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Semi portable solar charging

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solar
5K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  Cord 
#1 ·
Hi there,
does anyone here have a semi portable solar charging solution? I am renting and not planning to buy any time soon and would still like to charge my Volt by solar. Is there a solar generator or anything similar that I could use in my place? Not really looking for something that I could "drag" with me, more in the sense of temp solar solution for renters and not tied up to the grid. Any idea or help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Hi there,
does anyone here have a semi portable solar charging solution? .. would still like to charge my Volt by solar...appreciated.
understand that the lowest power that you can use to charge the volt is 1 kw, and at that rate a full charge takes 14 hours or so. you will need roughly 5 standard 225 watt panels and you will want a storage system, so that you aren't starving your inverter for small short duration light dips and you will need a full sine wave inverter rated to run at least a 1kw. just how portable do you want this to be? do you have an open sunny 6 ft x10 ft area to put this?

Boy, that's fun to think about- it's like a car port, only it really could charge the car, not if you are using a full battery load every day, but a 3 bay car port could support one volt in a sunny climate with a full change most days.... see posts below for some links to possible options.
 
#3 ·
Honestly, I admire what you are wanting/looking to do; however, in your situation as described, it is simply not practical in any way you look at it from a cost analysis. Not trying to burst your idea into nothing, just letting you know how it is. The only solution I could even think of for you is www.pluggedsolar.com that would even be remotely practical. Other than that, nothing will make financial sense.

IMHO just start saving now for a future solar install when you are no longer renting and have a space of your own. Read up on solar, educate yourself, and when it comes time, you can simply install it yourself as I did. In the meantime, enjoy your Volt and just charge off the grid.
 
#7 ·
Interesting device! Here is an image from their WWW site with prices and the various peak power abilities of various models. Yes it is expensive but still a nifty machine. Even has a gas powered generator in case you want to charge multiple cars simultaneously and solar can not handle the load..oh wait..that's not a great idea..but kinda neat ;).

http://www.greentow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/stats_pricing_4-25-11.jpg
 
#6 ·
I contacted the company about this a few weeks ago and was told there was no plans on making it a stand alone product. A real shame as it would be perfect for many EVs that have no access to workplace charging.
 
#9 ·
Mobile Solar system



Hi Gabs,
I just installed a semi mobile grid-tie 1.5kW solar system for a friend of mine with a Nissan LEAF. He lives in a rental right now and his landlord does not allow him a roof install. He has a shade free area in his backyard where we installed 6x 250W(peak) Solarworld PV modules with 6x Enphase M215 micro inverters on a metal rack. The foundation is made of 6 pre-cast concrete footers which have a threaded 3/4 inch bolt sticking out. Each footer weighs about 60 - 80lbs. If you move the system, you can pick up up the footers and re-use them. The metal structure is made of steel u-struts from Home Depot and Aluminum rails to install the panels. All bolted and easily disasseembled. The 6 micro inverters are connected in line and hooked up into a 240V sub panel in his garage via a 20A Circuit Breaker. We connected it via an external 240V outlet. Same as you use for a L2 charger or a dryer. Everything needs proper grounding.

He gets 5 to 8kWH out of the system daily. He can monitor its performance via a very cool web interface. Took us about 10 hours to install it.
Cost with all nuts and bolts and wires about 3500$. He admits it is not so much for the payback, but for the good feeling when he charges and drives his EV.
The good thing about the micro inverters is, you can add on any time, as long as you stay within the AMP limits for your wires and CB´s. I would not get one of those PLUG-IN 120V PV Sets. Mostly low quality stuff, not UL listed, modified sine wave inverters and probably not accepted by your power company.

Roland
certified Solarteur
 
#10 ·
Gabs7777,
San Diego has a lot of public chargers, many of them free. Have you searched in Plugshare.com?
 
#11 ·
min input to charge a volt is 6 amp at 120 Volts AC

Go Hydro- sneak one into the city water line when no one is looking :)
 
#13 · (Edited)
min input to charge a volt is 6 amp at 120 Volts AC
.. :)
Can you provide a reference for this? I can't find any information to support a lower charge current than 8 amps at 110 volts
 
#12 · (Edited)
one final idea- if you have your own electric service, you can select your generation services provider, at least I think you can, and at least here in Massachusetts, you can select 100% renewables if you wish. The extra cost here is about 7 cents per KWh, and you will never consume enough power charging your volt to make it worth spending $5000. on a local small, relatively inefficient solution as opposed to just buying 100% renewables power from a large efficient provider. Once you own your own roof, you can install a good, high quality, efficient pv system...
 
#14 ·
just need to adjust the pilot signal on the DIY chargers- Very few are going to want it set that low.

The volt will only adjust on the fly to 6,8,12 at 120 VAC .
 
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