Help with homemade trike & solar charging

[geekyink]

Hi, first time posting & appreciate any help that can be shared as I am super pumped to get into e-bikes & start learning their tech along with solar charging. I recently was gifted a homemade trike which is battery powered and am trying to figure out what type and quantity of solar panels I would need to charge it, along with a suitable charge controller that would work if I wanted to charge the trike exclusively over solar. I have a basic understanding of electrical but not much experience with solar & batteries. Below is the current setup, appreciate any info anyone is willing to share thanks!!

• Trike
  • Custom, weighs about 30lbs without batteries
  • Has basket in the rear for the batteries
  • Powered wheel is on the front single wheel of the trike
• Yescom 20” Electric Bicycle Motor Kit
  • Model P-19EBE-000038
  • 36V / 750W
  • Motor Rotating Speed: 500 RPM
  • Motor Torque: 36.88 ft·lb (50 Nm)
  • Recommended Battery Specification: 36V/25A
  • Recommended Battery Capacity: More than 8.8Ah
  • Weight Capacity: 220 Lbs (100kg)
• There are 5 batteries connected in series to provide enough voltage
  • From research I can see that using mis/match battery sizes is not suggested when in series but this is the current setup as it was when I received it
  • This is a play/hobby bike for me to start learning the technology so I would love to know pros/cons of this current setup & ways to upgrade or make it better/safer in the future when $$ allows
  • 4 Apex batteries
    • Model APX12180 F3
    • 12v / 18Ah / 20HR
    • Sealed Lead Acid
  • 1 Keyko battery
    • Model KT-12350 HRT GEL – GEL
    • 12v / 35Ah
    • GEL

 

[Chainlube]

Yea, you're looking for @bike4life. He's a young pup but knows all that electrical dodads.

 

[Wrench]

There are 5 batteries connected in series to provide enough voltage

• From research I can see that using mis/match battery sizes is not suggested when in series but this is the current setup as it was when I received it

Careful when charging that contraption, don't burn your House down

 

[Cannonball3]

If you have 5 in series thats 60v+. I have run 60v thru lower voltage controllers a lot. The controller doesnt care, but the LVC is critical to the batteries you are running. SLAs are pretty tolerant. Lipos are not. The other thing is the capacitors in most lower voltage controllers are 60v you walk the razors edge with them. The other problem is SLAs are literally are heavy as lead. I guess in a trike its bearable. However you expend a good bit of their energy moving them around.

I have an ebike that I run 12s 5ah lipos in. Good for local running. The batteries weigh around 5lbs and range around 15 mi. For an experiment I ran 3 5ah SLAs in series. The weighed in excess of 15lbs and barely made it 7 miles. This is on a 250wt motor. Just some food for thought.

 

[HumanPerson]

see if btrpower.com can help.

Get the proper battery and yur golden it seems to me....i could be wrong though

 

[HumanPerson]

I use 4 100W solar panels hooked together and a MPPT boost charge controller to harvest free range wattage from the sun.

Charges my ebikes quite well when needed.
Hope this helps

 

[HumanPerson]

If you have 5 in series thats 60v+. I have run 60v thru lower voltage controllers a lot. The controller doesnt care, but the LVC is critical to the batteries you are running. SLAs are pretty tolerant. Lipos are not. The other thing is the capacitors in most lower voltage controllers are 60v you walk the razors edge with them. The other problem is SLAs are literally are heavy as lead. I guess in a trike its bearable. However you expend a good bit of their energy moving them around.

I have an ebike that I run 12s 5ah lipos in. Good for local running. The batteries weigh around 5lbs and range around 15 mi. For an experiment I ran 3 5ah SLAs in series. The weighed in excess of 15lbs and barely made it 7 miles. This is on a 250wt motor. Just some food for thought.

brother ya get a good battery lifepo4 or lion and stay in PAS1 @ around 12MPH you'll see crazy range, like in my opinion you should get
at least 60 moiles per charge at least, of course with the proper battery.

I got 96 miles on 1 charge but i only rode at 9MPH.
That is on a LifePo4 pouch cell 52v 35ah battery.

 

[Herman Klutz]

How about listing some good sources of solar equipment?

 

[HumanPerson]

How about listing some good sources of solar equipment?

sort of hit and miss at the moment i'd say...could be wrong though.
I bought cheap ebay solar panels @100W per panel along with a MPPT boost charge controller and it all works together very well so far.

Our hobby gets expensive if we let it..just look deep and find the right things for a good price if ya can..

 

[HumanPerson]

I use this- https://www.ebay.com/itm/393618274509?hash=item5ba57a38cd:g:W9AAAOSw079g7-Gz

There are others though - https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...w=mppt+boost+solar+charge+controller&_sacat=0