Solar bike

GoldenMotor.com

weekend-fun

New Member
Jun 21, 2009
999
0
0
San Carlos CA
Hey all

for the science fair i am doing a e-bike, and i want to know if any of yall have any plans/ideas on a solar charging station or generator on the bike...
maybe a solar trailer, or tire roller

Ideas?comments?
 

BarelyAWake

New Member
Jul 21, 2009
7,194
21
0
Maine
I would think that a traditional Ebike with a solar charging station at home would be the most straightforward route... Panels with any respectable output are bulky as heck.

This way you could have a large deep cycle marine battery array with large panels oriented towards the sun as the "home base" to recharge the Ebike when yer done riding it. If it's built like a small shed it'd even give ya a place to park it out of the weather.

There's been any number of "pure" solar bikes, expensive, fragile and cumbersome - they're not really "daily drivers" although cool as all get-out.

I messed about w/solar power quite a bit and while awesome it's more than a lil picky. With separating the charging "station" from the bike you've the best of both worlds really. The bike itself won't care if it's rainy and gray out and the charging station will happily store whatever power it can gather, whenever it's available. Add on a lil wind gen and you'll look forward to bad weather too!

A heads up though, yer talking about a pretty sizable investment even if you scrounge a lot. Charge controllers aren't cheap and ofc there's used/surplus panels and whatnot - but they still aren't cheap and the batteries need to be in really good condition to get the most return from solar in particular. The upside is with a charging "station" you could use far less expensive (but very heavy & bulky) lead-acid batteries, my sailboat had a bank of eight Walmart deep cycle batteries that I got on sale for $60 each and they performed really well.

For the panels I'd shop around for a home array that someone is sellin' cause they upgraded or even put a "wanted" ad in the paper. The older tech is fine, most of the advancements has been to more output with less size - another reason to have a stationary system at home as the newer stuff is pricey!

I got a fine array for my boat from a buddy that was upgrading his home system, old school and somewhat bulky it still kept up with my consumption rate under most circumstances (I used the batts for all power as well elect. trolling motor for docking). The "trick" to that is having as large a reserve (number/size of batteries) as possible. If it's a small bank and you've got 'em fully charged alla time yer wasting sunlight I figure ;)
 
Last edited:

xlite

New Member
Jun 18, 2009
735
0
0
ny,ny
I have an off grid solar home and enough spare PV cells to build a true sun powered bike. Maybe a recumbent with large flat sunroof/PV array. MPPT with small gel cell for reserve.
 

noco

New Member
Sep 9, 2009
343
0
0
fort collins colorado
this might help..google taos solar...their is a guy down there who makes solar everything..i know he has a truck,4wheeler, and a dirtbike that are solar...he does use a charging station and i know he is willing to share the info...i used to kayak with him...friend of a friend thing
 

BossCat

New Member
Nov 29, 2009
165
0
0
67
Scotland
You have to hang out a while ... its so people don't just join so they can post links. give it a few posts first then you will be able to post all the links you want.
Thanks for the heads up Deacon, i think you maybe the guy to ask about building an electric push trailer?

Regards
Tom
 

BossCat

New Member
Nov 29, 2009
165
0
0
67
Scotland
Hey all

for the science fair i am doing a e-bike, and i want to know if any of yall have any plans/ideas on a solar charging station or generator on the bike...
maybe a solar trailer, or tire roller

Ideas?comments?
Now that I can post links and pictures maybe these will give you a few ideas?

SOLAR TRAILER.



Portable Solar Generator on a bike trailer for Burning Man

SOLAR TRIKE.



Solar Powered Trike

Heres a good site/forums all about alternitive energy...

The Renewable Energy Resource - Gotwind

Hope there of some use ;)

Regards
Tom