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Motor7 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Solar charging question
    Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 4:30pm
I just bought two RadRover E-bikes. The battery packs are 48V 14Ah (672Wh) with Lithium NCA 18650 Samsung 35E Cells, Rated for 800 Charge Cycles. 

The charger that comes with the bikes is just a 48V 2 Amp "smart charger" which takes 5-6 hours to completely charge a battery pack. 

Here is my question...we will be boondocking on out trip out west this spring. I want to be able to charge these battery's using two solar panels that I have not bought yet. Can I direct charge them to speed up the re-charge time? Going thru an inverter, then plugging the smart charger to that seems like a waste of available charging  voltage/amps. Am I thinking right, or is this even possible?

Oh, and I am still learning, but on the MH I installed a 2 panel 435 watt solar system with a Bogart charge controller and monitor and it all worked as it should to charge the 2 GC house batteries.
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furpod View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 5:26pm
You can't charge a 48v battery with 12v. You will either need to use an inverter and the charging power supply, or 12v to 48v step up transformer. Solar panels are usually a 19v native voltage if I recall.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 5:41pm
Yes you can charge the bike batteries directly from solar modules. Unless you buy 2,  24V modules to get to 48V (which would be spendy) by connecting  them in series you will need a charge controller that boosts the module voltage. Like one of these maybe:


Be sure to get a controller that's compatible with your bike's battery cell chemistry, which appears to be  LiNiMnCoO2. Lithium batteries are fussy about max charging voltage, you do not want to ever overcharge them.

If you want to be able to recharge the bikes over the course of a sunny day I'd suggest about 200 watts of modules. You could get 2, 12V modules and put them in series and get a 24 to 48V boost charge controller, or get a 12V to 48V boost controller and put the modules in series. 


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furpod View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 5:45pm
But then, can he charge his camper batteries?

Seems easiest to me to set up for charging the camper batteries which he needs to do anyways, at 12v, then add a $20 transformer...

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 6:33pm
Motor7 asked if he can get solar modules that can charge his bikes, not that he wanted to also use the same modules for charging his rPod batteries. Motor7, can you provide us with your overall goals for your solar installation? 

That device is not a transformer. a transformer is an AC device. It is a dc/dc converter. It is not a  Li Ion charge controller, they are two different things. To properly charge LiIon batteries, you need a charge controller designed to do that function. 


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Tars Tarkas View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 6:40pm
I just got a RadRover a few months ago.  Love it!  I haven't boondocked yet with the bike but I plan on using an inverter.  Rad Power Bikes seems very specific on warranty issues related to their batteries.  The batteries last a long time.  Depending on how you ride, a charge will last all day.  They do seem to take for ever to charge though, and of course, while you have plenty of time to charge overnight, that doesn't work too well vis a vis solar power.  Unless you charge your Pod battery and use an inverter to charge the bikes overnight.

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furpod View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 6:41pm
My bad.. since he is stating he is boondocking, I did in fact assume he would need to charge his batteries.
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Motor7 View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 7:00pm
No, it's my bad, furpod is correct, I will also want to charge the 2 gc house batteries, but not at the same time as the radrover battery.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Feb 2019 at 8:02pm
You could use a couple of 24 solar panels, which typically run in the 35-37 volt range. Hook them up in series for 70-80 volts open circuit. Then get two different MPPT solar charge controllers; one that charges 12V batteries, and one that charges 48V lithium batteries. I don't think you could use both controllers at the same time, in fact, I'm pretty sure that you couldn't. That would still be kind of spendy.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Feb 2019 at 5:54am
No good or bad here, just best to clarify overall goals. 

Motor7, depending on what you run in your pod while boondocking and how much you ride your ebikes, one or the other might be your major energy consumer. If like Tars its your pod, then the efficiency of charging your ebikes is not that important in the overall scheme of things. 

In that case I'd go with Tars' approach and install an inverter, that would allow you to charge the bikes day or night using the factory charger, so not compromising your warranty or risking incorrectly charging the Li Ion batteries (overcharging Li Ion batteries is likely to cause them to overheat and catch fire). An inverter lets you run other loads at your campsite as well. Get a true sine wave one if you go this route and consider one in the 2-3kW range so you can run larger loads like your microwave for SHORT periods of time.   

If you are using a large amount of your total energy budget for the ebikes and don't care about night charging or your warranty, then a single solar array with dual MPPT charge controllers (one set up for 12V lead acid, the other for 48 volt Li Ion) might be the way to go. You can avoid the high cost of  two series 24V modules and use one or two standard grid tie solar modules, with one controller "bucking" the module voltage down to 12V and the other "boosting" it up to 48. That would be the most efficient approach. 

Only one controller could run at a time, the MPPT functions wouldn't play well with each other. You could switch them manually or set up an automatic switch over when your prioritized battery reached full charge. 

Or you could go with furpod's approach which would be in between on efficiency but would allow for nighttime ebike charging. You would need to get into the Li Ion battery charge specs and get an adjustable 12 to 48V dc dc converter to be sure you didn't overcharge the ebike batteries. 

Bottom line is the hardware exists to do whatever you want, but you first need to decide how you want this all to work and what your priorities are. 


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