How to Solar Charge an Electric Bicycle

arkmundi said:
Hey thanks for the feedback. I'll stick with the plan of 3 in series then and see if it all works. Glad to know there's at least one other person doing the solar eBike camping thing. Will post on how it all works out.
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I still haven't gotten around to that solar camping thing. I have the first overnight well planned. It is only 21 miles out from my garage, but things keep coming up. I will be watching to see what your results are. I will also post my results when I get time to work on the solar trailer and go do the overnight -- spring looks good from here.
 
Oh goody. In news "New concept in solar energy poised to catch on across US"
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-gas-pump-prices-rising-165345666.html

Includes:
"Community solar gardens first took off in Colorado a few years ago, and the model — also known as community or shared solar — has spread to Minnesota, California, Massachusetts and several other states. Capacity is expected to grow sharply this year, and interest is up among both residential customers who just like the idea and large companies that want to cut their carbon footprints."
 
From all the information I have read, I came to conclusion that instead of carrying solar panels, it's more practical to build a charging station away from home somewhere where you drive around most. That place could be in city center or along your commuting route. And not in shade.
In my country owning a car is very expensive, and car insurances are even more expensive. The cost of gasoline is not important if you don't drive much, it's the insurance and tax that are the same to all.
I only use my car once a week or less during summer time. I came to conclusion that my car should be my solar charging station!
Solar charging station on a car roof is the best choice on areas where there's no limits for parking. Just don't park in a rough neighborhood where panels might get stolen (not a real risk in my town anywhere)
In my country it's possible to stop paying expensive car insurance for the time you don't use the car. This makes it possible to park my old and cheap car (but clean looking), at my chosen location for solar charging, without paying any costs!
The location for a car schargin station should have a lot of sunlight and should be on a safe neighborhood. One thing to consider is that the car interior will get extremely hot in sunlight and some amps should be used on ventilating the car and the litium-battery inside
What you think of my idea?
 
Kai said:
From all the information I have read, I came to conclusion that instead of carrying solar panels, it's more practical to build a charging station away from home somewhere where you drive around most. That place could be in city center or along your commuting route. And not in shade.
In my country owning a car is very expensive, and car insurances are even more expensive. The cost of gasoline is not important if you don't drive much, it's the insurance and tax that are the same to all.
I only use my car once a week or less during summer time. I came to conclusion that my car should be my solar charging station!
Solar charging station on a car roof is the best choice on areas where there's no limits for parking. Just don't park in a rough neighborhood where panels might get stolen (not a real risk in my town anywhere)
In my country it's possible to stop paying expensive car insurance for the time you don't use the car. This makes it possible to park my old and cheap car (but clean looking), at my chosen location for solar charging, without paying any costs!
The location for a car schargin station should have a lot of sunlight and should be on a safe neighborhood. One thing to consider is that the car interior will get extremely hot in sunlight and some amps should be used on ventilating the car and the litium-battery inside
What you think of my idea?
Click to expand...

About 110 years ago car owners dreamed of such infrastructure to allow them to buy petrol along their route.
Perhaps in another 100 years or so we will see charging stations conveniently placed along our route.
 
Modbikemax said:
About 110 years ago car owners dreamed of such infrastructure to allow them to buy petrol along their route.
Perhaps in another 100 years or so we will see charging stations conveniently placed along our route.
Click to expand...
Hehe... Carry Handy-Dandy 120V charger w/me. Urban life lousy w/120V all over town. (Resto patios, etc.) Usually tip costs more than pennies to recharge.

(*Smart* restaurant patio owners: "EBIKE CHARGING HERE" Signs. Today it's "WiFi".)
 
LockH said:
Modbikemax said:
About 110 years ago car owners dreamed of such infrastructure to allow them to buy petrol along their route.
Perhaps in another 100 years or so we will see charging stations conveniently placed along our route.
Click to expand...
Hehe... Carry Handy-Dandy 120V charger w/me. Urban life lousy w/120V all over town. (Resto patios, etc.) Usually tip costs more than pennies to recharge.

(*Smart* restaurant patio owners: "EBIKE CHARGING HERE" Signs. Today it's "WiFi".)
Click to expand...

Alas the world acording to LockH is not so convenient for everyone.
What if your destination lies just beyond your battery capacity? Probably why you are considering carring solar panels in the first place. Battery exchange/charge stations along your route makes perfect sense.

I guess in LockH's world the road ends about 50 miles from town. Hehe :lol:
 
Heres some info I was given by a reliable manufacturer and seller of lifepo4 batteries/.


They told me, that as long as you are able to structure your solar panel/ panels properly, so they output close to the max charge of the lifepo4 battery, you wont need a seperate charger or charge controller....in other words, you can directly wire the solar panels to hook up to your lifepo4...

for example


you have a 48 volt - 20 ah lifepo4 battery..and its full charge reading is around 60 volts....if you are able to get your solar panel/s to put out a stable maximum voltage of 58-60 volts , in full sun, those panels will properly charge your lifepo4 battery , under full sun conditions. Of course the big problem with such a setup , is realzing that there may be days where you dont get full sun....and your solar panel/s may only be outputting 52 volts....which means you would not be able to get your lifepo4 battery to a full max charge on cloudy days .

In the above example...I would imagine the best setup would be a 48 volt- 20 ah lifepo4 , in a sunny location { florida/ california} with solar panels that output 58 - 60 volts max { when wired to the battery} and put out about 5-10 amps of power .
If the solar panels had a habit of going above 60 volts, in full sun conditions..then you could always use some cardboard or tape to block a portion of the solar cells exposure to the sunlight, to bring their output down around the 60 volt levels.
 
Sorry Perth AU. Didn't realize some small towns in AU may still be without electricity.
 
LockH said:
Sorry Perth AU. Didn't realize some small towns in AU may still be without electricity.
Click to expand...

I am sure there are many things LockH does not realise. Even more than LockH realises. Even how to spell 'realise'
Perth is the capital of the state of Western Australia which is 4 times the size of Texas with about 3 million people in the state. The gaps between most small towns is beyond most ebikes by a fair bit.
So charging stations are a good idea here.
 
Hehe...
http://grammarist.com/spelling/realise-realize/
Realise and realize are different spellings of the same word, and both are used to varying degrees throughout the English-speaking world. Realize is the preferred spelling in American and Canadian English, and realise is preferred outside North America.

(Bloody convicts) Most of the rest of the world littered with 120V etc "charging stations". We refer to them as "plugs".

Re "How to solar charge an electric bicycle:
http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/

(Power generated at home, solar or hydro, etc. is "fed into the grid", and can be "consumed" by ebikers anywhere.)
 
Hehe... Just rediscovered ES "foe" feature. This thread title should say "How to Solar etc" when hundreds of miles from any available electrical outlet.
 
LockH said:
Hehe... Just rediscovered ES "foe" feature. This thread title should say "How to Solar etc" when hundreds of miles from any available electrical outlet.
Click to expand...

It's called a 's o c k e t' .

Keep up the good work, you should catch on eventually. Hehe :roll:
 
ebikedelight said:
Heres some info I was given by a reliable manufacturer and seller of lifepo4 batteries/.


They told me, that as long as you are able to structure your solar panel/ panels properly, so they output close to the max charge of the lifepo4 battery, you wont need a seperate charger or charge controller....in other words, you can directly wire the solar panels to hook up to your lifepo4...

for example


you have a 48 volt - 20 ah lifepo4 battery..and its full charge reading is around 60 volts....if you are able to get your solar panel/s to put out a stable maximum voltage of 58-60 volts , in full sun, those panels will properly charge your lifepo4 battery , under full sun conditions. Of course the big problem with such a setup , is realzing that there may be days where you dont get full sun....and your solar panel/s may only be outputting 52 volts....which means you would not be able to get your lifepo4 battery to a full max charge on cloudy days .

In the above example...I would imagine the best setup would be a 48 volt- 20 ah lifepo4 , in a sunny location { florida/ california} with solar panels that output 58 - 60 volts max { when wired to the battery} and put out about 5-10 amps of power .
If the solar panels had a habit of going above 60 volts, in full sun conditions..then you could always use some cardboard or tape to block a portion of the solar cells exposure to the sunlight, to bring their output down around the 60 volt levels.
Click to expand...


If you have a PV panel with an open circuit voltage of 60v, it is going to put out next to 0 amps at 59volts. It will put out full rated amps (or whatever the highest amps you can get, given your conditions) at approx 80% of open circuit voltage.

So, for my system I have about 105v open circuit voltage, and direct connect it to my battery which is 74v at empty, and 84v at full. This works pretty well for cheap, efficient simple system.............until you get near full charge. Now, if you are going to watch your battery voltage to make sure it doesn't overcharge, then it works okay. But eventually you will overcharge the battery someday. I've done it a couple times. That's one reason I use lifepo4, they survived at 4.0v.

Just today I had to run home during the middle of the day because I was worried about overcharging. Weather forecast was "cloudy" and then the sun comes out. I went home to switch the PV connection to my big battery and off my 7ah ebike one it was on.

I am trying to find out a way to cut off the power when I reach a set voltage. I'm not an electronics expert and don't know where to begin. If anyone has any ideas, please post.

I've experimented with low voltage panels like 12 or 24v and using an SLA bank to store the power, then an AC inverter to plug my charger into. But that is so inefficient and wasteful of SLA.
 
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shale-oil-solar-power-shaking-035547418.html

Stuff like:
Solar power is set to become profitable in Japan as early as this quarter,
Click to expand...
Once Japan reaches cost-revenue parity in solar energy, it will mean the technology is commercially viable in all G7 countries and 14 of the G20 economies, according to data from governments, industry and consumer groups.
Click to expand...

Best (?) idea I've seen so far doesn't mean lugging cells or panels around, but assumes most are not far from existing electric infrastructure (a "plug in") and thinking is to roof over paths and roads, etc. with canopy/roofs (tilted sun-wise direction) with solar tech in top. (See also "wind" power.) As usual, already happening somewhere else. (Italy comes to mind.)
Solar-panel-above-the-road.jpg
 
I'm pursuing solar installation as a career, so I can't help but put in my two cents.

As others have touched on, the central question is why you want to go solar. If it's mostly for fun, anything goes. If you want to reduce your usage of coal-powered electricity then focusing on your home is a much more productive target than the (relatively) trivial power used by your already very efficient ebike. Even then, the most cost effective reductions in usage often aren't solar panels. But once you've gotten the low-hanging fruit, PV panels are a great way to provide the remaining electricity.

If your primary goal is reducing the global CO2 levels, then taking a broader look at lifestyle impacts becomes a bigger factor. Air travel, for example, can easily dwarfe savings from other efforts. And if you just want to use money towards this end, well managed rainforest preservation funds are among the best in terms of CO2/$.

There is a fantastic little book called "How bad are bananas?" that puts numbers to a lot of items and activities that are difficult to estimate.

And if you want a setup where the electrons running your bike were produced by panels absorbing energy directly from the sun.. There are plenty of options but they will all suffer from mediocre efficiency. The voltage and amperage of a panel is highly dependent on exposure, and without a charge controller or some kind of regulation they aren't great at pushing energy. If I were to attempt this I would probably do it with at least two ebike battery packs. One to ride, one to charge. That would provide some buffer for cloudy days without requiring storing the energy twice.

Preaching to the choir, I know, but I love talking about this stuff.
 
I was thinking about this as I fell asleep. I know li-ion charge controllers are uncommon, but the SLA ones I've worked with had settings to manually set the voltage and time spent at each stage (bulk, float, etc). I'm new to lithium chemistry, but wouldn't a timed bulk charge and a gentle (also timed) float at say, 4.1v/cell give you good charging without roasting your batteries?
 
Wisco said:
I was thinking about this as I fell asleep. I know li-ion charge controllers are uncommon, but the SLA ones I've worked with had settings to manually set the voltage and time spent at each stage (bulk, float, etc). I'm new to lithium chemistry, but wouldn't a timed bulk charge and a gentle (also timed) float at say, 4.1v/cell give you good charging without roasting your batteries?
Click to expand...
Done it but don't use it because-getting the battery up to 80% takes forever. Increasing the source voltage to "just" 4.3 volts reduces that time by almost 50% (1/2 of forever).
But I'm assuming you're referring to LiCo chemistry, which I use... but refuse to let the batteries charge without my supervision, even though I use actual, real (read:expensive) charge controllers.
Because LiCo is infamous for sometimes being a "time bomb"
 
you know...i have seen some 24 volt panels on amazon and ebay...looks like 20 watts to 80 watts at 24 volts... maybe two foot by one foot.... these are doable on a bike.

couple this with a bioenno lifepo4 and solar battery charger.

solar charge controller....

two 24 volt q100.... controllers around 15 amps each... one 24 volt 20 ah battery... one 24 volt panel..like 40 or 60 watts...
battery max output is like 40 amps continuous.....burst of like 80....
their charge controller comes in different output amp levels like 20 30 40 amps...etc...

two wheel drive..one hub front one hub back. or maybe get rid of the back hub motor for a gng 24 volt mid drive.....now we can have some fun.

3 way switch
one bike solar panel charge. 40 watts of power....can be used while pedalling.
two 24 volt roll out solar panel found on ebay etc. for like 120 bucks. its 100 watts...weighs like 15 pounds....to be used at park,off grid.
three ac charger..plug in to an electrical socket....(mcdonalds outside,,,,or lol inside just like a laptop user. etc... where you go.)

the technology is actually affordable now so this can be done....noticed post from five years ago or so and it seemed almost insane to think of this kind of stuff...

the gentleman who used the buckboost convertor solar charger from genesun how is that treating you? did you mount the panels on top of your bike? trike?
 
ebikedelight said:
Heres some info I was given by a reliable manufacturer and seller of lifepo4 batteries/.


They told me, that as long as you are able to structure your solar panel/ panels properly, so they output close to the max charge of the lifepo4 battery, you wont need a seperate charger or charge controller....in other words, you can directly wire the solar panels to hook up to your lifepo4...

for example


you have a 48 volt - 20 ah lifepo4 battery..and its full charge reading is around 60 volts....if you are able to get your solar panel/s to put out a stable maximum voltage of 58-60 volts , in full sun, those panels will properly charge your lifepo4 battery , under full sun conditions. Of course the big problem with such a setup , is realzing that there may be days where you dont get full sun....and your solar panel/s may only be outputting 52 volts....which means you would not be able to get your lifepo4 battery to a full max charge on cloudy days .

In the above example...I would imagine the best setup would be a 48 volt- 20 ah lifepo4 , in a sunny location { florida/ california} with solar panels that output 58 - 60 volts max { when wired to the battery} and put out about 5-10 amps of power .
If the solar panels had a habit of going above 60 volts, in full sun conditions..then you could always use some cardboard or tape to block a portion of the solar cells exposure to the sunlight, to bring their output down around the 60 volt levels.
Click to expand...

whats wrong with using a charge controller? I use a 12V charge controller ("MPPT") for my lead acids. My panels are usually around 20volts so the charge controller tracks them down to the setting i enter (~13.5) for most efficient charger.
 
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