Building a Solar Tricycle

[@bujin5455]

Plus you get shade!

[@hanoverview]

Love your Bild :) going to combine that with my Solar Trailer for next year :)

[@maximaxi7779]

Hello from Russia. Now I'm doing the same for traveling around Africa. but with fat wheels) I don't want to depend on asphalt.

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

Very cool!

[@nikoulph]

Nice one, You should look into pre made carbons tubes round profile or square, that you can assemble together with carbon layers and resin.

[@TomWalterTX]

Sloting aluminum. Use drill holes (Unibit work great) and then slot between drilled holes. This helps reduce the chances of cracking at the end of the slot.

[@RoleWithADDvantage]

Love this! Subbed :) Would you be willing to share your 3D bracket insert? I have been looking for some way to connect a canopy to my trike as well, not solar (until my budget increases :) )and these would be perfect!

[@SandorFule]

Very useful video, thank you. I am an avid recumbent bike tourer, and this solar trike bug here is around my head. Seeing your experiences, l am not sure, that l would be faster on a solar trike than on my 2wheeler high racer, without any electricity.

[@Gabriel.Leni100]

Hi there, very interested build! Thanks for sharing. I am specificaly interested in the Google earth part in the video. How did you make that? Thanks

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

I export a .gpx from strava, load it into google earth, then use google earth's built-in "movie maker" to generate the video.

[@robertpersall98]

I like it! I was wondering if a person put hinges on so you could, in essence, point the solar array directly towards the sun for optimum gain.

[@bentstrider]

I wonder if those solar panels would be sufficient for my Bafang, BBSHD 1000W. I've currently got a 24.5 AmpH, 52V battery powering it.

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

"Sufficient" is in the eye of the beholder. You wouldn't be able to pin the throttle indefinitely, but they'd undoubtedly help.

[@rdkuless]

t-cycle dot com has a fairing mount that would work on the front. TerraCycle in Portland. They make all kinds of frame clamps to attach accessories to recumbent trikes/bikes. Their battery mounts are amazing..

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

I have one of their farings, but this is a little more direct.

[@udmbfckx2916]

Wow, thanks for your video....Have you thought about a custom, clear fairing for the front? It would also be cool if you could add more panels, but then again space is at a premium. Have you been able to somehow 'match' better the panels total voltage (70V) to the battery (48V)?. Could you also please provide links and or id the components, like the panels, batteries, wheel hub and controller? Thanks again for your proof of concept.

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

I actually have one. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to affect Wh/km measureably.

[@kd5txo]

@@TheRamblingShepherd It stands to reason because no matter HOW you charge your batteries, the power consumption rate will not change. What WILL change is the range of the vehicle because the MPPT charger will be transferring more energy to the batteries. To change the Wh/Km of your system.... You would have to increase the efficiency of how you USE power: example: decreasing drag, decreasing road friction with better tires, a more efficient motor, decreasing losses between your battery and motor with larger gauge wire, etc. those would change your Wh/Km.

[@Buzzhumma]

Yeah good stuff but i would make a trailer 300mm high with 300w of panels as roof thats tiltable and long and wide enough to sleep in with 1 panel above my head when riding . Good stuff

[@BikeTall]

I am really curious about these solar/ebike set ups. I am planning a world bicycle tour next year. Traveling overseas by plane with batteries & solar panels is not feasible. But i am thinking of doing the US portion of the trip on such a set up, and then switching to a regular bike when i go overseas. I definitely think these solar/ebikes are cool. But i am still not sold on how practical they are yet. What about long patches of rainy days with no sun? Have to watch more videos.

[@driewiel]

I have two 100 Watt panels (53x106 centimeter each) and I only get 30 kilometers extra on a good day. Maybe with double the panels through a desert you could have e-assist whole time? Most efficient would be charge during the day and ride at night. But who does that? If you want panels and batteries in Europe then try get in touch with people of the Sun Trip. www.thesuntrip.com/ Maybe direct order from China and have it shipped to an address? But keep in mind that roads and trails in Europe aren't wide enough for a football field of solar panels. On a bike maybe one as a roof, and two on a trailer? Problem is extra weight and wind drag. So it is questionable if it makes you faster. Just e-assist is probably fastest. Reason why I have solar panels is because I like the roof! And since I have a roof then why not solar? Hopefully one day I can be independent from wall charging. That would be great. But for now, in Europe, nope.

[@theliansin6516]

Bravo, Very inspiring. If most of us turn from cars to solar powered vehicles, there's no worry of high fossil fuel price. And keep our environtment free from hazadou air pollutions.

[@dd-ow6pe]

stupendous project.. kudos.

[@dtiydr]

Cool stuff.

[@sailingaeolus]

Towards the end, you claim running "solar only". So of the 400 watts being generated by the solar, what was the average and peak delivered to the motor?

[@tillyhatcam]

I tried the Genasun MPPT that most people use, and also this one: hilleater.ca/mppt-boost-solar-battery-charge-controller/. They perform about the same. The Chinese one is easily adjustable, and way cheaper. These boost controllers allow you to put the panels in parallel, which is probably preferable for avoiding some shading issues.

[@kevenskilatonyius2178]

Very nice job. Making the panel lighter. Also making it a wing that can lighten the load. Would be my next project. Less drag. Photovoltaic cloth. Like they use on the solar cars. And you can also well the brackets on to your bike. One you know what works. And not worry about clapping it. Nice to have shade from the Sun giving you power. Until they release the knowledge of electrical motors producing more than they use. I guess that makes us more creative

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

Making the panels into an airfoil that generates lift would actually _increase_ drag, and wouldn't be all that useful; bicycles have very low rolling resistance compared to their air resistance, so getting lift at the cost of drag wouldn't be a good trade. As for motors that produce more than they use, they're gonna have to figure out a workaround for that pesky "it's impossible" thing before they make that project public.

[@kevenskilatonyius2178]

@@TheRamblingShepherd READ ABOUT AN AUSI. THAT MADE ELECTRIC MORE THAN IT USED . HE DISAPEARED ,10 YEARS AGO

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

@@kevenskilatonyius2178 Can't find any over-unity devices online searching for "An Ausi" except some toys some Australian huckster tried to sell--but the fact is, it doesn't matter. If over-unity devices were possible, no amount of disappearing people would be able to keep the technology secret. Hell, if it were possible, it wouldn't be some engineering trick; we'd see it in organisms, astronomical phenomena...the sad fact is, no amount of people allegedly "disappearing" can make conservation of energy stop being a fundamental attribute of the universe.

[@bigfoot8085]

Would like to see of your build and journey.

[@Arun-zh8ze]

How much range??? top speed???

[@xameslyons]

can you talk some about how you panel battery interface works. in other words how are you getting the solar energy into you drive system?

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

Certainly. The battery interface is about as simple as it could be; There's a Y-harness that connects the battery, the 3-phase speed controller, and the solar panels in parallel. The battery has a built-in management system that balances the cells. This system is simple but far from optimal. The panels each run at an optimal 18v, so 72v for the whole series. The panels produce about 5.5 amps in nominal test conditions, which would yield the advertised 400 watts. However, when my battery is plugged in at its ~48v, it's thirsty enough to draw all the energy the panels can produce and then some, so the panel voltage sags to that same ~48v level. They can't magically produce more current, though, so they're only putting out 5.5A x 48v = 266 watts, even in perfect conditions. Better than a quarter of my energy is being lost to a voltage mismatch. As such, I do most of my riding with the battery unplugged. The power computer runs the speed controller quite happily straight from the panels. If I manage my throttle correctly, I can keep the panels in their happy 72v band and extract the maximum amount of energy (only about 350 watts at solar noon on the day of the video; conditions are far from optimal at this time of year). When getting into the hills or through shady stretches of road, however, I plug the battery back in to the circuit to supplement the panels. What I need to solve the voltage mismatch problem is a maximum power point tracking charge controller; this would allow me to get 100% of the energy that the conditions allow from the panels even with my 48v battery. Good ones are a bit pricey, however, and I haven't got that budgeted at the moment.

[@zoran69ser]

@@TheRamblingShepherd ,upgrade battery to 72v

[@Buzzhumma]

The Rambling Shepherd new Bluetooth victron energy mppt controller 100v 20amp . Brilliant. Look for andy kirby charge ebike from solar youtube . I just got one and created great system

[@markeh1971]

@@Buzzhumma yep, mppt charge controller will maximise the charge going from 72V to battery ranging from 36 to 54V?? (depending upon state of charge of the battery.) The beauty of a battery is that it stores the energy the solar produces when you are not riding it for later use. Still solar power but stored energy. Otherwise you will need a big array,

[@hellopsp180]

Love it

[@John_Smith__]

Nice but you could also add a bike cargo trail on the back, those with only one wheel, and place on too of those yet another 400W of solar ... that way the solar component would double ... and you would have a cargo capacity hugely increased.

[@Calibike]

Excellent work. What solar charge controller?

[@HobkinBoi]

He wasn't using one I believe, he said he was just dumping energy into the batteries which was horrible inefficient

[@ghostwavewrider]

Does it need a battery?

[@jimthvac100]

You say you gone 70+ miles on the battery without the solar panel. What percentage of that was you pedaling and what was from the battery?

[@petergoestohollywood382]

About 3.

[@ghostwavewrider]

Whats the top speed?

[@bluepawn]

and the sun shade protection (rain, snow etc) even without solar, batteries should be great for those days.

[@Jkauppa]

if you make large enough solar wing, you can fly, powered or pedaled

[@Jkauppa]

honeycomb is light weight and strong enough

[@Zamboro]

Wow, cool stuff. You should check out Jaimie Mantzel's channel, he's built a solar and pedal powered boat that strikes me as the nautical equivalent of this build.

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

I actually just built my brother a solar-powered fishing kayak as well. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.

[@khandam7709]

5:40 you said you unhooking the battery, but your final analysis said you used the battery??? so you have 70v panels dumping into a 48v battery? does not that mess up your battery?

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

Excellent questions! I unhooked the battery for most of the trip, but connected it back up for the hilly sections, since the panels didn't provide enough power on their own to climb the hils. As for whether it could mess up my battery, think of it like filling a car tire from an air compressor; The air compressor may have 8 bar of pressure in its tank, while your car tire may have an ideal pressure of 2 bar. Connecting your tire to the compressor doesn't make it explode immediately, because air can only flow into it slowly. If you kept filling your tire once it had reached 2 bar, it would be dangerous, but until then, you're fine. Likewise, the panels can't immediately raise the battery voltage to 72; that would take a long time, and on top of that I'm draining the battery as I ride and watching to make sure it doesn't overcharge. Leaving it hooked up for a long time without a regulator WOULD be very dangerous, but as is, it's quite safe.

[@nattsurfaren]

I would add shock-absorbers to the solar panel.

[@gpowerdragon9852]

I think Using U Bolt is the best way to connect custom frame to bicycle

[@benbennit]

Can we measure all energy usage in cheeseburger units pls.

[@Livefreeman]

Can you charge and use battery simultaneously

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

Yes, though without a proper charge controller, having both hooked up simultaneously was less efficient than running straight off the panels with the battery unhooked.

[@5.9millionlifehacks99]

Wow...

[@alkevier7127]

You never show the final front bracket mount

[@MongoGamer]

i want to make this, put a lightweight trailer on it maybe beef up the power and live in that just roam the US, go to california for the week why not

[@publicdomain3378]

Why not go to cali for a week? 😅

[@MongoGamer]

@@publicdomain3378 the dumb adult answer. Responsibilities

[@xameslives2694]

Thanks for the reply, what battery and motor are you using?

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

The battery is the 48v (13s) "Killer Whale" from Lunacycle. The motor is the 9Continent Casette.

[@alphonsotate2982]

METAL METAL METAL!

[@donwright3427]

If it's a very windy day you might be getting some air too🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@Dan-un4vt]

IMO ,,, a kyack canopy is much better and use one on my Terratrike Rover..

[@sgsuper1150]

Larger battery and higher voltage may help

[@04dram04]

I think an enclosed bike would be better for the aerodynamics

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

So do I. Turning this into a velomobile is a long-term dream of mine.

[@petergoestohollywood382]

What? Really? You think an aerodynamically optimised bike would be aerodynamically more efficient than a not aerodynamically optimised bike? Bet you needed to to some serious maths in order to get this figured out!

[@MustyBastard]

I had 3kws of burgers for lunch and rode the 15 miles back home full throttle.

[@johnstarr2001]

Down hill generative breaking?

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

Yes.

[@monaxp606]

I want to built a light weight trike that can run throught solar, battery and paddling. My dream is cover a distant of 650km from Kolkata to Siliguri to my wifes's 2nd apartment.

[@SandervV555]

a helmet and a roof, does not reallty appeal to me. but nicely done .

[@emmanuelmanahan3866]

That is Very Hot Under...

[@derekdowns6275]

Oh good... I was about to comment on the heavy glass/aluminum house type panel... far too heavy for this application.

[@brianbassett4379]

I use a pair of 30Ah lithium packs for ebike touring that provide over 2kW using only 60% of their total capacity, thus tripling their expected number of recharge cycles. Couple then with a 300W folding solar panel and range is not an issue unless you are trying to set some trivial record. Touring on a bike has taught me one thing conclusively... mounting a rigid solar panel on a bike or trailer is not safe. It's not overly safe riding a fully loaded touring bike and pulling a trailer without a large sail attached. I never heard how long your ride was, or what the average speed was, but notice you had minimal gear with you for this test. Not really sure what you would "use" your bike for. Ride safe. 10 May 20 - 100 miles. www.relive.cc/view/vMv85EGzYNO photos.app.goo.gl/9ZbuKQNWsHtRH3Ft7 prnt.sc/sw0igi

[@SolarizeYourLife]

3d is mostly for prototyping...

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

Mostly, but solar is "mostly" for stationary applications, as well. Once I figured out the best way to rely on the 3D printed parts for their compressional strength rather than tensile strength in this application (by socketing them into the tubing rather than the other way around), they worked beautifully and were entirely adequate to requirements.

[@tomprentice6935]

⚔️💪😎🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍(stroke)

[@MrQuachBinh]

It's not suitable for long trip, in case of strong wind, you will be sailed away :)))

[@daniele_go]

It seems you are pedaling backward....how is that possible ? Are you still using it with 72V Solar Panels feeding your engine directly OR the battery ? I think it is quite a dangerous/inefficient set up, for sure you are not getting all the advantages of a proper Solar Trike 😉 For my Solar Tilting Trike I am using a Genasun MPPT Solar controller to raise the voltage from my Solar Panels (36V) to 54,6V required to charge my 48V battery

[@chriswebb6153]

people don't have trackers at their house must less a bicycle why can't you reach up and turn it to the sun that's my first thought.

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

People absolutely have MPPTS on their houses' solar arrays. It's not a physical tracker that changes the angle of the panel; it's an electronic tracker that adjusts the resistance of the circuit to maximize panel efficiency at a fixed angle.

[@chriswebb6153]

@@TheRamblingShepherd I'm not trying to be a smart-ass but that's very ingenuitive and I have never seen trackers around people's houses where I live there all bolted to the roof. Learned about it 30 years ago from a friend of mine that was in solar at the time. To put it on a bicycle just blows my mind.it was hard enough to think of a system to do it for ourselves get up all the materials get it all set up Kinect it you know what I mean.

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

@@chriswebb6153 Yeah, it's counterintuitive that you'd need a "tracker" on a fixed panel, but a voltage mismatch between the source and the load can make for a pretty brutal loss of efficiency. On most houses, there's not even a battery in the system so power point tracking circuitry is absolutely vital, and built into the inverter.

[@chriswebb6153]

@@TheRamblingShepherd you guys are much smarter than me I usually speaking app. To spell. And a reading app to read.but I'm extremely mechanical want somebody shows me the routine and the reason why and I don't have to be handheld but it definitely takes a little bit to get going. Especially with mechanical things are not so much a big deal.

[@eksine]

why did you title the video tricycle? it's a recumbent

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

...a recumbent tricycle, yes.

[@eksine]

@@TheRamblingShepherd they don't call them tricycles, just trikes, these are specific terms they use in naming these products. so no it's not a tricycle, that denotes the tricycles kids ride on, a trike has a reverse wheel geometry, 2 wheels up front, a tricycycle denotes 1 wheel up front, please learn correct terminology

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

@@eksine Trike is just short for tricycle, and while the abbreviated form is indeed more common among recumbent cyclists, "tricycle" is in no way incorrect. Either way, it has nothing to do with wheel configuration. Mine has two wheels up front, a configuration usually called a "tadpole" trike, but a lot of three-wheeled recumbents have one wheel in front and two in the back and are called "delta" trikes.

[@eksine]

@@TheRamblingShepherd I cannot agree with you, yes trike is short for tricycle but "trike" as referred to with recumbents denotes a particular type. I believe you are very confused as to the context of the usage of trikes. for reference this article and other website when referring to these type of vehicles are not referred to as tricycles. I 100% believe you are confused and I won't waste more time trying to convince you. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricycle

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

@@eksine The article you linked directly supports what I'm saying. It specifically says that "tricycle" and "trike" are interchangeable terms, uses them interchangeably for both adult and child-sized units, specifies that "tadpole" and "delta" are the terms used to distinguish the respective wheel layouts, and doesn't support any of your claims anywhere. Did you even read it?

[@pscheuerling]

Na, mmpt takes to much time to Focus. Just input, 48 v i guess, dc voltage into accu and install a overvoltage protection.

[@jorgejnr7902]

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🤟🏼🤟🏼🤟🏼🤟🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼👏🏼🤜🏼🤛🏼💪🏼💪🏼💫💫💫👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@alphonsotate2982]

YOU NEED TO ROUND THE METAL TO MATCH THE PIPE OF THE BIKE AND PUT RUBBER BETWEEN THEM

[@TheRamblingShepherd]

THERE ARE 3D-PRINTED PLASTIC SHIMS THAT CONTOUR THE CONNECTION POINTS BETWEEN THE BIKE AND THE RACK. WHY ARE WE YELLING?

[@recumbenttriker6218]

Weight,Wind,Trike Angle👎🏻

[@harendrakhira]

You did not show clear but you made blah blah snd blah on tricyvle