S-Bike

[svetz]

Construction details before the timestamp, at about 10 min he raises the panel-trailer higher. Not bad for 3x100W panels.

 

[FilterGuy]

Construction details before the timestamp, at about 10 min he raises the panel-trailer higher. Not bad for 3x100W panels.

Practical? No
Fun? You bet it is! (I even found myself thinking of how I would improve on it)

 

[jasonhc73]

Practical? No
Fun? You bet it is! (I even found myself thinking of how I would improve on it)

Easy to improve.

Add a second row next to it. ?

 

[svetz]

The image is misleading, his trailer only has three panels and seemed to work pretty well. I also liked the stacking brackets.

...I even found myself thinking of how I would improve on it...

Now you've got me curious.

 

[FilterGuy]

Now you've got me curious.

• It looks like the 3 panels are in series.... I would go parallel.
• I could not tell what all he had for electronics, but it looked like overkill.
• If the wheels were larger, the panels would not bounce around so bad on small bumps in the road.
• I have not come up with it yet, but I have to wonder if there is a way to do it with a single trailer. (There certainly is if you are willing to do 2 panels next to each other and make the trailer 'double wide'.

Not really related to the solar snake: I wonder how efficient the DIY E-Bike is.

 

[Q-Dog]

 

[svetz]

... I wonder how efficient the DIY E-Bike is....

Not very, he said he slapped it together with some parts laying around, no attempt to make it efficient.

 

[solar-e-bike-Derek]

I'm going to build this solar trailer to take on e-bike camping trips. My last one was an adapted child-hauler, built a DIY aluminum roof rack out of crutches, mounted 80W solar panel on my Kamprite tentcot bag and pulled that all around NW Washington state. Next one will be DIY from the ground up, with the exception of the trailer chassis (with suspension). I'm interested in chatting with anyone who might have design advice for this type of thing. For instance, I'm going to want the "lid" to be water tight and I'm going to want the battery / charging components to be safe from the bumps and vibrations of the road. My old set up I was using a Jackery 300, which seemed like it was up for that type of abuse and never failed me. Body will be fiberglass, and I've never worked with that material, so trying to figure all this out.

 

[curiouscarbon]

cool project!

may i ask about the frame more? off the shelf? brand/model? i would like to do more solar trekking, but not up to machining the frame at this time

have used an e bike before, but it was kind of bulky. your build looks great. cool idea to repurpose the passenger trailer thing.

i mostly do software side stuff but also like hardware hacking

what is your plan for charge controller(s)?

the wheelbarrow design looks interesting. one potential issue that is probably not really an issue.. since the surface is flat on top perhaps water might pool more easily. sorry to nit pick, because if it is raining then it's not like there is an expectation of solar production. but anyways i mentioned because of water ingress concern.

have you considered using gas linear thingy to hold the lid open for easy access? like on doors to prevent slam shut from momentum

anyways, good luck and your project is inspiring!

 

[curiouscarbon]

@solar-e-bike-Derek

re: solar trekking

in mid 2020 was entertaining idea of building solar trailer for EV car. drive a bit, camp, charge, recharge, etc..

it's not for bike as this thread is about; the design spaces overlap so i dug up the janky FreeCAD model.

since weight was not as much of a concern, the four mounting poles for the solar panels were to be linear actuators

so that it could achieve approx ±10 degrees of tracking (when stationary) and to go into a low drag pose when driving.

never built any of it yet. still want to solar trek, and engineering for an e-bike seems much more tractable!

using a pre-built frame seems like a great idea.



good luck with the project!

 

[solar-e-bike-Derek]

cool project!

may i ask about the frame more? off the shelf? brand/model? i would like to do more solar trekking, but not up to machining the frame at this time

have used an e bike before, but it was kind of bulky. your build looks great. cool idea to repurpose the passenger trailer thing.

i mostly do software side stuff but also like hardware hacking

what is your plan for charge controller(s)?

the wheelbarrow design looks interesting. one potential issue that is probably not really an issue.. since the surface is flat on top perhaps water might pool more easily. sorry to nit pick, because if it is raining then it's not like there is an expectation of solar production. but anyways i mentioned because of water ingress concern.

have you considered using gas linear thingy to hold the lid open for easy access? like on doors to prevent slam shut from momentum

anyways, good luck and your project is inspiring!

If you mean the roof rack, that's made mostly of crutches I bought at the thrift store for $6 per pair. I could give you more details around the rack build if you like. If you are asking about the chassis / frame of the trailer, it's standard square and round tubular aluminum and is just a wider (2 child) version of the chassis in my picture (which has suspension and I highly recommend that!).

Here's some more detail in a new post: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/solar-trailer-2-0-for-e-bike-camping-touring-advice-needed.34377/

Probably go with a Rich Solar 20 Amp MPPT.

I definitely need help with the lid design because I will have to have holes for the wires and panel mounts and want it still to be water tight.

I have been thinking about the gas things to hold the lid, but also want an easy way to arrange the lid at any angle (a crank mechanism or tension hinges like on a laptop might work).

 

[solar-e-bike-Derek]

@solar-e-bike-Derek

re: solar trekking

in mid 2020 was entertaining idea of building solar trailer for EV car. drive a bit, camp, charge, recharge, etc..

it's not for bike as this thread is about; the design spaces overlap so i dug up the janky FreeCAD model.

since weight was not as much of a concern, the four mounting poles for the solar panels were to be linear actuators

so that it could achieve approx ±10 degrees of tracking (when stationary) and to go into a low drag pose when driving.

never built any of it yet. still want to solar trek, and engineering for an e-bike seems much more tractable!

using a pre-built frame seems like a great idea.

View attachment 80967View attachment 80963

good luck with the project!

Cool idea and think there are some micro-campers out there that could do it but cost you a lot of money. Personally I love the bike camping but sharing roads with a big bike trailer can be hectic. It's best when you can find bike paths.

 

[curiouscarbon]

bike paths

may i ask for recommendation of where to look up bike paths? app or website or something else?

 

[solar-e-bike-Derek]

may i ask for recommendation of where to look up bike paths? app or website or something else?

Here's a good place for my state: https://www.traillink.com/stateactivity/wa-bike-trails/

 

[curiouscarbon]

thanks!