Mobile Solar Charging

[Graffi]

IMHO trying to use solar to charge the EV from the car is a total waste. So much better to spend the same amount of time and money to set up a stationary solar system at your home to supplement the grid in charging the EV. In addition, any time the EV is away from home there will always be grid power to recharge so much easier, cheaper, and faster than any portable solar system.

It is a nice thought, but will never happen with solar. Maybe in the future someone will discover a new way to harness the almost endless power of the sun to concentrate it into an EV storage "tank" that can provide more energy than is being consumed. Until then, playing around with "Portable Solar" PV will never work.

 

[TomT]

Nope, even if you could make 100% efficient panels (which likely will never be possible - a good panel these days is around 20%), there is simply not enough surface area, solar energy, and a decent enough angle of incidence to the sun to generate enough power to really be of any value...

I can see in the near future EV could have solar panel roofs and hoods from the factory. With all the solar cell advancements this is something we could start seeing pretty soon actually.

 

[NasGoreList]

it might not be able to charge your battery completely, but if we get to 30+ watts per sq ft(we are at 12 now) I can definitely see it happening. Could get you 3-6 miles of range for every hour sitting parked or driving in the sun...

 

[kieranmullen]

With or without tillting it towards the sun?

it might not be able to charge your battery completely, but if we get to 30+ watts per sq ft(we are at 12 now) I can definitely see it happening. Could get you 3-6 miles of range for every hour sitting parked or driving in the sun...

 

[smkettner]

I think the oem could make a roof panel far more effective with a controller that would charge the 400v battery direct vs all the conversion and overhead detailed above.
Just not going to be practical for a home brew system through the EVSE and OBC.

 

[kieranmullen]

Thin film solar?

I think the oem could make a roof panel far more effective with a controller that would charge the 400v battery direct vs all the conversion and overhead detailed above.
Just not going to be practical for a home brew system through the EVSE and OBC.

 

[smkettner]

A custom panel with 750 cells producing 375 volts to charge without a controller might be the way to go.

 

[QueenBee]

A custom panel with 750 cells producing 375 volts to charge without a controller might be the way to go.

Not really sure covering the outside of a car with 375 volts is a wise idea and I would think you would want MPT if you have any hope of actually capturing a significant amount of energy.

 

[theleafer]

My school donated a second battery which happens to be the exact same specs and make (Interstate Battery). With that other battery I was able to use all four inputs on my inverter which will reduce heat in the back. The charge lasted about 5 mins and I disconnected it with not auto cutoffs

 

[theleafer]

The guys at http://evseupgrade.com/ have been a huge help. I will be sending in my EVSE to have them do their magic to it. With their software on the EVSE I will be able to drop the charge down to 6amps and that should help solve at least one of my roadblocks. Check them out at http://evseupgrade.com/. Mark has been a huge help and Phil (Ingineer) has also been very helpful with getting the EVSE to work on an inverter and pass the ground test. You can check out where I got the resistor wiring in my plug which makes the EVSE clear the grounding here http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=5792&start=40. Their upgrade is also good for charging at level2 speeds on your OEM EVSE, mention my solar project, they are great to work with.

 

[theleafer]

I have created a blog page which will help make it easier to follow my progress. I will still make sure to keep everyone on MyNissanLEAF.com up to date as much as possible though. Thank you for your input everyone.

http://projectphotosynthesis.weebly.com/blog/foam

 

[smkettner]

The guys at http://evseupgrade.com/ have been a huge help. I will be sending in my EVSE to have them do their magic to it. With their software on the EVSE I will be able to drop the charge down to 6amps and that should help solve at least one of my roadblocks. Check them out at http://evseupgrade.com/. Mark has been a huge help and Phil (Ingineer) has also been very helpful with getting the EVSE to work on an inverter and pass the ground test. You can check out where I got the resistor wiring in my plug which makes the EVSE clear the grounding here http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=5792&start=40. Their upgrade is also good for charging at level2 speeds on your OEM EVSE, mention my solar project, they are great to work with.

Now you are making progress!

Next step will be three more panels and a big controller. If you could turn them sideways then attach hinges maybe you could fold them out when parked with a proprod or something to hold them up. You will be picking up about 2 mph in good sun.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Now that you have hopefully fixed the electrical issues, have you looked to disassembling the solar panel and affixing the actual cells to the car?

 

[theleafer]

Now that you have hopefully fixed the electrical issues, have you looked to disassembling the solar panel and affixing the actual cells to the car?

I did originally look at buying the cells and making my own panel. It would have been cheaper, slimmer, lighter and have less frontal area. What got me away from this idea was creating the enclosure for the cells and how to safely mount them to the roof. I also got a really good deal on my panel, $250 for 250 watts. As far as taking this apart, Ultimately this setup will end up on my house as this experiment is my senior research and design project. It even has me debating switching my major from mechanical to electrical engineering because I find solar so fascinating and want to be part of the advancement of this promising, and extremely useful technology.

 

[smkettner]

Mounted under the crossbars will significantly reduce your solar output. Even partial shade on one cell is significant.

In So CA you can get a brand new 250w for $212.50 (+tax)
http://www.solarblvd.com/Solar-Panels-&-Systems-24-Volt-Solar-Panels/c1_270/index.html

 

[QueenBee]

Now that you have hopefully fixed the electrical issues, have you looked to disassembling the solar panel and affixing the actual cells to the car?

I did originally look at buying the cells and making my own panel. It would have been cheaper, slimmer, lighter and have less frontal area. What got me away from this idea was creating the enclosure for the cells and how to safely mount them to the roof. I also got a really good deal on my panel, $250 for 250 watts. As far as taking this apart, I ultimately this setup will end up on my house as this is experiment is my senior research and design project. It even has me debating switch my major from mechanical to electrical engineering because I find solar so fascinating and want to be part of the advancement of this promising, and extremely useful technology.

To be fair though there is a lot of mechanical engineering with all aspects of of a solar PV so I wouldn't exclude that idea as a ME you can't work in the PV industry. Most EE work is going to need MEing and thrown in there somewhere is some SW.

Let us know when you are ready to install a system on your house, can provide lots of help with that!

 

[theleafer]

Mounted under the crossbars will significantly reduce your solar output. Even partial shade on one cell is significant.

In So CA you can get a brand new 250w for $212.50 (+tax)
http://www.solarblvd.com/Solar-Panels-&-Systems-24-Volt-Solar-Panels/c1_270/index.html

Thank you for the info on the panels. As for the mounting of mine. Originally it was on top but, I did not feel comfortable with it being that high off of the roof. This way the panel pushes against the bars instead of pulling up on them when hit by wind and it is actually partially on the roof. I would rather have the peace of mind of it being a little more secure and safe at the loss of efficiency.

 

[theleafer]

Now that you have hopefully fixed the electrical issues, have you looked to disassembling the solar panel and affixing the actual cells to the car?

I did originally look at buying the cells and making my own panel. It would have been cheaper, slimmer, lighter and have less frontal area. What got me away from this idea was creating the enclosure for the cells and how to safely mount them to the roof. I also got a really good deal on my panel, $250 for 250 watts. As far as taking this apart, I ultimately this setup will end up on my house as this is experiment is my senior research and design project. It even has me debating switch my major from mechanical to electrical engineering because I find solar so fascinating and want to be part of the advancement of this promising, and extremely useful technology.

To be fair though there is a lot of mechanical engineering with all aspects of of a solar PV so I wouldn't exclude that idea as a ME you can't work in the PV industry. Most EE work is going to need MEing and thrown in there somewhere is some SW.

Let us know when you are ready to install a system on your house, can provide lots of help with that!

My reasoning for sticking with Mech E is that to me, it can be more universally applied and may have more careers to choose from. As far as EE I think that solar is cool. I am sure I will get a better idea of which path I want to take after my first two years in college and some general requisite classes. Thank you for you input.

 

[QueenBee]

To be fair though there is a lot of mechanical engineering with all aspects of of a solar PV so I wouldn't exclude that idea as a ME you can't work in the PV industry. Most EE work is going to need MEing and thrown in there somewhere is some SW.

Let us know when you are ready to install a system on your house, can provide lots of help with that!

My reasoning for sticking with Mech E is that to me, it can be more universally applied and may have more careers to choose from. As far as EE I think that solar is cool. I am sure I will get a better idea of which path I want to take after my first two years in college and some general requisite classes. Thank you for you input.

And in my experience it seems MEs and EEs end up learning a lot of the same things so I would suspect there is a lot of time to learn about both before it's too late to change course.

 

[keydiver]

I would rather have the peace of mind of it being a little more secure and safe at the loss of efficiency.

As smkettner already said, the effect of partial shading is VERY significant. The solar cells on a panel are all wired in series, so the current output of the ENTIRE PANEL is reduced to the current going through that one cell. Its like installing a straw in the middle of the water line feed to your house. You really don't want to do that, so I would come up with an alternative way of mounting so it can be flipped up above the bars when generating, if you are that concerned about the wind resistance.