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ix Portable off Grid Charging

1994 Views 10 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  SteveBK123, 
tony0860
Hi all
first post, IX 60 m on order, will be here in late June/early july (hopefully)
Will be using it as normal.
But intending to have a few off the grid weekends away.
Has anyone any advice or thoughts about portable Solar panels for off grid charging
I will accept the ix will take forever to fully charge , but looking at a gentle top up, while its sitting there in
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R
Not sure how effective that will be. For example, my house has 18 large 425w solar panels (82” x 40”). On a good clear full sunny day, it produces 60 kWh for a full days worth of sun.

Smaller panels may not even come close to produce that amount of energy. One panel would fit in your car and produce at best 4kWh in a day? Plus the size and weight of lugging it around and the equipment.
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H
The problem is that the amount of panels you will need to haul around for any meaningful charge is very large. For example, I have a 400W panel on the roof of my Sprinter van and that panel is 4' x 6' in size. Add in a charge controller, wiring, etc. you are talking a lot of money and cargo taken up. All to get 400W/h (at maximum output). Even your basic Level 1 charger can add 1800W (120V X 15A) max and that only adds something like 1-2 miles per hour. Divide that number by 5, now you are talking 1-2 miles every 5 hours.....not really worth it.
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hans.olbrecht
Just for your information.
The minimum charge current of the car is 6A.
This means, it will only charge if the power of your system can handle at least 6A x 230V = 1380W.
You will need at least 4 large solar panels of 400W each to feed the system.
Not easy with an off-grid system...
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hans.olbrecht said:
Just for your information.
The minimum charge current of the car is 6A.
This means, it will only charge if the power of your system can handle at least 6A x 230V = 1380W.
You will need at least 4 large solar panels of 400W each to feed the system.
Not easy with an off-grid system...
Click to expand...
Level 1 in the US is 120V, so hopefully only 120 * 6 needed, so 720W, 2 panels might work in full sun, but as soon as there is shade or lower angle sun, no bueno.
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carchase54
Can you please check this video and see if it is of some help?

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N
Greetings - We are not off-the-grid however our 14,000 Watt residential solar is 105% sufficient for all our home needs (1200 sq. ft. 2-person). With our iX-50 arriving in September of 2022 the power generated by solar will no longer suffice. I will need to upgrade all 40 panels to 450kW (if even available). The additional 3k Watts of capability will help but perhaps still not enough. First we are going to track the real burden to our array for a year then determine the best course of action should cost be coming down and within reason.

If we were off-the-grid, I’d start by adding an array frame large enough to have additional panels over the years. Then as panel ratings get higher and cost go down adding more capability may help.

NO CO
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NO CO said:
Greetings - We are not off-the-grid however our 14,000 Watt residential solar is 105% sufficient for all our home needs (1200 sq. ft. 2-person). With our iX-50 arriving in September of 2022 the power generated by solar will no longer suffice. I will need to upgrade all 40 panels to 450kW (if even available). The additional 3k Watts of capability will help but perhaps still not enough. First we are going to track the real burden to our array for a year then determine the best course of action should cost be coming down and within reason.

If we were off-the-grid, I’d start by adding an array frame large enough to have additional panels over the years. Then as panel ratings get higher and cost go down adding more capability may help.

NO CO
Click to expand...
P.S. - I do realize the question was for portable charging but thought my reply might help to determine the challenges ahead.
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P
There are some nice solar canopy ideas. A company: The Solar Canopy: SunCommon's Latest Solar Option for NY & VT seems interesting (though not portable).
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trubnod
Has anybody tried a portable generator? I believe earthing the generator can be an issue and an earthing rod may be required.
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S
Generally - 1924: Solar Panels - explain xkcd

There may be narrow cases where this does not hold.
However the idle auxiliary power draw on the giant iX battery is pretty slow.
And the amount of space needed by solar equipment to top up even marginal amounts of power is large.
Therefore you're probably best just hitting a Level 2 or Level 3 charger on way to/from whatever off-grid area you are traveling.
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