Solar charging on ebike tour?

Bubba18

1 µW
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Messages
4
I have been thinking a lot about a mobile solar charging setup for when I am out on tour and far far away from a plug. :D I have a 36v13ah battery, charges to 41.6v, and that came with a 36v 2a charger. I was on amazon poking around and here is what I found:

https://www.amazon.com/KINGSOLAR-trade-Efficient-Foldable-Portable/dp/B00QF2NX0Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478546619&sr=8-2&keywords=folding+solar+panel

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell®-Charger-Cigarette-Lighter-Female/dp/B00EZJBELQ/ref=sxts_k2p_hero2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=2668835602&pf_rd_r=MJ5ZJT75Q6P0S8ET971J&pd_rd_wg=6mJuP&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_w=7ZqpJ&pf_rd_i=12v+socket&pd_rd_r=72B6CKW1FY1JCK0Q7DP0&ie=UTF8&qid=1478546679&sr=2

https://www.amazon.com/BESTEK-Power-Inverter-Charging-Ports/dp/B003ODVN88/ref=sr_1_10?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1478546792&sr=1-10&keywords=12v+inverter

What do you all think? Will it work?
 
I don't know anything about those particular options but:


While I don't have any direct links, there's a pretty long thread about solar charging an ebike with some posts about specific equipment that worked for various people, if you want to look it up. (it's also got a lot of irrelevant stuff in it that shouldn't be there, too, unfortunately).

Also some others that have solar charged bikes, trikes, trailers, etc., that are not in that thread, but you'd have to look around the forums for them. Some are specifically about tours like your thread title, some are just people like Parajared that like to use solar while riding.
 
Hello,

No it will not work, because there is no inverter capable of working on a solar kit that has no battery (in your configuration your bike battery is considered as load, not battery for the solar system).

Moreover, your solar panels are in DC, your battery in DC, so last thing you want is to do a DC to AC to DC conversion, while DC to DC is easy, efficient and cheap.

You should go around the various posts indeed there is some excellent information to understand how solar works for our ebikes.

What you probably want is a combination of a semi flexible (therefore light) solar panel, and something like the MPT-7210 which is can be setup to charge your 36V battery directly from the panel, by the way.
 
Back
Top