Just a tip to maximize solar output, if you prop the panels so they are perpendicular to the sun specifically in the early and late day you will increase output.
Definitely need to angle the panels, I just went on an ebike small tour charging with 200 watt folding solar and a power station. The difference of the output flat compared to angled is huge. With that much solar, you should be generating way more than you are.
As everyone says, tilt the panels and keep them clean. even just a leaf on them can drastically impact their output. When looking for water in Europe, search for cemeteries. They always have a working tap.
I went bikepacking in France 2 years ago. The locals told us there is always a tap with drinking water at the cemeteries 🙂 We we're cycling in 30 degrees celsius, so we often used the cemeteries taps, never had any problems.
Louis, you don’t need to worry about combine harvesters first thing in the morning as farmers wait for dew to dry and generally start harvesting late morning/early afternoon. They sometimes work up until midnight. In my experience tractors coming down the tracks is a far more frequent occurrence. Cemeteries are the place to go for water, there is one in practically every village, they are usually plumbed into mains water. However if there is a sign “l’eau non potable”. DO NOT drink the water. Some cemeteries may be locked up for the night closing at 18h00.
Love this series and the commitment to solar. I wonder if there is a way for him to wear the solar panels like a cape and then have it plugged into the batteries to charge? Just trying to maximize as much of the driving time as possible. Either that or go full vampire mode and charge/sleep by day and travel by night!
It is a waste to charge and discharge again, u should have sourced a high powered dc dc converter, they're dirt cheap on temu and a 1200w one would have done u well, bike probably 72v and if put the 4 panels in series for max voltage you'll further reduce conversion losses
Yeah he's losing 20% each time he converts from solar panel to battery and then battery to scooter. Literally 20%+20% so nearly half the energy Louis is getting from the sun is being wasted in battery conversion.
I think that a direct DC converter from solar would not be able to communicate and get past the safety protocols of the BMS to charge the battery directly. Anyone else has a clue?
I love this so much that I am on my third time watching all the episodes. I wish they were longer. in the future get a petrol generator and cover more distance, maybe get a quadbike it will be gentle with your back problems
Freeze dried meals were like a treat for me on my long distance hikes. Sitting down for a hot dinner after hiking 15-20 miles and also a hot breakfast to start the next morning off -- ugh the best! Personally, I think, freeze dried preserves more of the original flavor than dehydration. :D
Could’ve just knocked on any of the houses and asked for a bottle of water. Is it very inappropriate or something? Sorry, I’m not from Europe and where I live someone’s first instinct would be that only.
Hope all is going well Louis. We are missing your uploads. Even if you don’t make it to Italy only using solar, it’s still an unbelievable achievement. Well done bro!
Omg Louis heads up friend! I dunno about in France, but where I live in Canada I was always told those field sprinklers are grey water since contaminants for us can be useful or at least not-harmful to fields.
Love your video's. You can make your trip easyer if you bought some gear as a camelbag for water supply and a head lamp, to use when preparing your meal in the dark. They are available at Decathlon with batteries and types you load with electricity. In your case batteries are more handy. Camelbag Forclaz also available at Decathlon . Take care!
Any french viewers can correct me if I'm wrong - but I drove through France one summer and we were told the villages felt abandoned because so many locals head to the coast over July and August!
I’m really enjoying this adventure. You crazy cat ! I rode a scooter as my main transport for a year in thailand and i only ended up upside down once. The slower you go the less likely you are to hurt yourself.
You know what a really good solar power system is? You. The power from the sun grows food. We eat the food and can store the energy and release it as mechanical energy as we need it. I appreciate the concept of what you're trying to achieve, but a regular bicycle would be quicker overall.
Need to prob panels on a 45ish angle to the sun. Also if you could get like half a portable panel on your backpack to the power bank to get those extra few percent through the day
Yes, while traveling in France we saw so many little villages that look abandoned during the daytime. Perhaps they are all at work in the larger cities.
Trip looks good…done a few myself on scooters and motorcycles…not sure I’d do it on anything solar powered as for me it’s going backwards.we use engines as we know there reliability.but glad your having the experience.we aim to do 400 miles a day.
I have the same scooter (16000km on the clock) and thought about long distance touring just for the fun of it ( I have a 1200cc bmw for faster adventuring) , a quick math exercice showed me that this is pretty much not doable in any kind of reasonable time. I thought of a small panel on a trailer to charge while riding and it would still be too slow to charge. You’re confirming my math mate 😅
It would probably be helpful to have some hiking gear like a water filter, poo pack etc. for those more rural areas. Maybe in your down time have a look through some hiking essentials videos and see if anything would be useful? Probably impossible to get things shipped out to you on the road but if you have any mates to stay with further on maybe you could have a few things sent to them.
Completely agree! He should charge the moped as fast as possible! Batteries charge slower when they get to full, so he's wasting time & energy on waiting for the backup battery to charge fully. And the power is anyways going to the moped so the earlier the better! And yeah like everyone says, DC to DC charger. The backup battery should have a port for that, too
@@JanvanDijk1996 I think that a direct DC converter from solar would not be able to communicate and get past the safety protocols of the BMS to charge the battery directly. Anyone else has a clue?
@@JanvanDijk1996 Yes indeed if its like a simple 12V storage battery. However a traction battery on an EV like this has more sophisticated communication and safety protocols that prevent you from direct DC to DC charging?
Could u not plug the moped battery itself straight to the solar panel and have the panels charge the moped and back up battery at the same time? I feel like the moped battery itself has a plug to charge to any wall outlet if needed.
Love seeing the stats from the charging! Do the panels have stands built in? You might get better generation in early hours if you face the panels more towards the sun.
From 80 to 100 it takes about the same time it takes charging from 10 to 80. Don't bother waiting for that magical 100% state of charge! Focus on not getting lower than 10, 20 if you can, and charge no higher than 80% And to get the BEST angle for the sun hitting the panels, simply use your water bottle, put it standing up on your panels, then look at the shadow they cast. Move / tilt the panels until the bottle shadow is gone, meaning it is under its own object. That will tell you that you have the optimal angle/tilt. And stop drinking so much coffee and cut them hair already ! 🙂 just kidding ....... not 🙂
I hope you dug a good hole for your nature pooh and buried your paper properly. I am sure you will have done you seem pretty used to the gentle 😊 although this is me following you for the first time.
Why you don't recharge with single panel while riding? You could recharge the bank all the time, even if it's few W 13:26 just look for cemetery mate. Rookie camping mistakes. 15:42 so frustrating, just knock on someone's door at this point lol (NOT AT NIGHT and DARK lol)
tip to avoid gravel roads and stuff like that if you use google maps use it on car mode and set it so it avoids high ways then it will give you all the nice small country roads
Have anyone tried adding alternator to setup like this to see if it can charge power bank ? Will this take take more power to run alternator or be beneficial ?
It's an electric bike/scooter?!?! All you are doing is moving electrons around and wasting loads in the process using an alternator! What he should have done was bought a decent high power DV/DC buck/boost module. You are wasting a lot of energy going from Solar (DC) --> Battery Input--> (DC) --> Battery Output--> (240v AC)--> Bike Charger Input (240v AC) --> Bike Charger Output (Bucked DC) --> Bike battery input (DC) Should be: Solar Panel (DC) --> Bike Battery (DC) [DC Current and voltage can be controlled with High power DC/DC Buck/Boost module The power bank can be charged at the same time as the bike in parallel, this would avoid the wasteful inverting and boosting to high voltage AC.
adventures like these are more memorable, not going through the hassle of planning and getting stressed if something doesn't go as planned just completely ruins the moment. Its subjective but i like it spontaneous
Don’t take your bike onto loose gravel roads it’s like driving on marbles especially as your bike is so heavily loaded and is unstable when riding slowly
With those dehyrdated meals, I've found that added a little bit less water works pretty well! Also, you wouldn't wanna live off of those, they normally have a lot of salt! If camping is something you'd like to get into, Raya and you can dehyrdate meals at home using a food dehydrator! That way they are more healthy and can be quite tasty if either of you are good with spices! :)
Just a tip to maximize solar output, if you prop the panels so they are perpendicular to the sun specifically in the early and late day you will increase output.
I was thinking the gravel piles would make a good angle to lay the panels on.
@@McBenjiBoo Those panels have retractable legs with angle adjustment.
Most panels come with a wire like stands to prop them up.
I would hope Louis would know this already! :)
Definitely need to angle the panels, I just went on an ebike small tour charging with 200 watt folding solar and a power station. The difference of the output flat compared to angled is huge. With that much solar, you should be generating way more than you are.
As everyone says, tilt the panels and keep them clean. even just a leaf on them can drastically impact their output. When looking for water in Europe, search for cemeteries. They always have a working tap.
He even left the cables all over them, oops 😂
@@jonathanmelhuish4530 yeah.....I was screaming at the monitor :)))
You constantly make me anxious with these videos.
I went bikepacking in France 2 years ago. The locals told us there is always a tap with drinking water at the cemeteries 🙂
We we're cycling in 30 degrees celsius, so we often used the cemeteries taps, never had any problems.
c'est vrai ! it's true ! 🙂
hot tip 🎉
I was going to write the same. Cemeteries are a good place to get water.
Came into the comments to say this! Absolute saviour on bike trips in France, great to put your head under mid day in the heat.
Louis... are you just shy? :D just ring a doorbell and ask for eau! water!
Oh my gosh,when louis stumbled across a random little hedgehog I loved that....I'm enjoying these uploads so much! Keep em comin❤
You need to use komoot and set it to road cycling!! It will also tell you the road conditions and elevation etc.
Louis, you don’t need to worry about combine harvesters first thing in the morning as farmers wait for dew to dry and generally start harvesting late morning/early afternoon. They sometimes work up until midnight. In my experience tractors coming down the tracks is a far more frequent occurrence.
Cemeteries are the place to go for water, there is one in practically every village, they are usually plumbed into mains water. However if there is a sign “l’eau non potable”. DO NOT drink the water. Some cemeteries may be locked up for the night closing at 18h00.
What if you boil that water and then drink it?
🎉…yeah water is a vital commodity that most take for granted if they are not on the road. Interesting series, I’m enjoying it
I love it man.... you're at complete mercy of the Sun God's! A true adventure mate!
Love this series and the commitment to solar. I wonder if there is a way for him to wear the solar panels like a cape and then have it plugged into the batteries to charge? Just trying to maximize as much of the driving time as possible. Either that or go full vampire mode and charge/sleep by day and travel by night!
"I just don't want to get combine-harvested" 🤣
😂
Quote of the video I think!
Wild!
That was brutal in GTA:SanAndreas.
I'm really enjoying this series! I love a good adventure
It is a waste to charge and discharge again, u should have sourced a high powered dc dc converter, they're dirt cheap on temu and a 1200w one would have done u well, bike probably 72v and if put the 4 panels in series for max voltage you'll further reduce conversion losses
Yeah he's losing 20% each time he converts from solar panel to battery and then battery to scooter. Literally 20%+20% so nearly half the energy Louis is getting from the sun is being wasted in battery conversion.
I think that a direct DC converter from solar would not be able to communicate and get past the safety protocols of the BMS to charge the battery directly. Anyone else has a clue?
if you're looking for water, there is always a tap in cemeteries :)
Smart!
No, please don't.
@@junehall2177 Why?
One of my favourite hobbies is exploring cemeteries. Why not use the water?
Those are often not drinking water.
I’m stoked that you’re actually editing while on the road making the videos 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾😎
Remember that irrigation water may carry fertilizer in it, called fertigation. Not good for ingesting.
Best storyteller on youtube. Keep em coming!
I love this so much that I am on my third time watching all the episodes. I wish they were longer. in the future get a petrol generator and cover more distance, maybe get a quadbike it will be gentle with your back problems
Freeze dried meals were like a treat for me on my long distance hikes. Sitting down for a hot dinner after hiking 15-20 miles and also a hot breakfast to start the next morning off -- ugh the best! Personally, I think, freeze dried preserves more of the original flavor than dehydration. :D
In apps like Park4Night you can usually look for places with water.
Are there no gas stations or churches around?
I really liked how you filmed the tent scenes in the field. It had the feeling of watching the Sierra Nevada episode of Survivorman.
I love all your electric travel videos. Cheers
Was such a tense time without water. Yet you got it! I’m loving this journey
Could’ve just knocked on any of the houses and asked for a bottle of water. Is it very inappropriate or something? Sorry, I’m not from Europe and where I live someone’s first instinct would be that only.
I really enjoy watching these types of videos
Hope all is going well Louis. We are missing your uploads. Even if you don’t make it to Italy only using solar, it’s still an unbelievable achievement. Well done bro!
Omg Louis heads up friend! I dunno about in France, but where I live in Canada I was always told those field sprinklers are grey water since contaminants for us can be useful or at least not-harmful to fields.
Glad you found some water! Here's to day 5 ❤
Love your video's.
You can make your trip easyer if you bought some gear as a camelbag for water supply and a head lamp, to use when preparing your meal in the dark. They are available at Decathlon with batteries and types you load with electricity. In your case batteries are more handy. Camelbag Forclaz also available at Decathlon .
Take care!
Top. Good stuff Louis, what an adventure !
Any french viewers can correct me if I'm wrong - but I drove through France one summer and we were told the villages felt abandoned because so many locals head to the coast over July and August!
Best series you have done in a long time
Is anyone else screaming at him to prop up and angle the solar panels?!
Also, prioritize the most empty battery first as empty batteries charge more efficiently
It blows my mind that you manage to carry all this gear on this little bike 😮
If you want to maximize distance traveled you should sleep in the day and ride at night :)
A cemetry is alway's a good place to find water. Help me big time during traveling ❤❤
Really enjoying this little series ❤
I’m really enjoying this adventure. You crazy cat ! I rode a scooter as my main transport for a year in thailand and i only ended up upside down once. The slower you go the less likely you are to hurt yourself.
You know what a really good solar power system is? You.
The power from the sun grows food.
We eat the food and can store the energy and release it as mechanical energy as we need it.
I appreciate the concept of what you're trying to achieve, but a regular bicycle would be quicker overall.
I could never do anything like this but I sure enjoy watching you do it.
Need to prob panels on a 45ish angle to the sun. Also if you could get like half a portable panel on your backpack to the power bank to get those extra few percent through the day
Thank You for All that you are doing for our Planet Earth....
Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. Namaste .. 🙏🏻 😊 ✌ ☮ ❤ 🕊
Still waiting for next episode 😊⏰
This is crazy omg😂❤ It was like watching you drive Live through a video game like Mario Cart!! Where was everybody?? 😂🎉❤
Tilt the panels towards the sun for increased yield.
Great project
Shame you can’t pedal to charge whilst waiting 😅
I could watch these series all day!
Yes, while traveling in France we saw so many little villages that look abandoned during the daytime. Perhaps they are all at work in the larger cities.
It's mainly old people watching tv inside to avoid the cold or hot weather
Genuinely impressed with the amount of non-working taps you found…. 😂
Use the tent, or gravel piles to angle the panels towards the sun for more power.
Trip looks good…done a few myself on scooters and motorcycles…not sure I’d do it on anything solar powered as for me it’s going backwards.we use engines as we know there reliability.but glad your having the experience.we aim to do 400 miles a day.
Love watching yr trip , I'm sure most ppl would be ok giving you water if you knocked on their door ....I would , well as long as it wasn't dark 😂
In french people usually aren't so nice and welcoming.. in my experience at least
Also why are these towns so empty? Can’t see a single person out there.
I have the same scooter (16000km on the clock) and thought about long distance touring just for the fun of it ( I have a 1200cc bmw for faster adventuring) , a quick math exercice showed me that this is pretty much not doable in any kind of reasonable time. I thought of a small panel on a trailer to charge while riding and it would still be too slow to charge. You’re confirming my math mate 😅
It would probably be helpful to have some hiking gear like a water filter, poo pack etc. for those more rural areas. Maybe in your down time have a look through some hiking essentials videos and see if anything would be useful? Probably impossible to get things shipped out to you on the road but if you have any mates to stay with further on maybe you could have a few things sent to them.
The dumb and dumber reference 😂 also 2 wheels and gravel never mix! That’s a good way to wash out
Here's to Hedgehogs and water 👍👍😎
Would it not be better to charge to moped fully first instead of the back up battery as there will be losses with battery to battery charging
Completely agree! He should charge the moped as fast as possible! Batteries charge slower when they get to full, so he's wasting time & energy on waiting for the backup battery to charge fully. And the power is anyways going to the moped so the earlier the better! And yeah like everyone says, DC to DC charger. The backup battery should have a port for that, too
@@JanvanDijk1996 I think that a direct DC converter from solar would not be able to communicate and get past the safety protocols of the BMS to charge the battery directly. Anyone else has a clue?
@@joelchang9589 a DC to DC charger is a normal charger that you use on the battery bank instead of an AC to DC one
@@JanvanDijk1996 Yes indeed if its like a simple 12V storage battery. However a traction battery on an EV like this has more sophisticated communication and safety protocols that prevent you from direct DC to DC charging?
@@joelchang9589 dude just Google DC to DC charger. My electric moped has two pins which are 48v. The tech is in the battery
Next time try ride at night time (or when no sun) and stop for rest and charge when sun is on peak!
It says day 3 in title of video but it's actually day 4. I'd love to do something like this on my electric scooter
Samee! Lets gooo
Could u not plug the moped battery itself straight to the solar panel and have the panels charge the moped and back up battery at the same time? I feel like the moped battery itself has a plug to charge to any wall outlet if needed.
Genuine question, why are you going DC - AC - DC? Huge power losses when inverting. I understand the solor requres a mppt but that comes in as DC
Love seeing the stats from the charging! Do the panels have stands built in? You might get better generation in early hours if you face the panels more towards the sun.
Loving the series
Peace out enjoy life & live the adventure! BOOM!
Which camera system you using for 360deg it looks good
From 80 to 100 it takes about the same time it takes charging from 10 to 80. Don't bother waiting for that magical 100% state of charge!
Focus on not getting lower than 10, 20 if you can, and charge no higher than 80%
And to get the BEST angle for the sun hitting the panels, simply use your water bottle, put it standing up on your panels, then look at the shadow they cast. Move / tilt the panels until the bottle shadow is gone, meaning it is under its own object. That will tell you that you have the optimal angle/tilt.
And stop drinking so much coffee and cut them hair already ! 🙂 just kidding ....... not 🙂
Dehydrated water, just add water lol
I'm enjoying this series
I hope you dug a good hole for your nature pooh and buried your paper properly. I am sure you will have done you seem pretty used to the gentle 😊 although this is me following you for the first time.
you have more patience then me.but u know how I feel.about electric vech.
These videos give me anxiety! 😵
Looks good (Y)
Just wondering, Is it worth ridding a electric bike for the long and dangerous trips? 😇 How is your experience so far using this bike
Loving the series ❤
for water, look for the church, there's a good chance you'll find a fountain and if not just ask someone inside
Why you don't recharge with single panel while riding? You could recharge the bank all the time, even if it's few W
13:26 just look for cemetery mate. Rookie camping mistakes.
15:42 so frustrating, just knock on someone's door at this point lol (NOT AT NIGHT and DARK lol)
In France, water can be found in the cemetery.
Well done Louis! You make each episode so interesting, looking forward to the next. 😊
I’ve always held great admiration for people who can poo willy-nilly anywhere. 😊
tip to avoid gravel roads and stuff like that if you use google maps use it on car mode and set it so it avoids high ways then it will give you all the nice small country roads
Amazing, we Drive to Bari next time
Would it be more time efficient to charge the bike at the same time as the solar is charging the buffer?
Have anyone tried adding alternator to setup like this to see if it can charge power bank ? Will this take take more power to run alternator or be beneficial ?
It's an electric bike/scooter?!?!
All you are doing is moving electrons around and wasting loads in the process using an alternator!
What he should have done was bought a decent high power DV/DC buck/boost module.
You are wasting a lot of energy going from Solar (DC) --> Battery Input--> (DC) --> Battery Output--> (240v AC)--> Bike Charger Input (240v AC) --> Bike Charger Output (Bucked DC) --> Bike battery input (DC)
Should be: Solar Panel (DC) --> Bike Battery (DC) [DC Current and voltage can be controlled with High power DC/DC Buck/Boost module
The power bank can be charged at the same time as the bike in parallel, this would avoid the wasteful inverting and boosting to high voltage AC.
Cemeteries always have taps. It's what I always looked for when doing long distance cycle tours.
You can find water in cemeteries. Bon voyage en France :)
La petite mort 💀🪦💧🌧
lol he aint thought this through at all
Ur darn tootin' right there Joeb
adventures like these are more memorable, not going through the hassle of planning and getting stressed if something doesn't go as planned just completely ruins the moment. Its subjective but i like it spontaneous
Don’t take your bike onto loose gravel roads it’s like driving on marbles especially as your bike is so heavily loaded and is unstable when riding slowly
Hi, nice run ! you cab find water in cemetery or near church. Or dont hesitate to ask to farm.
No, not cemeteries.
Man, you really need a solar charger for the moped batteries. There's not enough power to waste so much of it on conversion losses.
With those dehyrdated meals, I've found that added a little bit less water works pretty well! Also, you wouldn't wanna live off of those, they normally have a lot of salt! If camping is something you'd like to get into, Raya and you can dehyrdate meals at home using a food dehydrator! That way they are more healthy and can be quite tasty if either of you are good with spices! :)
enjoying following the adventure!
Graveyards in France always have water
Your telling me there was no store to buy water??!! It is a life necessity.
Almost all graveyards in France have a tap.
Wouldn't it be better to charge the bike directly on the solar panels?
Absolutely love the mello background music! So glad your meals are good!! Rooting for some sun!! ☀️ And wet spikets! 💦
Have you heard of @NanoBytesInc who’s also crossing the EU right now on his e-bike?
in indonesia contry, you easy find mosque = water and electricity
Did he quit? I hope not. It’s a long while since last video. 😞
water map app. and why has he not downloaded komoot yet?
Why do all your videos have a depressing side to them now haha cheers brother you got this
Can’t u drive with the light of during the day to safe some energy. It’s to late now I know but yea 🤣