Solar charging the LEAF with no home system

[Smidge204]

Hi!Why use an inverter? Couldn't go direct with no conversion to the fast charging porto of the Leaf?

Getting the appropriate voltage and current out of your solar panels to match the battery's charging requirements at any given time is going to be impossible without some kind of charge controller between them, and that charge controller will need to be compatible with the LEAF's battery.

It's just safer, easier and probably cheaper to go to AC and let the vehicle's internal charger handle everything. So you lose a few percent because of the conversion... big deal, the sunlight is free!
=Smidge=

 

[smkettner]

Hi!Why use an inverter? Couldn't go direct with no conversion to the fast charging porto of the Leaf?

Sure and you will need to design and build the QC charger nearly from scratch.
My suggestion is available off the shelf.

 

[jspearman]

There's a startup here in Phoenix called Monarch Power, run by a professor at ASU. I think he is based in Skysong, which is a tech incubator run by ASU.

http://monarch-power.com/solar-power/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He has working prototypes and it seems you can buy one, so it might be worth a look. I can see on the back of the panels that he's using microinverters, so it looks pretty self-contained, plus the panels have tracking, so you get more bang for your buck.

 

[mrdcmills]

My last bill was $134.52 for 1458KWH. About $.092 per KWH. Looks like a bargain with the numbers you guys are throwing around.

 

[braineo]

I'm willing to wait for http://v3solar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Deleted member 1622]

Andy and JG - good stuff - good thinking. JG, what has happened since last post?

Hey all -
I've had to shelve this project due to work, but also the cost constraints we've talked about already. I think the greatest limiting factor here is time to charge the batteries... if my goal is to get a top-off charge of 4 kwh, say, every 2 days, I don't think I can get there even in the sunny Bay Area.
I'm wondering if anyone has used one of these solar panel emergency batteries at Goal Zero:
http://www.goalzero.com/yeti1250/#techspecs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These are intriguing to me, because if you could chain three or four of these together you have a decent amount of storage capacity (though a very heavy load to cart around, it ceases to be mobile). Perhaps we could convince this company to customize a system for solar-powered EV top-offs?
JG

 

[LEAFfan]

I'm willing to wait for http://v3solar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've seen this idea before. Have you found out when they will be available to buy and how much they will cost? Monarch's is available in November .
Thanks J for the Lotus post!
I saw on the Monarch website that if you order the 'Early Bird Special', it will ship this Aug. 1st.

 

[QueenBee]

I'm willing to wait for http://v3solar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've seen this idea before. Have you found out when they will be available to buy and how much they will cost? Monarch's is available in November .
Thanks J for the Lotus post!

I'm all solared out but I really do want one of these spinning around in my front yard.

 

[jimbennett]

Andy and JG - good stuff - good thinking. JG, what has happened since last post?

Hey all -
I've had to shelve this project due to work, but also the cost constraints we've talked about already. I think the greatest limiting factor here is time to charge the batteries... if my goal is to get a top-off charge of 4 kwh, say, every 2 days, I don't think I can get there even in the sunny Bay Area.
I'm wondering if anyone has used one of these solar panel emergency batteries at Goal Zero:
http://www.goalzero.com/yeti1250/#techspecs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These are intriguing to me, because if you could chain three or four of these together you have a decent amount of storage capacity (though a very heavy load to cart around, it ceases to be mobile). Perhaps we could convince this company to customize a system for solar-powered EV top-offs?
JG

The goalzero site has reviews of the product. The system with 4 panels takes 2 days to fully charge, so four of these might provide the power needed. You would just need room for 16 panels, and $8,000, plus eventual battery replacement, to "save" 20-80 cents of electricity per day, or .0000000000000001 degree per century climate change.

 

[smkettner]

I have 675w of panels on my RV charging 4x GC2 batteries. Xantrex Prosine 1800 charges LEAF just fine at a lower power setting available with the newest evse upgrade. Probably take a week of careful management to full charge a low LEAF battery. System could be expanded to meet your needs.

 

[dgpcolorado]

I'm willing to wait for http://v3solar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One of the advantages of PV is that it has no moving parts and fewer parts to wear out than, say, wind turbines. It may be more efficient for a given footprint but this seems like a step backward IMO.

 

[Deleted member 1622]

I have 675w of panels on my RV charging 4x GC2 batteries. Xantrex Prosine 1800 charges LEAF just fine at a lower power setting available with the newest evse upgrade. Probably take a week of careful management to full charge a low LEAF battery. System could be expanded to meet your needs.

Hi Sm -
Can you say more about how often you're able to charge your Leaf off the batteries (or were you just using a hypothetical?). Total time to charge from the panels, and how long the Xantrex takes (what's the output?) to work through the EVSE upgrade. How much would your system have to be expanded, and at what cost, to get to the 4 kwh top-off goal?
For those of you trying to do the financials on something like this, spare us the obvious -- yes, this system will never save you any money. But will you get any satisfaction from using sun power to move a heavy object down the road? Yes. How much are you willing to spend for that satisfaction, that's the main question.
JG

 

[camasleaf]

Xantrex Prosine 1800 charges LEAF just fine at a lower power setting available with the newest evse upgrade.

Do you know if you can change the power setting on the newest EVSE upgrade while the car is charging? Will the car change to the the new power setting without stoping charging?

Thank you.

 

[smkettner]

The system was not designed to charge the LEAF but to run stuff in the RV when camped without utility power.

I just like to know my options.

Prosine 1800 is basically 15a, 120v. As installed it does not have the best ventilation for continous max output. Works fine to drive the full size microwave or a few minutes with a hairdryer, air compressor etc. With LEAF at 12a the inverter would over temp shut down in about 10 minutes. Dialed back to 6 amps I ran it for a full hour as a test and have not played with it since. Rv is not at home to play with.

Solar is 3x 225w panels in series through a Morningstar MPPT-60.

The evse power level is adjusted before you start charging. I don't think it will change while charging. Anyone with the latest evseupgrade could try this at home.

I think it could do a 4kW top off during a sunny day as built.

 

[LEAFfan]

I'm willing to wait for http://v3solar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I found out that this is still in the prototype stage. You may be waiting a looong time. There was this comment page and 95% of them said the claims are bogus.
However, the inventor of the 1.1kW Mobile Lotus will lease one right now for $1/day + $500 upfront fee OR you can buy it for around $5000 including installation.

 

[thait84]

Is that Lotus Mobile system good? I can't find much information about it. I am not sure if it is bogus or not. I don't know why permits aren't required either. Will it not be a grid tie in system?

 

[LEAFfan]

Is that Lotus Mobile system good? I can't find much information about it. I am not sure if it is bogus or not. I don't know why permits aren't required either. Will it not be a grid tie in system?

I went to see the inventor yesterday, and he had the Mobile Lotus 1.1kW on display. It's real. It can be grid-tied or off-grid by itself or with a battery backup. He's focusing on this smaller one now, so the 2 .4kW one is on the back burner. I was thinking about buying three for the backyard instead of leasing for $30/mo each. I could use one off-grid for power outages.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I tend to forget how lucky I am, living 3/4 of a mile from the hydroelectric plant that produces my power. We didn't seriously look at PV because of it, instead concentrating on reducing our consumption of heating oil (via electric heaters and a solar thermal panel) and gasoline (Prius and Leaf). Are all of the people who want to use PV first looking at where their electricity is coming from? If you have a fairly clean source, you might want to look for other, more effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint...

 

[megalo]

90% coal/natural gas/oil here in MO.

Solar panels are being delivered on Tuesday.

 

[camasleaf]

I am still looking for a way to charge the car in off grid conditions, without any extra bateries. No extra bateries means we need to find a way to deal with the highly variable solar power output.

From what Victor from metricminds did it looks like when the car is charging on L2 you could put more power in the battery as long as you watch the car charger and stop when the car charger starts to reduce its power output. And will likely work on L1 too.

I am sure we can find a power supply that will get the solar power and bring it to the required voltage for the battery charging. Basicaly a Brusa with DC input instead of AC.

Now the problem is how to get the car to start to charge on L2 (or L1) since there is no power at the house, just the DC. I remember reading that when you push the button on the J1772 connector the car charger goes to only a few watts power.

Here comes the tricky part: could we use the L1 charger provided with the car, simulate the button on the J1772 being pressed and provide power for the L1 charger from the 12V battery with an inverter? This way the solar power goes directly into the main battery, that will charge the 12V battery, that provides very low power to the L1 charger to keep the system up?

A montoring system will need to be in place to determine when what we put in the main battery is less than what is consumed by the all the systems that need to be running and stop the charging. I am fine with installing a beefier Li-Ion 12V battery in the car, I just do not want a large battery bank at home. I lost power 3-4 times in 13 years, a battery bank does not make sense for us.

Any thoughts?