First off, I am perhaps only a single step above someone who knows absolutely nothing about solar panels. I know some of the basics of electricity, and that's about it.
A few days ago I began postulating the possibility of selling my old Kawasaki dirt bike and buying an electric bicycle. I then had the idea of rigging a solar panel to said bicycle. From my own research, I know that at a bare minimum I would need a solar panel (Duh.) and a solar charge controller.
The e-bike which I have been looking at is the X-treme X-cursion mountain bike. It runs off a 24V 8Ah LiFePO4 battery.
I would buy a 20-45 Watt 24 Volt Panel and rig it to the cargo rack in some way that it is secure and hopefully thief-proof.
Throughout the course of my research I have found two types of solar charge controllers: PWM and MPPT. I am aware that PWM controllers apparently have a notable net loss of power, whereas MPPT controllers have much less. I'm all for maximum efficiency, so I'm sure I'd want an MPPT controller. I found this controller on Amazon that doesn't appear too costly and has great reviews even though it's a cheap "Made-in-China" product:
At the end of the day I still have a few questions which need answering:
1.) Would I need to buy a charge controller that is meant for charging LiFePO4 batteries, and is the one listed above able to do so? I've not found much in the way of the safety considerations for using controllers with different types of batteries.
2.) Even with a compatible controller, part of me assumes it will not be easy (near impossible) to feed power directly from the controller into the bike's battery. Is my reasoning correct on this?
3.) If my reasoning in #2 is correct, would it be then be necessary to purchase an inverter and some sort of cable to charge the battery similarly to the way it's meant to be charged? (Through the port on the battery wherever it is?)
A few days ago I began postulating the possibility of selling my old Kawasaki dirt bike and buying an electric bicycle. I then had the idea of rigging a solar panel to said bicycle. From my own research, I know that at a bare minimum I would need a solar panel (Duh.) and a solar charge controller.
The e-bike which I have been looking at is the X-treme X-cursion mountain bike. It runs off a 24V 8Ah LiFePO4 battery.
I would buy a 20-45 Watt 24 Volt Panel and rig it to the cargo rack in some way that it is secure and hopefully thief-proof.
Throughout the course of my research I have found two types of solar charge controllers: PWM and MPPT. I am aware that PWM controllers apparently have a notable net loss of power, whereas MPPT controllers have much less. I'm all for maximum efficiency, so I'm sure I'd want an MPPT controller. I found this controller on Amazon that doesn't appear too costly and has great reviews even though it's a cheap "Made-in-China" product:
At the end of the day I still have a few questions which need answering:
1.) Would I need to buy a charge controller that is meant for charging LiFePO4 batteries, and is the one listed above able to do so? I've not found much in the way of the safety considerations for using controllers with different types of batteries.
2.) Even with a compatible controller, part of me assumes it will not be easy (near impossible) to feed power directly from the controller into the bike's battery. Is my reasoning correct on this?
3.) If my reasoning in #2 is correct, would it be then be necessary to purchase an inverter and some sort of cable to charge the battery similarly to the way it's meant to be charged? (Through the port on the battery wherever it is?)
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