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Trickle charging a 72V battery array from a 36V solar array

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  • Trickle charging a 72V battery array from a 36V solar array

    Ok. I work for an electrical systems automation company, and after asking around at work, I thought I'd seek advice from some people who are more focused on the solar side of things; I know what I'm trying to do is ugly, but the surface area of my project limits my options...

    I have a 72V Ford Think NEV, the standard model, not the neighbor edition. My goal is to install a solar array as a trickle charger. I'm not expecting to replace wall-charging; I just want a solution that will get me an extra mile or two on top of the 10-15 miles I get from a charge when there are two people in the cart. I was hoping that a small solar array on top would be able to provide this.

    The Problem:

    I have 6 small solar panels, 6V @ 1W each. I've gone over the options I know about, and the best I can come up with is building two 36V battery/capacitor arrays that I can charge up from the panels, and then running those in series with a diode to the battery array... I think that's 'possible,' but I don't know, and I also suspect the system would require more interaction that I want to put in on a day-to-day basis; the goal is a passive charging solution, where the most I have to really do is switch it on or connect it when I pull the cart off the wall charger. I'm a computer programmer, though, so I only have the vaguest idea of what will work on paper and absolutely no idea of what might work in practice.

    TLR - I have a 36V solar array (6x 6V@1W), and I need to find a way to use that to trickle charge a 72V battery array in my golf cart, preferably as a passive system.

    Any help at all will put me closer than I am right now. Thanks for your time reading this, and a happy holiday to anyone who finds there way here.

    z

  • #2
    Forget the 1w panels. You will loose mileage just by dragging their useless weight around.

    I have only heard rumor of boost type charge controllers, I don't know of any. Your best bet is to get a couple high voltage (45V) Grid Tie stye panels wired in series, and use a MPPT controller that can manage to be programmed to 72V systems. I think the Midnight Classic can do that.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Zembriski View Post
      I have 6 small solar panels, 6V @ 1W each.
      Huh? Put all 6 in parallel and it would make a poor cell phone charger that would take up to a week to recharge a phone. About as useful as pissing on a forest fire.
      MSEE, PE

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