How to Solar Charge an Electric Bicycle

"Google "Hoku Plant in Pocatello Idaho" and see what comes up." :)

"Indian company buys failed Hoku plant in Pocatello"
http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article93941317.html

So. Remains to be seen... (Said my uncle the undertaker.)

"my solar array"??? [Insert Jealousy Mode here]

MY fav "solar" still as wind generators. With "storage batteries" via rains (aka "hydro". See also "gravity"). Ocean tides and currents also in the running.

:wink:
 
I happened to fly over the Hoku site today, still deader then the proverbial doornail, at the present time anyway. Not to say something still may happen there, but so far, its all talk and no action. It will of probably be repurposed for some other use, from what I hear.
 
Just stumbled up this....

Ive never seen anything like it. It actually takes the output of a single or multiple paralleled PV and converts them to 56.8v which is perfect for charging 48v LiFePo4 packs. 48v as you know being probably the most common bike battery configuration. I would imagine the efficiency is much better than what Im doing since there is no rectification going on in the inverter.


http://store.evtv.me/proddetail.php?prod=GVBoost
 

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I have a Genasun PV boost charger since some time but the wrong voltage (50.4V instead of 54,0V), so not much eperience yet.

I wrote about it here for an example:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=81736&p=1223761#p1223761


I think it is a good product with a quick MPP tracker which is very importand for a solar bike (lots of shading that is changing quickly).

I will test it against a cheap 7210A "MPPT" charger that I also own if I can find some time and some sun :-(

Most People on www.thesuntrip.com used genasun boost chargers.

For small voltages and power there is also the mvelo product http://www.sunload-shop.de/solar-charger/sunload-mvelo-37v-pedelec-ebike-ladegeraet-12v-solar-100-240v.html
 
Here is a comparison of the MPT7210A vs the Genasun Boost both on a 13s 48V lithium battery.

Each charger is attached to its own 50W semi flexible solar panel. It's October in cloudy Germany, so you don't see full power...

Genasun_MPT7210A_1.jpg

The problem with the cheap MPT7210A is lousy tracking speed. It often looses MPP even from small moving shadow, while the Genasu Boost is easily able to find a new MPPT imediatly...

(ignore the wiring, this is just for a short test)

i attached a short video that should explain the problem...
 

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put the video on youtube and link to it.
 
MrDude_1 said:
put the video on youtube and link to it.

Sorry, I do not have (and want) a YouTube (=Google) account.

Attached is the Efficiency in % of the Genasun charger at 15V, 30V and 45V Input voltage in realation the Power Input in Watt (battery voltage was around 52V)

It's a bit tricky to measure (and there might be some small measurement errors especially at the 15V chart), but I think you can get the idea...
 

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"World's Largest Solar Project Would Generate Electricity 24 Hours a Day, Power 1 Million U.S. Homes"
http://www.ecowatch.com/worlds-largest-solar-project-nevada-2041546638.html
980x.jpg


Smith told the Review-Journal that Sandstone construction probably won't begin for another two or three years. Once construction begins, Smith estimated the project should create about 3,000 jobs for about seven years.

He said the company will also have to build a new transmission infrastructure to carry the energy to market, and the generated power will likely will be "exported to the California market."

SolarReserve is narrowing down project sites for its 6,500-hectare project. Smith said two potential sites on federal land in Nye County have been shortlisted. However, as NPR reported, environmentalists such as Solar Done Right's Janine Blaeloch are concerned about the environmental impact of such a project.

"It transforms habitats and public lands into permanent industrial zones," she told the radio station.

SolarReserve mentioned on ES once before:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=23807
 
"Idaho company debuts solar power sidewalks":
http://www.elp.com/articles/2016/10/idaho-company-debuts-solar-power-sidewalks.html

Solar Roadways, recently unveiled its first public installation, in a downtown plaza in this northern Idaho resort town. It's 150 square feet of hexagon-shaped solar panels that people can walk and bicycle on.

The company is working on proof that the panels, for which it has a patent, are strong enough and have enough traction to handle motor vehicles, including semitrailers.

"Our plan is to replace all the asphalt and concrete," said Brusaw, noting concrete occupies over 48,000 square miles in the U.S. "If you cover it with solar panels, we can make three times our energy needs."
 
"Why Efficiency Doesn't Rule In Utility Solar"
("Efficiency is becoming more important in residential solar, but it doesn't matter nearly as much as solar power plants get bigger."):
http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/19/why-efficiency-doesnt-rule-in-utility-solar.aspx

The battle between cost and efficiency in solar panels has been brewing for years. The falling cost of commodity solar panels has made higher efficiency less attractive in some cases because more efficient panels are usually more expensive. But I highlighted last week that the cost of solar panels has fallen so far that efficiency is now extremely important in the residential solar market.

Driving the importance of efficiency in residential solar is the fact that the solar module itself is only 15%-20% of a standard system's cost. Squeezing more efficiency out of each panel leverages those costs. But the same dynamic doesn't work in utility scale solar, which is why costs remain extremely important for large solar projects.
The importance of cost in utility scale solar

As common as residential solar has become in the U.S., it's only expected to be around 20% of the market in 2016, according to GTM Research. 70% of the market will be large, utility scale projects that are far lower cost to build.

The heart of the cost vs. efficiency battle can be shown in the cost to build solar systems large and small. SolarCity said that its overall cost per watt was $3.05 last quarter and GTM Research says that utility scale fixed tilt solar systems have reached $1.17 per watt and tracking systems are now $1.30 per watt.

Using those numbers and GTM Research's $0.59 per watt panel costs in the second quarter we can pull out the non-panel cost to build residential and utility scale solar projects. Then we can model the impact of panel prices falling to $0.40 per watt, which has taken place in the last few months, to show how important panel costs can be. You can see that panel prices affect the overall cost of utility projects much more than residential projects.

screen-shot-2016-10-16-at-84759-pm_large.png


Unlike residential projects, where costs per watt can actually go down with higher efficiency, utility scale projects are much more sensitive to the price of a solar panel. Efficiency matters, but it's often overshadowed by sheer panel costs.
The impact on solar companies

This dynamic between cost and efficiency puts a lot of pressure on solar companies. There's little ability to differentiate on efficiency, something SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) found out and a big reason it bought Cogenra Solar to produce its new low cost P-Series product, but you have to be efficient enough. For a few years, First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) was the lowest cost supplier of solar panels, but was behind on efficiency. Its fortunes only improved when efficiency improved, so there's a minimum viable product concept in solar panels.

What's clear is that utility scale solar projects won't pay much of a premium for more efficient solar panels. Paying more per watt makes sense when the panel is only 15% or 20% of an installation's total cost, but when it's nearly 50% the cost of panels matters a lot, while efficiency doesn't.

This should play into the hands of low cost module manufacturers like Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ), Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL), and JinkoSolar (NYSE:JKS). They'll have to sell panels at lower prices, but lower costs are going to be an advantage in the utility market.

Different solutions for different solar markets

As it stands today, cost is still the biggest differentiator in the utility scale solar market. That doesn't mean efficiency doesn't matter at all, but it doesn't outweigh the cost side like it does in residential solar. That's something investors need to keep in mind when they look at solar stocks in a market where panel costs are falling rapidly.

Travis Hoium owns shares of First Solar and SunPower. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

... so while much of the tapping going on in this thread is about small scale/portable even solar, my suspicion in to "Go Big or Go Home". Better perhaps to leave the solar setup at home/in your neighbourhood to "feed the grid" then charge at home or anywhere else. ;)
 
"You no longer need to own a solar panel to reap the financial benefits of solar energy"
http://qz.com/826192/you-no-longer-...-reap-the-financial-benefits-of-solar-energy/

A startup is now separating solar from the rooftop. Arcadia Power launched a community solar program Nov. 3 that lets customers buy solar panels anywhere in the US—technically, they buy a tiny share of a Power Purchase Agreement from a solar project—and pay their energy bills with sales from its electricity.

Each $350 “panel” purchased by Arcadia’s customers generates about $5 per month through sales to the local power grid. Customers can buy as many panels as they wish, and each generates power for 15 to 20 years. The panels typically pay for themselves within about about seven years, claims Aracadia. For the average household paying $114 in electricity (pdf) per month, 25 panels can zero out their power bill for decades.

http://www.arcadiapower.com/solar
 
Cephalotus said:
Here is a comparison of the MPT7210A vs the Genasun Boost both on a 13s 48V lithium battery.

Each charger is attached to its own 50W semi flexible solar panel. It's October in cloudy Germany, so you don't see full power...

View attachment 1

The problem with the cheap MPT7210A is lousy tracking speed. It often looses MPP even from small moving shadow, while the Genasu Boost is easily able to find a new MPPT imediatly...

(ignore the wiring, this is just for a short test)

i attached a short video that should explain the problem...

:(
..up to know the MPT72210A sounded just right for my 72V trailer setup..
 
reviews on youtube don't seem to be too bad. maybe it's about the settings of the MPT7210A..
 
geezzus
18 pages of thread...
Very simple - buy a DC-DC converter from ebay. ~$15 600W job.

connect solar panel to input, dial up your required output voltage, set current output to something realistic that panels supports.
(use watt counters to start with and by ear after you figured out the screaming is a looser when voltages collapse all over the place)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcU8Xz4Zh7w

Result https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QCKEWgsP9c

when no sun use laptop power supply to feed same DC-DC conveter

EASY Karl
 
FYI - all that crap about utility scale costs vs domestic - based on USA numbers
In Aus far cheaper to do rooftop than ground mount utility scale stuff.
 
ES Bible "Search found 1 match: +Technion"... unrelated to solar... so one more...
"Photovoltaic Cells Made 70% More Efficient With New Technology":
http://3tags.org/article/photovoltaic-cells-made-70-more-efficient-with-new-technology

A new technology that could improve the efficiency of photovoltaic cells by almost 70% has been developed by researchers at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.

In an article recently published in Nature Communications, the Technion team explain how their technology is based on an intermediate process that occurs between the photovoltaic cell and sunlight. The photoluminescence material created by the team absorbs most of the radiation from the sun. The heat and light from the sun is then converted into an “ideal” radiation, which lights up the photovoltaic cell, resulting in a higher conversion efficiency. The device’s efficiency is increased from 30% to 50% as a result.

Optical refrigeration technology re-emits the absorbed light at higher energy, thereby cooling the emitter. The Technion was inspired by this technology, but uses sunlight instead.

http://sciencenewsjournal.com/photovoltaic-cells-made-70-efficient-new-technology/
 
"SolarCity begins its hunt for factory workers":
http://buffalonews.com/2016/12/05/solarcity-begins-hunt-factory-workers/

Includes:
The factory will be the largest solar panel production facility in the Western Hemisphere, with the capacity to produce nearly 10,000 solar panels each day once it reaches full production. SolarCity has promised to hire 1,460 workers in the Buffalo Niagara region at the factory and other company operations here. The company, now part of Tesla Motors, also has pledged to bring another 1,440 new jobs to the region through its suppliers and vendors who provide services to the factory.
 
"Records broken as US solar installations surge":
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/14/records-broken-as-us-solar-installations-surge.html

The U.S. solar market has "shattered" records for quarterly solar photovoltaic installation, according to a new report.

In the third quarter of 2016, 4,143 megawatts of solar PV were installed, equivalent to one megawatt every 32 minutes, according to the Q4 2016 U.S. Solar Market Insight report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
 
First post in this thread: "There are four ways to solar charge a lithium ion battery that I know of; please comment if you know of others or better ways. Each has their advantages and disadvantages."

In my book "solar" includes winds. :)

Anyway, in the news "First U.S. offshore wind farm goes live":
http://seekingalpha.com/news/323045...ifp=0&utoken=cbb3308647f0d57dac85045a61fbecf0

(Wiki:)
Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States, located 3.8 miles (6.1 km) from Block Island, Rhode Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The five-turbine, 30-MW project was developed by Deepwater Wind. Construction began in 2015 and in late summer 2016 Alstom Haliade 150 6-MW turbines were erected. Operations were launched in December 2016. It is the largest project using wind power in Rhode Island.
 
"The (US) Energy Department helped start a revolution – and doesn’t know who to hand it off to"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...who-to-hand-it-off-to/?utm_term=.8dda6413c7fc

Includes:
Since 2008, costs for wind and solar have plunged by 40 and 60 percent, respectively, according to an analysis provided by the Energy Department. That’s even as the United States has installed 100 gigawatts, or billion watts, of generating capacity in the two technologies combined (75 gigawatts of wind, 25 of solar).

Meanwhile, we now have 500,000 electric vehicles on the road, thanks largely to a 70 percent drop in battery costs.
 
"The world's first 'solar road' is kind of a disaster":
http://theweek.com/speedreads/669005/worlds-first-solar-road-kind-disaster

GettyImages-617722848.jpg

France now has its very first solar road, but by the sounds of things, it might not be all it was chalked up to be. The road was opened yesterday in the village of Tourouvre-au-Perche by French Ecology Minister Ségolène Royal, and it consists of 30,000 square feet of solar panels, stretching the length of a kilometer. The road generates enough energy to power ... well, streetlights.

"That might not sound very impressive," The Verge writes, and "it kind of isn't, especially for its $5.2 million price tag." Flat solar panels simply don't work as well as angled ones, like you the ones you find on roofs. In fact, "each kilowatt-peak — the unit of measure for solar energy — generated by Wattway currently costs 17 euros, compared with 1.30 euros for a major rooftop installation," Phys.org explains.

Royal, though, is optimistic about Wattway, writing in a statement: "This new use of solar energy takes advantage of large swathes of road infrastructure already in use ... to produce electricity without taking up new real estate." The company that installed the road has 100 other similar projects in progress.
 
"2016 was the year solar panels finally became cheaper than fossil fuels. Just wait for 2017":
http://qz.com/871907/2016-was-the-y...cheaper-than-fossil-fuels-just-wait-for-2017/

If you ask the World Economic Forum (WEF), the day has arrived.

Solar and wind is now the same price or cheaper than fossil fuels in more than 30 countries, the WEF reported in December (pdf). As prices for solar and wind power continue their precipitous fall, two-thirds of all nations will reach the point known as “grid parity” within a few years, even without subsidies.

Watt may sound like more electric vehicle sales... :wink:

BTW (Wiki:)
Quartz targets high-earning readers who traditionally read other left-leaning publications.[citation needed] 60% of its readers access the site via mobile devices, and 40% of its readers are outside the United States. As of November 2015, there are 180,000 subscribers to the Quartz Daily Brief.
 
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