Solar E-Bike Trailer! Construction and Field Trip!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 26 июл 2024
- / tpai
Paypal-Donation-Link: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted...
If you make a donation and want to receive stickers / patches, please aslo send an email to let me know what you want to have :)
Email: inventordonations@gmail.com
My last video:
• Unique Scrapyard Finds... 
Наука
I regard this video as one of the brightest among your many gems. Technology, historical context, beautiful countryside, project assessment and food independence! Thank you for sharing!
Can't wait to see your take on an E-Bike build. That garden is amazing!
Same here.
Here too ! 👏
Same here, I want to see what bike he chooses to convert.
Hopefully powerful with many extras 😀
"Dare to cut back on your perfectionism" Great quote! Probably the best advice one can give!
"Prepper" may have its connotations.
"Self reliant" is exactly this lifestyle. Growing some of your food, capturing rain water, recycling/finding value in and using what others have discarded as well as efficiency in energy usage is a great thing.
I love the philosophy of “Just build it!” And “It doesn’t have to be perfect, good will do”. Failing/not getting it right also leads to learning so even though you might “lose” you will always win! Always love your work and videos BTW.
I think the best way to approach charging while driving is to have multiple removable batteries for the ebike, and while you are using one, you can have the one you just emptied charging off the batteries in the trailer.
I really liked that you showed us your father's homestead, the way everything is built on terrace gives me Ideas for my own homestead witch is all on slopes
Gotz ta dig that urban gardening. Maximization of square meters and available resources. Augment the sunshine with LED lighting. Prices of equipment has reduced. While the technology has increased... Yeah, digging the German countryside. Could put a self destruction device on the bike trailer and solar panel. So if a thief jacks with equipment...he ends up paying for it(meaning with his life, "bought-it", or some serious bodily injury...haha). LED lighting for setting up the campsite ROCKS! I hate erecting a tent or cooking in the dark. After which darkness is ok. Thanks for the video.
Your Dad's garden looks great - good terraced growing on the hillside. And the bike trailer looks like a top job too.
I enjoy the projects you work on but I also enjoyed the field trip and the history of your home town. Respect to your father, his skills and his prepping are very cool.
You have not made a video yet that I did not like. Watching you reuse things that you find inspires and encourages me to be more resourceful. Thank you.
Another great project and an interesting video.
Something happens to one in middle age that creates an urge to grow vegetables. My parents were great gardeners when I was small, but I never had any interest until, in my early 40s, I thought I'd give it a try. Now I grow just about every fruit and vegetable that the North British climate will support. Die Hobby-Landwirtschaft ist toll!
Seeing your dads veggie garden reminds me of my grandfather, the older generation thought different. Being able to be self sufficient and self reliant is important.
A great watch!
4:12 This type of hitch has one fatal flaw: the trailer can slip out of it through the sides, even if it's tightened down. Which can absolutely happen if you lean into a particularly tight corner. Ask me how I know. I'd recommend something with a pin through the middle, like some tractor hitches have.
Anyway, seeing bike trailers replace cars makes my Dutch heart happy. Prost, Nachbarn!
Ok can you share the hitch your talking about?
SO GLAD I stuck around after the video!!! I loved seeing what your Dad has created! That was really really cool! If you wanted to go around with your Dad in a video and have him show and explain the things his built and done. I'm just saying I would watch it 😁
Tom Stanton may be willing to lend you his homemade e-bike. At least until you make your own...
Great video as always and thank you for taking us along the entire journey and not just the build. I, as I'm sure many others, enjoy your point of view and commentaries on all the subjects you touch on. Even if it's showcasing local history and monuments, it's all very interesting and very well presented. I always look forward to watching your videos.
Thank you.
That is an amazing thing to see your home town and to see a little on the way you grow up. The place your dad has is beautiful as well
Thanks for the bike tour of the old country! Especially liked you showing us where you grew up, your parents gardens and some of his work! Just wish we got some introductions…haha. It helps to explain where you got some of your interest in building and fixing things! He must be proud of his son and I know you are proud to have a Father like him! Looking forward to the ebike build!
I agree with cutting back on perfectionism....it tends to hold projects back quite a bit.
I like to see you riding without a helmet. That's what riding a bicycle should be all about: A peaceful and safe mode of transportation were you can use your own energy to go further.
For me this was one of the most enjoyable of all your videos. I enjoyed seeing the countryside of Germany.
I like the way that you tackle your projects and explain the process. I dont understand a lot of what you do electronically but its fascinating. thank you so much for your efforts and time posting videos
Don’t forget to tell people that, in addition to liking and subscribing to your videos; to please watch until the actual end of the video! The RUclips algorithms will make sure to suggest your videos across a wider spectrum of viewership if the video is played completely. I don’t pretend to fully understand how this works, but several of the people that I am subscribed to have found that it helps with there performance numbers. Great video, and I hope that your foot is feeling better!
From MALTA, keep it up buddy. I watch your channel and it's very helpful. Recycling repurposing you are an inspiration to keep Earth healthy, save some money too.👍
The garden was 10/10, cannot wait to see it in full bloom!
I love your little history lessons that you do with these videos. Great content.
Thank you.
2yrs ago at 73 I bought Merida City (Shimano) ebike. Bought online a light trailer but didn’t immediately fit it. I ride 15km to seaside regularly but 4months ago an ambulance found me sitting on a roundabout with broken shoulder and no memory of how. Bike apparently threw me against concrete barrier and went on a short distance unmarked. Next day I had a doctor ask me “do you know where you are yet”?
I was kinda crippled for month or so but still able to unpack my trailer. Cut 200mm out to narrow it and made a side car attached to the kickstand point. Idea is to learn to ride upright to keep my daughters happy. Looks great. Test run proved I need to improve the steel brace to axle. I bent the first by leaning into my first corner. Loved you work and your country. Regards from Queensland Australia.
Wonderful video - you should build an e-bike, solarpowered with the very best equipment on the market. Would be a hit, that young people could go biking/camping with electricity onboard. What a fantastic place it is, your old place, and what cool and hardworking parents, to make the place so nice!!!!!!!
You should build your own E-bike with just materials from the scrapyards as a challenge!
Step 1: Visit local hardware shop and buy everything you need
Step 2: Scrap it
Step 3: Profit
Seriously who dumps a working power inverter!?
@@semiRockethr people who don’t know anything but plug it in and it works.
@@semiRockethr
people who think, every flooded electrical device is defective right away, will do such things. They're the majority in Germany.
I endorse this comment!
I agree!!! I would love to see an E-Bike build!!!! At the least it should be much cheaper to only have to buy the motor and VFD and batteries, rather than just buy the whole e-bike. Tt would leave room for upgrades and ability to charge safely while using it by adding cheap protection circuitry to it. Possibly even use the batteries in the cart as auxiliary batteries for the e-bike.
Words of wisdom re cutting back on perfectionism, you absolutely nailed it. It's been said before but stands repeating, e.g. "Perfection is the enemy of the good" "Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without" . Much respect to your folks and to you. Keep on keeping on, you good thing.
I also love your dad's garden your hometown is very beautiful.
Great advice on trying things and making sure you don't set yourself up for failure with too high expectations. Do stuff, rather get it done than aim for perfection. Don't forget though that with continuous improvements you can often approach a level that you did not feel is possible with the first attempt.
It was really neat to see where your parents live and the terrain where you grew up! Your parents seem like amazing people! Now we know from where you get your amazingness! :) Maybe you could convince your father to do a video demonstrating traditional German wood-carving? I would gladly watch that!
Thank you for your shows they are an inspiration. Its nice to see more of Germany it's a beautiful place. All the best & heres to more of your talents. We really do need to fix & find more of the items that get throw away as junk.
The Paderborn area is beautitul and the people are very friendly as I remember from being there in my Dutch army days in the early nineties. Great project!
Great video! I think you putting the batteries closer to the front is a good choice. It’s better for safety to prevent trailer swings, and it gives you the most practical space!
Maybe add some electric brakes to the trailer for stopping when going down hill? Great build! I like these videos as much as the repair videos.
Drag and force transmission issues might make a regen brake for the trailer difficult, but you've solved harder problems.
Keep it up!
I like the old "victory garden" idea. The aim to be self-sufficient as far as possible. What use is a lawn when you could grow potatoes instead? The trailer as part of a "bug out" solution is a good idea imho. An electric bike or moped would solve all kinds of mobility problems while being user-serviceable in a way that no modern car is.
Paderborn is close to Öerlinghausen where I spent 3 magical weeks flying gliders including Silver C distance in a Schleicher Ka-8 as a kid in the ‘60’s. So much fun recalling those times prompted by your video. I also enjoyed your expression of a deepening respect for your father’s good works. The carving tools reminded me of my father and his violin making tools which I was lucky enough to inherit. Wonderful video.
Locating the trailer wheels further back, relative to the centre of gravity of the trailer/load, would provide a moment arm to transfer a greater force through the rear wheel of the bike - giving you better traction and better braking.
Rather than hitching from the seat post, you could use a BOB Yak Ibex style mounting system on the quick release skewer. Croozer Kalle has an interesting suspension system you could try to replicate.
edit* Consider regenerative front wheel hub motor too.
"moment arm..." you engineers are indeed a special group. Creators who make it work!
There's a tradeoff as in all things. Moving the wheels and coupling point further back increases the turning radius and makes it hard to get through those horrible chicane things that are put on bike paths as well as other tight spots. Still a good idea to load the trailer battery and anything else heavy you can as far forward as possible though.
@@schroedingershat7912 I've experimented with seat post hitched vs rear axel. Including weight distribution, braking distances and handling.
Rear axel follows the path of the bike more closely. You don't want the trailer to cut corners you take because it can clip objects that the bike easily cleared.
The problem with the offset wheel axis of rotation is that it stresses the coupling point more. Some commercial options use rubber/spring couplers as they're both flexible and dampen shocks. But they make the ride spongy and uncomfortable.
I think that suspension and a solid connection to the rear wheel skewer would provide the best performance. Essentially, the same hook up as the Bob Yak/Ibex, with the Croozer Kalle suspension, but with heavy duty materials.
@@FrankReif Different optimization goals. Performance at speed/on rough terrain is nice, but for some uses it's better to be able to get where you're going without having to pick it up or uncouple it to deal with awful infrastructure
Have you got a link to a dedicated regenerative front wheel motor (true regen not a motor) as this is something I've been looking for?
This is an excellent video! Thank you for sharing this project with us.
Nice project! To pick up on something you say in this video, I can recommend building your own ebike, something I've done a couple of times and done many thousands of KMs with. The bafung mid drives are really good. But you won't need to charge whilst riding then, you would just take power from the trailer batteries. The bigger ebike motors do like 48v, so building a bigger battery pack may be needed, or step-up output, or stay with 24v. Thanks for the video, that's a beautiful part of the world.
Hiya,
Like father, like son. As always a great video, and a great build. Thank you for sharing your father's farm, it's far more than a garden. Please thank your father too. I love the local historical references, please continue with these, we need to remember our past, it's what made us what we are. I was born in RAF Hospital, Wegberg Nr. Coln. Dad was a clerk, not a pilot. I wish my knees and hips worked so I could have an E-Bike. Not easy to use crutches on a bike.
Stay safe, Steve...
Thanks for sharing a part of your upbringing and background. Truly some beautiful sights. When you do your own ebike, you may consider a parallel drive system for the trailer. It would relieve the burden from the bikes drive system, which probably struggles from the additional weight, and you could move the electronics to the undercarriage of your trailer. It seems like you've got plenty of ground clearance, it would give you more cargo space, help to better balance the trailer, and lower the trailers center of gravity.
Keep up the great videos.
A high center of gravity may cause the trailer to tip over when cornering. It would also be useful to have some kind of suspension, even leaf suspension. Protect all electrical connections against vibrations. A loose live wire may cause a fire!
Great to hear the term 'fabricobbled' haha skookum as frig
I am really looking forward to you building your E-bike!
I am wanting to build an E-bike with a trailer like yours. I saw these 'add-on' gasoline engines for bicycles on 'Project farm'. They had those in the 1970s but I didn't know that they made them today. I am thinking that an E-bike with an add-on gasoline engine would be great. Gas power for hills and as 'emergency' speed and range extender. A small (2 gallons or so) flat 'Jerry can' style gas can on the front of the trailer wouldn't weigh a lot but would give fuel for many miles (it would also be fuel for a small multi-fuel camp stove I have).
Great Video! I Love the projects and the History of your hometown area.
Take Care and be safe, John
Its a pretty cool trailer. I once met this homeless man who had one of those sit down bikes to which he had a massive 300 watt panel as his shade and another 300 watt panel on his trailer. He also had some of those flexible light weight panels that he stored in the roof of his trailer to which he would bring out and set up in like 5 mins when he was parked or stopped for a long lunch. He stopped in our town and found about 2 weeks worth of work helping out some older neighbors and see his set up and it was super cool. He said the money he makes moving from place to place has made him enough money that he was having a entire new right custom build which is lighter, faster and more stable than his current right. He came back to our town after I moved to another state, my friend said the new rig was bigger and far better and super cool. Led lights and everything and the trailer was set up to be able to sleep in it with a custom tent pop out type thing.
You might be able to hook up an alternator to one of the carts wheels to charge a second battery while you ride. I'd love to see you build your own E-Bike. 👍👍 Thanks for the upload TPAI and glad to see your doing good.
That would only work if it was used as brake otherwise no.
For the alternator to make electricity there has to be power, it would take power from the movement of the bike. You would be using one battery to move the bike and then taking some of the movement to charge a second battery. But there is inefficiencies in the motors etc so you would end up with less power.
You have no choice but to brake at some point so that power would be lost in heat etc with normal brakes. If that power could be captured and the weight of the equipment was low enough that would be a good idea.
@@johnclements6614 - I think Sad Panda wanted to make a perpetual motion trailer.
On a serious yet TPAI theme... I first considered if an Auto Air Cond compressor clutch could be used to kick in an alternator when the bike's brake light switched on? Perhaps that would be too much of a on/off switch and make braking too sudden/violent?
This is one of your best episodes, Gerolf. It has everything that you're good at! More videos like this will be very much appreciated! Keep it up, dude! 👍
I really like your philosophy, many of my friends in Germany have an idea of life that "is more rich those who need less" and I find it very inspiring to find that way of life in each and every video of yours. You should think about make a (maybe short) list of ideas to share as an TPAI Decalogue of a great life for the future of humand kind. Thanks for share and always inspire us.
That is a lovely garden, and hello from Texas, we are doing our best to keep the energy crises in check!
Awesome video! Especially the bonus minutes after the usual sign off. I think you would really enjoy permaculture, although I'm sure you know of it already. Would love to see a video on all the ways to make systems to track the sun for solar panels. PLC is one, and there is one beautifully simple approach that involves two light sensors behind the solar panels, that drive a motor (stepper) to shift the angle of the panels until the sensors are once again behind the panels. Or something like that?! Keep up the great work!
Oh man! I'm super hyped to see such a great maker as TPAI take on an biking setup like this!
A real weekend treat.
I wish I had a friend like you. Love all of the projects you start. There is no scrapyard that alows me to come in and have a look around were I live..
I'm glad you weren't attacked by those cows. I was out camping a year ago and got attacked by three cows out of nowhere. I climbed the nearest tree I could see and stayed there for an hour. They trampled all over my tent and knocked down my dinner. Most of the tent poles were broken, but luckily, I had an extra tarp as a shelter. I picked up my steak from the ground, washed off the dirt and cooked it again. With a full belly, I somehow slept like a rock that night.
4:40 is the worst hitch you can get, those tight bends on the clamps just snap off after a while. i killed two in the past.
unfourtainly those clamps get more rare, you only find the awful ones with the ring-screw on the side or the hebie ones made out of plastic
i once found a quick locking one from a old mopped with a pull lever on the front, much more robust, never had anything break and im using it for 3 years now with my trailer with at least a thousand kilometers on it.
i would throw away that ring clamp and just bent a piece of steel to fit around the saddle pipe and screw it tight onto the hitch so it clamps down tight.
i additionally put some rubber sheets between the steel and saddle pipe to not scratch it. it never moved on me, ever.
i usually tow quite a bit, 50kg up fully loaded on a ebike, never had it fall off on its own, only when hitting a curb, the trailer tips over and releases from the hitch. i wouldnt wanna have a steel cable there, it would drag me down aswell.
Fantastic proof of your concept and what a lovely cycling tour! I'm a huge fan of the German countryside and you've got me thinking of a cycling road trip. Thank you for your continued dedication to reuse, re-imagination and recycling.
Re-cycling. Loved it.
What an amazing garden yor father has set up. My highest respect to him
I like the bicycle bell! Accept the rubber, there are no plastic parts, so it will "never" brake!
Maby your dad could put more organic rubble on the farm land, like he did on the lower parts. Bare earth will dry up super quick!
your yard has so many gem's . and i really need to vsit mine. for raw materials. but prices are menta atm lol however ours dont hold old stuff :( just big bulk industrial waste still nice to tinker with.. recently got some nice square tubing for well pennies! rusty but only surface.. going to use it to make Car body rotisery! to help fix my car!
You should build a foldable system with multiple solar panels, so when parked the trailer would charge much faster.
That's a solid idea!
I was wondering about making the lid reverseable .. so one could flip the lid and hide the solar panel on the inside when not needed ..
Yes - this but with reflectors.
Tech Ingredients did a video on it.
ruclips.net/video/FKhszB4E1_M/видео.html
Thank you for the history. It’s something Americans seems to like to forget here. Great project by the way
Your dads garden is great, it will be nice to see the produce from it. E-Bike is another great project
American history books have a different end for the Bismarck. Interesting to hear it from the German point of view.
Well my history book says, the ship was shot to smithereens and was basically dead in the water, so the first oficcer decided to scuttle the ship to prevent it form getting captured. In the end 2104 of the 2200 man crew died.
maybe use aluminium for trailer to lighten it, as usual great show.
I think he uses steel to be able to weld it .. however I was also wondering if at least L shaped beams would reduce the weight a bit
@@VVerVVurm agree
Luv the scenic, picturesque views and your parents place. Very beautiful
Good video, Kudos to your father for allowing the revelation of his prepper setup to the public and allowing his inventor son to attach a heavy prototype trailer to his light weight Ebike. A very tolerant Dad. Well done both of you.
Quite possibly the most wonderful video you have made. I adore your part of the world and hope to visit friends I have there soon. The bike and trailer is superb. Ha, loved the TPAI logo on the back!! Stay well Gerolf. :)
Spectacular job Brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and hello from Detroit Michigan USA Great video Brother
"All in all, there is, of course, always
room for improvement no matter what you build. It is still important, though, that you cut back on your perfectionism and just do things and dare to test and even present solutions that you only deem good, not perfect. And nothing is without danger of course, but that's just life." - Gerolf Kebernik
You're father is a smart man . I see the apple didn't fall far from the family tree ! I can't wait to see you develop your version of the E- Bike .
Interesting, I already have an ebike and a trailer which I use a lot so might think about doing something similar. If you want to charge directly from the battery I believe it would be better to do so avoiding the standard charger or a lot of power will be lost in the process to invert to mains AC voltage only to them drop back down into DC via the bike charger.
This makes me wonder if a motorised/assisted trailer would be possible?
A utility trike? Yes, there are all kinds available from pedal power to gas.
That is what i thought this was going to be based on the title, but after watching it i am sitting here trying to figure what its purpose is. lol I guess just to have some electricity for for whatever. But i would hook a motor to the trailer and have it push the bike.
Or at least have a connector where you can hook those batteries in that trailer directly into the electric bike. I was looking for a motor on those wheels of the trailer, but no motor. Then i looked for a wire coming from the trailer and connecting to the electric bike, but no wire.
@@TheRebelmanone The man said that he didn't 'Rig-up' anything on the setup because it was his folks $3000. E-bike. I understand what you are saying but that's an expensive bicycle (on loan) from his parents.
I would like to build something along these lines and I am considering one of those add-on gasoline engine kits for hills and range.
Ya'll Take care and be safe, John
@@TheRebelmanone There is a 12V power outlet so when he has his own E bike he could make a connection.
I agree that power to the wheels could be a good idea, it may be an easier solution than powering the e bike whist on the road. It would make use of the power when the batteries are nearly fully charged or to use up power before stopping and spending time charging.
Brakes on a heavy trailer would be good but why not make them regenerative.
a friend of mine has made a version. it's a recumbent bike that pulls a custom trailer, in the center of which is the back half of a gas scooter. the thing is really weird and VERY sketchy. he begged me for 4 months to give it a whirl. don't get me wrong, I love sketchy shit... but one could decrease the death factor by not using a recumbent. he swears he can drive the thing drunk on the bike trails... he think he's found some legal loophole like, "I'm not riding in a motor vehicle, it's a trailer." he's nuts, I don't buy it.
You are a splendid ambassador. For Westphalia? For technology? For your generation? For your philosophy? For doing? Yes.
I’ve been to Externsteine! You grew up in the same general area as my German ancestors. Fun to see it again all these years later.
I think you got scammed with the MPPT solar controller. I fell for the same bait and switch scam. Take a look inside and you will see pretty quickly that it is a PWM controller.
Actually, you could skip the wheels on the side entirely and put a single monowheel in the back - behind the box. This would reduce the axis of movement to two: up/down and left/right. It would reduce the drag (cause you avoid the second wheel) and would make it much more stable, as there's basically no way for any trailer-swing to occur.
This way the whole trailer could also lean into the curves, avoiding the force pushing the back wheel to the outside of the curve, which can be quite dangerous if you're on gravel and have to brake.
The single wheel could be driven by a small motor, where you tap into the output Amps of the main motor of the Pedelec and replicate it in the back. This would also allow for braking - as you can put a lever on the bike which then adjust the amount of braking force on both motors.
The main advantage of this (additionally to the regenerative braking of course) is that you can incorporate anti lock braking action. My e-scooter does the same, and it's insanely good: It just turns off the regenerative braking if the tire is below 2 kph and turns it on again when it's above (with a small delay). I can even brake on black ice pretty nicely.
Wow You are so lucky to have a mother and father like yours ! Straight Ahead !
That has to be one of the nicest gardens I've ever seen. Bike trailer is very nice, too.
If you can manage to find some new old stock laptop batteries, you might be able to greatly increase the power capacity for hopefully not too much money.
Knowing what the weather can be like in these parts of Europe, it might be nice if you have enough battery capacity to power through a couple of rainy days before you need to charge it up again.
Beautiful property. I was jazzed to see this title solar ebike. I have an ebike I bought a few years ago, not as expensive as your parents but it's a hardy build & I use it weekly. The ebike popularity has really begun to blossom. I see more ebikes local & on trails than acoustic bikes. Looking forward to your hardy eBike build. This was a great video & seeing where you grew up is fascinating. Thank you for sharing
Tipps for your bike build: 2y ago, i bought a FREY HT with the bafang g510 (1500w, 160nm) motor and attached a surly bill trailer. That replaces my car for any transportation needs within 20km for loads up to 250kg. Look out for good brakes with the heavy loads tough. I changed to 220mm rotors after having experienced heavy fading on steep downhills twice... Now there is no problem any more ☺️
It is not prep talk, its about incentives. As food prices rise, it becomes worth your time to complement with whatever you can.
Very impressive & kudos to your father (a LOT of work & effort, obviously a man of many talents, skills and patient determination). His son can claim the same !!!
--- Doug ("Crossbow"), Florida, USA
Mate, your videos are like a short holiday at home. Greetings from Brisbane, Australia. A German Expat.
Your description of how you grew up reminded me of my time in Italy. We all lived in the UK until 1979 but we went back to a tiny village in Italy & my parents immediately reverted back to rarely needing shops. We were't "land owners" by any stretch but they had chickens, raised their own pig, made wine, baked their own bread, had a few fruit trees, they grew vegetables that would last a long time. They even grew something translated as "winter tomatoes", picked when orange & kept on the vine & would just hang in the kitchen. Even made their own soap & tomato sauce for pasta. Obviously made their own pasta/pizza's too. A visit to the local small, privately owned shop was once a month for less than 2 baskets full of stuff. Now in that village, they can't live without their supermarkets & pizza delivery!!!!
Great video, making, travelling, wonderful German countryside, your Dad’s workshop and garden and some great future ideas 👍
Extrernsteine, I was there in 1974, school trip living in Verden then. "English Army". i was thinking about it a few days ago and suddenly I see it in your Video. I remember the small lake next to it and seeing fish. I was 11 years old
I think I may try to build a trailer kind of like yours. I recently found a way to make my bike easer to pedal by greasing the wheel bearings with a grease gun. When pulling a trailer that might help. Thanks for the video.👍
No idea why but this video both made me smile/gladdened my heart. Proof people are still inventive. :-) For heavier loads, install trailer brakes as a future project? If you binned the 2 weedy batteries & used 1 leisure (deep cycle) heavy duty battery, you'd have worthwhile levels of 220v power. Also - link the inverter to the bike so it charges/provides alt power for the bike - voila, unlimited range. :-0 If you lash on a barbeque & some cool-boxes, you can flog hot-dogs/bratwurst as a "Pop_Up" business on the side.
charge while riding? yes! i wanna see the range of that.🍻
You mention keeping it simple when approaching new ideas or designing enhancements to an existing product.
This is really the best process.
For example, you mention you want to charge the E-bike while riding from the trailer solar panel.
One possible design is to run independent dual e-bike battery connections to e-bike motor.
This allows charging of one battery while the other is in use. It also has the advantage of reducing sustained heat cycles and preventing voltage regulator shorts (should they occur), if the charging system is overloaded or draw is excessive.
Using a trailer to transport your fuel source is gaining traction in many areas of the world. Adding a solar panel system is excellent. Some e-bikes offer a canopy with solar panels on the top of it.
With your design, you could also add trailer side wall solar panels that can be flipped up when parked, reducing charge time. Of course, the weight of all these additions may make adding all of them impractical, with little or no range increase. Electric motor and battery cell (nickel & lithium based) technology is improving, becoming smaller and lower cost. The biggest leap still to come is solar panel efficiency.
you tube blocks my comment, here is what I was saying: Wow, So much German history. What a great video. Thanks again.
I am glad for a follow up video to the first one on that solar charging trailer. I am thankful for the information on the trailer hitch as those style from Germany are hard to find in the United States. Now I should start looking into finding myself an enclosed trailer I can convert into a trailer for my bicycle. That'd make for a faster time getting groceries and to a laundromat, too.
bark beetles - don't forget warm winters - that combined with slight droughts and some tree hugging....
4:24 Get some heatshrink tubing and put it over that steel cable. That will protect it from becoming a rusty mess, and also prevent it from clanging against your bicycle chrome and paint and chipping it all up. Trust me, this is not something you want to ignore, it will look bad in a hurry.
Prepping in the USA has kind of a negative association because some people just think it's all about guns. Personally my idea is learning how to sew, grow food, collect seeds from said food, leather work, tree work, carving, wood working, etc. It's having the skills and knowledge to take care of yourself, and your community. No one can predict the future and geopolitics in recent months have proven that. You and your dad are smart.
My wife and I just scouted down to the very bottom corner of our property and have set markers to start making garden plots down there as it gets a lot more sun then other parts. Keep up the great content!
Your fathers garden is truly incredible.
I imagine if you planned smart, with the right e-bike, you could have it set up to gather enough energy for a decent charge at the lowest pedal assist rating, so you could keep going and charge.
If you balanced out your higher level riding for strictly very smooth flat ground, or necessary uphill/challenges, kept in the mid range for most riding and stretches of low power for some nice meandering scenery enjoyment when the sun is strongest, you could probably ride efficiently enough with a good setup and plan to never NEED to stop.
Perhaps a light meter on the bars where you can see it, and when the sunlight hits a certain threshold you slow down, pop into super low power and let the bike drink up! When you need to just make some time and wear down your tires you kick it into high gear on the really flat and nice sections! Everyone loves the feeling of a little bit of a tuck and going fast!
This is a really cool idea, with a TON of versatility and the possibilities are endless! I’ve always wanted a little bicycle cart and now I might have a reason to make/buy one.
I’m not much of a fabricator, but I’d imagine that a teardrop shaped trailer and some basic acrylic panels placed in the right spots could also help a bunch with wind resistance and bump your range up quite a bit.
Your father is a skilled and talented craftsman its easy to see where you get ur drive from