EUC charge via solar panel

[RockyTop]

I have one wheel that is always 100% charged by my van. I have an input DC 9v-48v  to DC adjustable output 12v-90 charger. I use an input voltage monitor to stop the charge when the van battery gets low. So if I hop in my van and drive 5 miles the result is that the wheel charges for about 1.5 hours at 1.2 amps. The system would be better if I could charge at 5 amps while the van was running. However my car mile per wheel mile is more than enough for me. 

[Paul A]

Sounds like the plan is to travel by car and camp in a tent without access to power.

 

One of the greatest assets of an EUC is that you can trolley it, or literally just pick it up and carry it onto the nearest bus, tram, train, taxi etc.

Its compact size is not going to cause any concerns even on crowded public transport at peak times.

Having a puncture, flat battery, breakdown etc is just an inconvenience in an urban area.

 

That generator seems a bit expensive for what it offers.

One listing on ebay.com:

Seems to offer much more, at a cheaper price $364 USD, approximately 312 Euro.

9579 units sold, 468 highly favorable customer reviews.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/262485617488?epid=2301397810&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item3d1d5cab50:g:LLAAAOSwLApdpi2R&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAACgPYe5NmHp%2B2JMhMi7yxGiTJkPrKr5t53CooMSQt2orsStdebXPz4ZTXCT8FI9kPBh8AktJhbnheNaeeHf2%2BllhEobQNihS9J3OIq75JEvJYt2KG9DYjL9jeLxyzwlKtscwgmYdOaKeq9%2FgbHYgw7r3NJm%2BwmRd0ybeqMGEPa59QNdXJ0zA9eNzseIxW7h%2F4%2B832RKoQvQTmbyfxkPis6ywA%2BiYglNLPRfCxxSPuqkJMxcdPh7IvKFG5SOuOlROQDapwpg1hN%2BLbSfnroYJSvHlBp50XUqs9xbr%2Fh2%2Bc7pPTENFXOy8blEhllwrS38IxCTKMiAa%2BO8BzqpSvWTz0dkR7s%2FRLZNRFJqZ67eFNnOvTiWdJfz5W4njKCJdmcRVHZCR9Qt8s8uqUGANF%2FDTmHxAP0dk9NL4NWkxf%2BQ1x73aX3Tg9dOus3ONCHuRP7vWmWRFH2lYTAUYDcT4X0pBj3P47Zv4f41siSCw499KNC1uAxxHWu%2BCvKe0N72P0x%2Bug3cmGLnOHF0kevknzSVKH288mfJvLtpwuPSJZLQjeWQzHqvcmNjpd6ofQ6%2BKxaliJEqGRHQExNWeLRyE8RJa%2B6yJiP22HFvAZwI3HbZAO0MciV5CdoZ8SRuLdCa77ofurdpbiOgl6o%2Bsq40Wvaa8LuUtHhJl6M9uW6QuvkXcz%2Fw3O9QMbVkyt3elav4v%2B%2F4vyUXRkTmy0dc1xJncNXcZoLiAzE9eEynZAS2S%2Blc4FIjnjd4PtFHC98AowY%2F6TZosq5MMWZRHbk6hVWCb%2Bh%2BU%2BiaWsTxaIxdq%2BLWrLMUIK7tvaK1cmOW2ZzTTn%2FZXiY4Si9PLNDKodi97ci4fthYayVu14%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2334524

Edited August 21, 2021 by Paul A
typo

[Paul A]

What's the charger for the car to EUC? 

Sounds like a great idea.

Is there link to purchase it from?

Thanks.

[RockyTop]

@Paul A good idea. I have been looking at these propane generators. 

 

 

[Triexy]

38 minutes ago, yoos said:

That is actually a great point. The typical consumption of an EUC at medium speeds (around 20km/h) is around 16Wh/km. If you charge your wheel at 100W this gives you a range of 100W / 16Wh /km = 6km per hour. That's just about walking speed! In other words, by the time you have charged enough to get to your destination, you could have walked there already! So it is not really a wise solution for emergencies.

Not if i take a break and do some fishing i thought I can do some fishing and my wheel is getting charge ^^ with the sun

38 minutes ago, yoos said:

That is actually a great point. The typical consumption of an EUC at medium speeds (around 20km/h) is around 16Wh/km. If you charge your wheel at 100W this gives you a range of 100W / 16Wh /km = 6km per hour. That's just about walking speed! In other words, by the time you have charged enough to get to your destination, you could have walked there already! So it is not really a wise solution for emergencies.

Not if i take a break and do some fishing i thought I can do some fishing and my wheel is getting charge ^^ with the sun

[Paul A]

@RockyTop

Yes, have bought a generator after seeing the extraordinary heat waves and fires that Europe and USA have experienced.

Summer in the Southern Hemisphere is hotter as the Earth is nearest to the Sun then.

Anticipating disruptions to power supply from excessive heat, demands, fires, overloading of grid.....

[RockyTop]

@Paul A I used an older version of this Amazon link. I added electrical connectors  and mounted in an aluminum hobby box. The original fan was not enough. I added two 12v fans to the box .... and a magnet to keep it in place. NOTE: At 13 volts the top output at 84 volts is 1.8 amps when the EUC is at 20% and closer to 1.2 amps above 80%

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by RockyTop

[RockyTop]

You could use my van charger above on the 18 volt solar panel system to charge you wheel. $50 and a couple of hours. 

[supercurio]

47 minutes ago, Triexy said:

Not if i take a break and do some fishing i thought I can do some fishing and my wheel is getting charge ^^ with the sun

That's a rather specific scenario where the location of where you'd be in need of emergency charge is next to water and a suitable fishing spot 

(depending on where you live tho, maybe there are lakes a little bit everywhere hehe)

[RockyTop]

6 minutes ago, supercurio said:

That's a rather specific scenario where the location of where you'd be in need of emergency charge is next to water and a suitable fishing spot 

Hey honey .............. My batteries died again. I am going to have to charge them with the solar panels again. It is going to take a while. .....What?  do I have my fishing pole?  .............. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by RockyTop

[Paul A]

@RockyTop That is a great idea, might be a suitable solution for Triexy too, thanks.

[Triexy]

15 hours ago, supercurio said:

That's a rather specific scenario where the location of where you'd be in need of emergency charge is next to water and a suitable fishing spot 

(depending on where you live tho, maybe there are lakes a little bit everywhere hehe)

I dont want go to strange people and ask them for power and yes we have lakes, rivers every there

[yoos]

1 hour ago, Triexy said:

we have lakes, rivers every there

Then you could also consider portable hydroelectric plant  

An EUC can be charged by regenerative breaking (essentially it boils down to motor torque applying in the opposite direction as the wheel currently rotates). Thus you can charge the wheel by rotating it with your hands or a more sophisticated mechanical contraption. The process would be greatly simplified if the EUC could be switched into a different operational regime (called "mechanical charging", "dynamo machine", "electric generator" etc) where it neglects gyros and simply always breaks gently. Then you would not need to worry about positioning to work with the balancing. You could then put the wheel on a treadmill, waterwheel or any other moving thing to leech its mechanical energy and transform it into energy stored in the batteries.

 

[mike_bike_kite]

19 hours ago, Paul A said:

 

Summer in the Southern Hemisphere is hotter as the Earth is nearest to the Sun then.

I don't think it's how close you are to the sun but whether that part of the planet is tilted towards the sun. In the winter the sun stays lower and that's because your part of the planet is tilted away from the sun.

[Paul A]

Yes, tilt of the Earth's axis causes the seasons.

The Earth's orbit around the Sun, being an ellipse, has the southern hemisphere tilted toward the Sun (summertime), when the Earth is at the closest distance (Perihelion, January 4 for 2022.

Summertime for the Northern Hemisphere when the Earth is further away from the Sun.  The date for Aphelion is July 4 for 2022.

 

Distance to Sun at:

Perihelion. approximately 147.1 million kms.

Aphelion. approximately 152.6 million kms.

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Paul A

[xSAMCOx]

I use a EF Dellta 1300 to solar charge my wheel  works great.

[Triexy]

Hmm if I take a 500 wh battery I need to refill it 4 times to charge my wheel full its really an expensive hobby if I checkout bigger batterys

Edited August 24, 2021 by Triexy

[LanghamP]

You can regenerate the battery at about 150 watts per second if you are good at coasting down a hill at terminal speed, but doing so does require quite a bit of training and feel for your wheel, and in my opinion can be very dangerous on the steeper hills, as the depleted battery has almost no safety reserve at terminal speed. Still, a very skillful rider with not much concern could probably stuff 400 wh in a half mile hill. Or maybe not.

[.....]

Why not a trunk full of sla batteries? Charge em up full before you leave and only use them for that 10% charge. You could do that over and over, until having to charge the sla batteries again. Or do as @RockyTop mentions and charge them with the vehicle? Add solar panels on top the van and park where youll get so hot you can melt and BAM, you get some free charging.  OR.... buy an mten and bust it out for an additional range boost. 

[GothamMike]

Speedy Feet UK did an EPIC London --> Wales--> Ireland --> Ulster --> Scotland --> Almost back to London

They charged up at their lodging and wherever they ate meals. The lads occasionally asked Hotels and shops if they could charge. If you are going to be "travelling around" do you really want to drag a solar panel with you? 

[UglyD]

I used a boost converter based solar charge controller (MPT-7210A) and 200W of panels Renogy - https://solwiser.com/am-solar-panel-reviews/. I selected the output voltage to just below the max voltage of my wheels batteries (67v) and it's worked fine. It charges pretty slowly as you won't get 200w out of the panels.

[Skalhus]

Think it will be more cost effective to sell ur current wheels take the money and bye a euc like the Sherman, Abrams or some other ride that have the range from the beginning so u don’t have too bring all the crap u need too charge ur wheels in the wild!😘

[WEWHEEL]

Have been following this thread and curious to know what decision you arrived at.  Did you buy the KS 18XL?  Still waiting?  Would be interested to hear your update.

In terms of feasibility, I've done much legwork planning for off-grid EUC expeditions and have concluded similar expectations to @UglyD real life experience.  Consider the following: 

• For EUC power consumption:  Use 25wh per mile to calculate ideal range expectations of your wheel. 
• Use 60% of the power rating of solar panels to calculate charging potential.

For my usecase I am currently seeking to charge while riding as I intend to do day riding and will use solar as a range extender.  For expedition purposes I am planning on 100miles per day and planning on remaining offgrid (no charging from restaurants, powerstations, hotels, etc.).

Anyway, good luck and let the group know any progress you've made.

[alcatraz]

Technically you could install a small dc-dc charger inside your wheel. Then mount a usb-c port somewhere and try to get it to request 20V from a powerbank.

On gotway I'm sure you can charge and ride, but on other wheels I'm sure that if you charge the wheel turns off.

It won't be efficient. You'd be lucky if the wheel stores even 50% of the charge in the external source. Pick an efficient circuit.

Edited January 29, 2022 by alcatraz