u/chanyote66

I work at a facility that does not have reasonable ev charging for my bike since it is a price+time charge station and 3 miles from my work building, so I added a mppt boost controller and this Renogy 400w solar blanket! Before I could make it to work and back but nothing in-between. Now, if I want a scenic route home, or need to stop at the store, I have the extra power. Even on very cloudy days I'm getting ~600wh between sunrise and 2pm! For my bike that is about 8-9 miles. On a sunny day I expect way more! The second photo I used the backpack straps to try to angle the panels a bit for the summer solstice. I used the backpack straps and wore this to ride to work... And fit my lunch in the cable pocket 🤣. I would love to add another mppt and blanket as paniers or saddlebags but currently can't justify another 400w blanket, the 200w is not high enough voltage for the boost controller (eco-worthy 450w MPPT boost since the bike is 72v).

This is still under testing, so I would not completely recommend it yet. But I have installed an ecoworthy 450 w boost mppt controller. I am currently using a Renogy 400 w solar blanket and it is charging! By monitoring the battery during charging and discharging, I found that the BMS wakes up if it senses input power. So there is no need to have the bike on or unlocked. This is currently connected directly to the BAC8000. On a side note, I found after 6,000 mi most of the bolts for the VAC 8000 motor controller hand tight, so I went over the entire thing and re-torked them with a small torque wrench.