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yugomodder · 04-05-2013, 02:40 AM

Thanks for the great suggestions. Individual chargers may be a problem because I am using 6v batteries. Most chargers I've found are 12v. I could use 6 12v chargers though. The Elcon chargers look good, but they also look expensive. I'm trying to keep this conversion low cost because the vehicle is not the best. I was thinking I could use one of these power supplies New 360W DC 12V 30A Regulated Switching Power Supply Universal Restaurant | eBay
Hot 240W 12V 20A Regulated Switching Power Supply Universal Minch for 5050 LED | eBay along with a charge controller like this 30A Solar Charge Controller Regulator 12V 24V Battery Charging PWM Solar Panel | eBay in order to make some low cost battery chargers. An Elcon charger would be about $0.45 per watt, if I could get these chargers to work they would be about $0.11/W. What are your thoughts on doing that?

Thanks for the great idea Ryland. I have a voltmeter for my full pack, but could easily run some wires to these little meters to monitor each battery individually. If one gets too low or high then I can attend to it specifically. 4 5 30V Mini LED DC Digital Voltmeter Display Wattmeter for Auto Car TRUCKLS4G | eBay
I do like the idea of being able to plug into 120 or 240AC. Some of these power supplies, like this one 12V 20A DC Universal Regulated Switching Power Supply | eBay , say that they can take 100-240V AC at 50-60Hz. I don't think that this is a necessary feature for me though as I will mostly just have access to standard 120V outlets.

An idea that I had that may be possible is to hook up one of these solar panels http://www.sunelec.com/x-specs/SUN/SunSP.jpg to my charge controllers. The problem is that the panel puts out 36.5V open circuit and 29V with a load in direct sun. This could possibly charge 1/3 of my battery pack, but I don't have room for three panels. I could definitely fit one, but I would have to be able to convert the voltage. If I make my own chargers with power supplies and charge controllers, I might be able to use the same charge controllers to charge the battery pack from the solar panel. If anybody has any more thoughts on how to make that work they would be greatly appreciated. These panels are Unframed grade B panels selling for $92.40, $0.42/W. Using these panels and a charge controller could be similar in price to a traditional charger if the voltage conversion is not too expensive. The Yugo does not have much roof space though so I could get a maximum of one 220W panel. According to PV watts http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/calculat.../pvwattsv1.cgi a flat panel at my latitude will get an average of 4.6 sun hours a day, which would be just over 1kwh. Depending on the efficiency of my vehicle that could be 3-5 miles a day which would supplement between 20%-100% of my driving depending upon how much I drive. Even if that works I would still want to be able to charge from a wall socket, but perhaps I wouldn't need as large of a charger.

Please let me know if you have any more ideas or suggestions. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

04-05-2013, 02:40 AM	#4 (permalink)
yugomodder EcoModding Lurker Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Mississippi Posts: 40 Thanks: 11 Thanked 5 Times in 3 Posts	Thanks for the great suggestions. Individual chargers may be a problem because I am using 6v batteries. Most chargers I've found are 12v. I could use 6 12v chargers though. The Elcon chargers look good, but they also look expensive. I'm trying to keep this conversion low cost because the vehicle is not the best. I was thinking I could use one of these power supplies New 360W DC 12V 30A Regulated Switching Power Supply Universal Restaurant \| eBay Hot 240W 12V 20A Regulated Switching Power Supply Universal Minch for 5050 LED \| eBay along with a charge controller like this 30A Solar Charge Controller Regulator 12V 24V Battery Charging PWM Solar Panel \| eBay in order to make some low cost battery chargers. An Elcon charger would be about $0.45 per watt, if I could get these chargers to work they would be about $0.11/W. What are your thoughts on doing that? Thanks for the great idea Ryland. I have a voltmeter for my full pack, but could easily run some wires to these little meters to monitor each battery individually. If one gets too low or high then I can attend to it specifically. 4 5 30V Mini LED DC Digital Voltmeter Display Wattmeter for Auto Car TRUCKLS4G \| eBay I do like the idea of being able to plug into 120 or 240AC. Some of these power supplies, like this one 12V 20A DC Universal Regulated Switching Power Supply \| eBay , say that they can take 100-240V AC at 50-60Hz. I don't think that this is a necessary feature for me though as I will mostly just have access to standard 120V outlets. An idea that I had that may be possible is to hook up one of these solar panels http://www.sunelec.com/x-specs/SUN/SunSP.jpg to my charge controllers. The problem is that the panel puts out 36.5V open circuit and 29V with a load in direct sun. This could possibly charge 1/3 of my battery pack, but I don't have room for three panels. I could definitely fit one, but I would have to be able to convert the voltage. If I make my own chargers with power supplies and charge controllers, I might be able to use the same charge controllers to charge the battery pack from the solar panel. If anybody has any more thoughts on how to make that work they would be greatly appreciated. These panels are Unframed grade B panels selling for $92.40, $0.42/W. Using these panels and a charge controller could be similar in price to a traditional charger if the voltage conversion is not too expensive. The Yugo does not have much roof space though so I could get a maximum of one 220W panel. According to PV watts http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/calculat.../pvwattsv1.cgi a flat panel at my latitude will get an average of 4.6 sun hours a day, which would be just over 1kwh. Depending on the efficiency of my vehicle that could be 3-5 miles a day which would supplement between 20%-100% of my driving depending upon how much I drive. Even if that works I would still want to be able to charge from a wall socket, but perhaps I wouldn't need as large of a charger. Please let me know if you have any more ideas or suggestions. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.