Sun panels charging.

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JKO

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Messages
24
Location
Falsled Denmark
My C-Zero is often unused for days.
I have 2 sun panels unused, 35V/265W each.
The air-condition is somehow direct connected to the high voltage battery.
I have an idea to use a dc-dc converter: 30V-350V to charge the traction battery directly, by tapping in
at the air-condition connection.
The dc-converter is limit at 350V max, equal to approx. 80% soc, adjustable.
What do you guys think of that?
 
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=533

At one point or another, many of us have thought about direct solar charging (myself definitely included :lol: ). You would need a target voltage of 350-360 volts to be able to charge.

The downside is that if you attempt to tap the high voltage bus, the car must either be in READY mode or actively charging from either the J1772 or CHAdeMO port. When the car is off and not charging, the HV bus is not connected to the battery, and thus no voltage present.

You may also find that even if you manage to get something working through the CHAdeMO port, the car's vampire draw is around 250-300 watts.

There are easier places to connect to than at the AC compressor (not to mention the unknown effect of backfeeding power from something the car measures and expects to consume power).

You'd likely be better served by buying a pair of Enphase M250 micro-inverters and sending the power into your house. Or, using the panels with a smaller 36 or 48 volt battery bank and using a power inverter to charge the car through the J1772 port. I suppose another option is to have a parallel battery pack in the car that the solar charges, but dealing with the massive current when two lithium packs at different charge levels are connected becomes quite a feat.

I've been in your position, but knowing what I know now about the car, the i-MiEV doesn't lend itself well to direct solar charging. Maybe someday, someone here will figure out how to directly charge the battery without waking up the entire car, at which point your idea becomes feasible (with the car's idle load, one panel's entire output goes to keeping the car awake).
 
If you're talking about solar panels on the car itself, given the size and therefore power constraints, I would just hook up the solar panel to the lead acid battery and call it a day. This will keep it from needing to be charged up from the traction battery.

If you want to have a separate system, your best bet is to get some lead acid batteries to hook your solar panel system, and get an inverter to supply the i-Miev with 120V. You'll need something to disconnect it the inverter when the lead acid batteries are too low, and probably switch it back to household current (otherwise your i-Miev may not charge). But it's actually probably a better idea $$$ wise to look at what incentives they have in your state for installing solar panels and connecting them to the grid - some of them are very good... and your i-Miev would still benefit indirectly from it lol.
 
JKO said:
Somewhere deep in the battery bay must be a +/- terminal .
If one here connects the output of the dc - dc converter directly?
Of course there is, but would you really want to run a cable directly connected to 16 KW of power out of the battery pack so you could hook anything to it?? Pretty risky if you ask me

We installed a 40 sq ft solar water heater panel on the roof of our house - It saves us more electricity every month than we use recharging our two iMiEV's, so essentially we're driving completely on solar power . . . . without doing anything crazy

Don
 
Hi Don.
#cable directly connected to 16 KW#
A fuse and diode can do a lot to safety.
I do this kind of charging on my electric motorbike:
18V solar panels > dc-dc converter 84v > 25S LiFePo4.
I use this dc-dc converter: http://www.ebay.com/itm/141735098365
 
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