I am thinking of using a BOB YAK trailer , enclosing it and putting VW 24v 5amp solar battery chargers together to equeal 72v 40 amps and parrellel connect the panels to the battery and then to the motor to extend my range. I also have a Golden Eagel 40cc engine at this time that has enought power to pull me and the trailer at between 22 to 33 mph and take some of the hill here ,but I want to reduce the amount of gas by supplementing half the power load with the frount hub Crystalite and be chargeing my batteries while using them to help with the hills. I'm not sure if my idea is a realistic one. I already have a 48 v and 24 v lithium lifePO4 batteries and a solar controler ; dose anyone know if anyone has ever done this before?
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I am very interested to know where you are going to get 72-volt 40-amps worth of solar chargers.
Thanks,
Grandpa Chas S.
How big is a 72v 40 amp panel, or set of panels? Won't it be like 3 feet wide and 75 feet long? A solar panel that produces 200 watts at noon when facing perfectly perpendicular to the sun is producing 24v at 8.3 amps So five of em produces 24v at 40 amps. times three, so thats 75 feet of trailer by my figuring. A 24v 200 watt panel is about 3 feet by 5 feet. A practical size to carry, say 12v 250 watts, will still take days to fill a big battery.
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36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
dog,
I agree with your assessment of the solar needs, I was hoping there was some break through I had not heard of. Of course I may have misunderstood.
Grandpa Chas S.
The solar panels are 9X8, 24 volt 5 amp trickle chargers that are for European cars as they travel to the U.S. on Ships . I intend to replace the out going positive and negative wires to a 8 gage wire and connect a 2-24 volts panels and one 12 volt panel in series and then connect 8 other panels in parallel to increase that amperage from 5 amps to 40 amps just like hooking up a string of batteries . Living in Hawaii the sun is intense and all year around . I am looking to keep the batteries charged during stops and to help take a load off the hub engine since both the battery and the solar rechargers will be hooked into the electric motor in parallel . All being housed in a 25" X 16" inline enclosed trailer using a 48 and a 24 lithium battery for the motor . The trailer is rated up to 75 lb. so another 48 volt battery could be added in parallel along with the small panels . I just don't have an idea at what rate the panels will be able to charge the battery when at rest for 8 hours in the sun and what extension of range I'll be getting . The panels will be on all three sides of the trailer attached to the inside of a Plexiglas enclosure. outside and just below each panel I plan on putting a angled mirror in a paraboia shape to increase the exposure to sun shine to each panel .
My concept is to make on continuous solar using the three sides of the trailer that has a area of 23" X 17" high . In combination I think the output will match the draw of the 72 volt 2880 watt Phoenix front hub motor . From my reading of solar panels they increase demand of voltage draw as is needed by the motor .
9x8 inches? or feet. Are you positive those aren't .5 amp chargers. Serously, it has been done, by lots of universities, and such, in solar car races. Belive me, they don't go that fast or far on just the panels, and usually have about 5 feet by 16 feet of collector. They spend all day building a charge to go anywhere. I live in New Mexico, with 5000 feet less atmosphere and more sunny days than you do. If I thought it would work that good, I'd have it. A panel you can carry, say 4 feet x 8 feet, still takes all day to charge an ebike battery pack. Maybe the panels you are looking at are hooked to a 5 amp charge controller? But that doesn't mean the panel puts out 5 amps all the time. The mirrors will help, but I don't think you will extend range near as far as the same weight in more battey.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
My Bad I ment 24 V 5 watt's is the output of each panel .
I believe that at 24 volts producing 5 watts means that its output rate is 4.8 amps and if thats correct hooking these 8 or so panels in parallel with a solar regulator with the battery array can have some effect in the extension of the battery power available . Also in the equation is the gas motor that is connected to my rear wheel that puts our 40 cc of power , enough to push me 33 mph on level ground with a loaded trailer with a little help from me in when taking off , but once I'm rolling it moves. The electric motor is for extra power on hills and to extended mileage and gas uses, I'm wondering if it is plausible that the solar panel array will have a substantial in-pac on the battery drainage.
5 watts at 24v is .2 amps. Sorry, but a panle 3 feet by five feet can produce close to 200 watts, which would be one third of the output of a 600 watt, 24 v motor. And they cost a thou, and they weigh a bunch. Better off to spend a thou on big lifepo4 batteries. Making a hybrid is a good idea, but if you have a string of these trickle chargers, enough to get 40 watts of your desired voltage, that isn't going to do that much to extend range, but if the bike is parked long enough, it could recharge the battery. The ammount of power you gather during a 1 hour ride won't be much. If you run 60 volts at 20 amps that is 1200 watts. 40 more free watts, will extend your range by 1/30th. So if your electric only range is now 10 miles, you would go 1/3 mile farther. If range is 20 miles, you would go 2/3 miles farther. Easier to just turn off the motor and pedal a mile, actually. The ICE helper motor is another story, it's range is to the next gas station, and to the next, and the next, basicly infinite range.
One thing I got VERY interested in when I first got my electric trike was putting a generator in the basket. It worked great, but I found the weight really slowed me down, again, to speeds where pedaling works just as good. My little generator was too heavy, built that way to stay put when you run it.
The solar charging is a great idea, it just doesn't do much for you while you ride. But if you can get about 200 watts of panel, you could make a great charging station at your house to charge your ride while it's parked. The trickle chargers would work great also for keeping a battery topped up and ready to ride if it sits a long time. Good luck with your build, the pusher trailer should work great.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
Well I've gathered some more info and I think I am just going to pack as many of those small panel as I can on a box trailer and with my 40 CC motor and a extra 10 ah battery I'll limit my use of the electric motor when I can and use the panels to help recharge durning the 8 to 10 hours I'm at work for the ride home . It did dawn on me that I should change out the small gate wire in the panels for a larger gage to keep the smaller wires from frying out with the increase of voltage from 12 to 72 ; is that correct? I think I can pack 14 panels on my frame and I can even add a vertical wind generator that puts out 10 watts
Cool. Nothing wrong with solar charging, it just gets hard to carry enough to do you much good on the fly. But charging while you are parked is good. I looked into solar charging at home, but then realized I would need two batteries, since I'd be gone during the day.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
last question fokes ; I have my ev bike built now I'm getting the mobile charging station together. I'm just not sure if I have to change out the positive and negivitve lead wires from the trickle solar panels out for 10 gage wire to handle the increase voltage and increse amperage when I connect several in a string . Dose anyone have a answer ?
Use thicker wires to carry more current.
Are you saying that one 9-inch by 8-inch panel will put out 0.2 amps at 24 volts (about 5 watts) in good sunshine?
If so, a series of 3 would be 72 volts, 0.2 amps. Parallel 10 strings of 3 (30 panels) and get 2 amps if they are ALL in good sunshine.
Then, charging a 20 amp-hour battery pack (maybe a 60-volt pack) would only take 10 hours of great sunshine, on all the cells. Hard to get that even if you track the sun.
What batteries are you trying to charge?
Cheers, Gary
XM-5000Li, wired for cell voltage measuring and logging.
what I'm trying to do, is put together 3- 24 volt trickle solar panel charger in series to increases overall voltage to 72 volts and connect those panels in parallel to 5 panels more in parallel, each panek is rated at 5 watts around .208 ma combined total of 5 should give me around 1,25 amps total , so that while my bike is parked for 8 hrs in the parking lot at work it can be charging the 48 volt and 24 volt lithium batters that are connected in series to the electric wheel. Plus I take into account that the electric wheel will be assisted by a 1.5 hp rear gas motor so the load in-pack on the batteries will be reduced the the recharge time of 8 hrs should recharge the pack somewhat right. The trickle solar panels chargers came with a much smaller wire then the 10 gage wire that I want to exchange the lead wires for; because of the low amount of current the orginal wires were ment to handle smaller voltage and amperage ,but now ,since I'm increasing the amount of current and voltage , I am thinking I need to replace the small diameter for the 10 gage wire I have for my car so that I don't fry out the orginal wires the whole hook up to the motor and lithium battery will be connect using a solar controler rated at 48 volt . The bike and mobile bike trailer with the connected solar panels will be outdoors all the time . and covered only when it rains of coarse . I live in sunny Hawaii and we get a lot of sunny days . As far as collecting more sunshine I'm thinking of placeing a reflective flange under each pannel series to collect as much sunshine as possible. Am I right about the wire exchange on each panel to be used. Also I just need the trailer to help restore enough electricity in the batteries for the return trip home where if need be I can plug my battery pack to a charger that came with the batteries.
jesse,
1.25 amps is not very high at all as a matter of fact it is very low current and the wire that came with the panels should be just fine. I could use 18 gauge wire to carry that small amount. 1.25 amps will also take a very long time to charge the batteries.
Grandpa Chas S.