icerider
100 W
Modbikemax said:So what you are saying is he has half the power required if everything is perfect, no shadows, no losses and full sun on a cool day, flat ground.
So we agree he does not have enough power from the panels alone, which his web site is claiming.
"Riding by solar energy is a unique experience; we just need sunny summer weather. Instead of lugging around with heavy batteries, which have to be charged on the go anyway, you can now drive day after day without being dependant on recharging. It is like having a perpetual motion machine! And the absence of large batteries makes the solar bike very lightweight, sportive and fast. You will often overtake other cyclists which wonder: what was that? The solar bike is one of the most remarkable vehicles on the street, nothing compares, no one has ever seen such a thing before."
So with a 100watt deficiency his on board battery will soon be dead? So then where does all the energy come from?
Oh of course it's a " perpetual motion machine".
Please!
No, I am saying that his 200W of panel are producing ~100W and that will get him 16.7kph with NO drain on his battery.
And I am saying that those numbers are pretty good because my terratrike cruiser goes 7-12 mph with a single 100W panel (producing say ~60W) and no battery at all.
And yes, with a 5Ah 36 volt battery I was riding 12-16 miles/day and never went anywhere near a charger for three weeks straight and if I rode at midday I could stretch that to 26 miles on a 5Ah battery riding in high assist (level 4) only really pedaling on uphills and only enough to keep the rpm (and efficiency) up.
Please read http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=62700 and then we'll talk again.
To whet your appetite, I will quote from that article: ... the first REAL ride on the Solar Power Cruiser. It is early – pre dawn. The battery is fully charged and I am anxious to know how far my new 5Ah (185Wh) battery will carry me. I set the console to max assist and use the throttle freely. I also peddle consistently but not particularly hard. I work to keep the speed UP on uphills for efficiency in the Bionx direct drive motor. I rarely drop below 17mph. When the pack (10s) voltage reaches 35 volts, I have gone 14 miles (13.2 Wh/mile) on a loop in relatively hilly terrain with a total loss/gain of 700 feet. WOW, that is better than I expected, pretty darn good for a cheapie rebuild of a Bionx battery. But that was in the dark. The sun is now up and low in the sky, I put the back wheel of the cruiser up on a bucket to give it a better solar angle. I manually track the sun just correcting the pointing maybe once per hour for 4 hours from 7 to 11 am. At 11 I walk past the bike and notice the little 50mm fan is REALLY racing. I check voltages and the battery is back to 42V and the boost supply is taking virtually nothing from the solar panel so the little 12v 50mm fan is getting about 20 volts from the panel, no wonder it is racing. With a fully charged bike I set out at 11am to see how much further I go with the sun shining. I get 14 miles on the same loop again at max assist and using the throttle freely. When I get back to the starting point, the battery voltage is still at 38.5 volts (about half full). I ride the circuit again, I am getting a little bored and am using the throttle a LOT this time around. At about 26 miles I have dropped to 35 volts under load and back off the assist to finish the last two miles. I finish the 28 miles right at 35 volts. The solar panel has essentially doubled my useful range in the highest assist mode.