How Do You Use Solar Panels On A Bicycle

Goal zero nomad probably the most popular solar units around for bicycle travellers because of their low cost and availability although customer service and longevity seems less than perfect.

How do you use solar panels on a bicycle. If you want to experience the sun trip but aren t quite ready to ride a solar powered electric bicycle half way around the world you may be in luck. But if you are trying to make your electric bike replace more and more car trips you always want more range. But if you re already creating a system like richard s to provide backup power during an emergency or to take your. Next year s 2019 sun trip is a tour style.

Solar panels are designed to produce more power than the voltage they re rated for. Laptop computers tablets smartphones drones gps devices flashlights or anything else than can be charged via usb or a standard 110 volt power outlet. I use solar chargers but these are the most common models for. Of course range is all relative.

With that in mind i set out some time ago to see if i could extend the range of my electric bike using a solar panel. Products rated between 7 27 watts. Considering how big such panels look do you wonder if it s worth it. What chargers do you suggest for bicycle touring.

For those situations there are many systems available on the market. Of course it s tempting to recharge the bike during the ride but to carry a rather large and also fragile panel that still can not fully charge the bike seems weird. Freeloader super cheap small 1 5w solar charger batteries with 800 1600mah built in batteries. For instance a solar power designed for a 12v output might actually produce 17v of power.

Solar charging an electric bicycle isn t cheaper than grid power at first. There is no cheap boost mppt charger out there i e. However if you were like me found an awesome deal of low voltage solar panel on the web maybe second hand and want to charge your e bike battery directly using this solar panel then tough luck. If you bike two miles a day to the store and back most electric bikes are just fine.

Your battery voltage is higher than your solar panel voltage. Most riders opt for a solar panel kit or fuse solar charger when riding. Use the step by step instructions on this page to quickly easily and inexpensively mount solar panels to the roof of your vehicle and then use the power of the sun to generate electricity for your various electronic devices i e. The bigger the panel the faster your devices will charge and the large devices you will be able to charge.

If you don t have one of those or you built your own solar array use a multimeter to measure the wattage output of your solar panel when it s in the full sun. Sometimes it s not easy to find a plug if you are cycling in remote areas.