried to talk myself into it. I really did. Here's one concept I dreamed up and one I actually built a few years back. curved-solar.jpg Ultimately, I found that the thin-film stuff does...

After seeing Justin's trike flipped over by the wind, I guess the material and design should be able to withstand this. A cross wind might do funky things to the steering. You might be able to test for this with the cardboard version. I know from experience when there's a strong cross wind and a bi...

A little progress update on my attempt to create a practical aero tail box fairing for long distance touring. Here's my sketch: tailbox and trailer side.jpg tailbox and trailer top.jpg The idea is that all of my gear fits behind me and the cover keeps out the sun, rain and sticky fingers. And, if I'...

I wasn't sure I was ready to speak on camera about my project but when Justin shows up with a camera and says "Hey, wanna make a video?" you say "Yes." Shot at Maker Faire Bay Area in May 2018.

Well, it looks like they must have caught a ferry because the appear to be in the middle of the Sea of Marmara right about now. One of the approved ferries, too. At first I thought it looked like they might be taking a bit of a shortcut by not riding all the way to the Bosporus and taking one of th...

(thanks, solarEbike - a picture is worth a thousand words) Perhaps a few words would have been helpful here. The buttons indicated below turn Historical Imagery on and off. Try fiddling with those settings if you're not seeing the imagery you expect to see. In particular, try turning this feature o...

philf wrote: ↑

Jul 04, 2018 3:25 pm

not sure how old this satellite image is

Here's how the solar trailer performs under challenging conditions. Instantaneous readings of solar, motor and pedal power are displayed across the top of the screen. This is about 2-3 hours before sunset on a hilly, twisty, tree-shaded road. I picked this route and time of day not because they're r...

When you are stopped, it might work to add some reflector panels on the sides of the panel. Something super light like aluminized mylar that can fold up and get stored under the panel when moving. I picked up some reflective Mylar at Tap Plastics several years ago for testing out just this idea but...

thepronghorn wrote: ↑

Jun 29, 2018 8:27 pm

Did anyone else spot the super soaker water squirt gun strapped to the trike? What's it for?

I'm going to go with stray dogs, the bane of a touring cyclist's existence.