If there’s one factor I really like as a lot as enjoying with batteries, it’s charging them up from the solar. And with regards to my electrical bikes, that are sort of out of doors toys by definition, with the ability to cost within the subject is a reasonably darn neat trick for extending vary when tenting or simply spending all day within the nice open air. I just lately had the prospect to check out QuietKat’s all-in-one electrical bike photo voltaic charger for simply that function, and I can let you know that this can be a actually cool piece of substances to deliver in your subsequent e-bike journey.

For starters, this can be a folding photo voltaic panel, that means it’s made up of a number of items of smaller photo voltaic cells all wired collectively so it may well fold again up right into a small package deal.

It is available in a handy little carry case that additionally contains pockets to retailer the assorted cables that stretch the utility of the photo voltaic charger.

Not solely do you could have each a DC barrel connector and a three-pin connector, however you additionally get alligator clips for extra DIY-ish charging functions and the tried-and-true MC4 connectors that you just’ll discover on many different photo voltaic panels.

You’ll be able to see all of the contents from the equipment within the photographs under. There’s additionally a typical 48V e-bike battery there for scale, although I can let you know the bag is round 13x8x3.5 inches when packed down (33x20x9 cm).

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It’s truly a surprisingly small and packable little equipment when it’s all folded up. In truth, the primary time I pulled the photo voltaic panel out, I couldn’t imagine how huge it was in comparison with how small the bag was.

The panel is rated for 150W, which is definitely extra energy than commonest e-bike chargers that include a base mannequin e-bike. For a 48V battery, you’ll normally get a 48V 2A charger from the producer, which equates to round 100W. So this charger will truly be a slight enhance in charging efficiency and pace in comparison with your wall charger, until your producer was variety sufficient to spend the additional couple of bucks and provide you with a 3A or 4A charger along with your e-bike (most aren’t).

This model of the charger is the 48V choice, however additionally they make a 52V model as nicely.

Technically this photo voltaic charger is meant for use for QuietKat’s vast lineup of overlanding and all terrain e-bikes. However I’ll allow you to in on a bit of secret: I don’t have a QuietKat e-bike, so I simply used it on a number of of my e-bikes from different manufacturers. So long as they use both the extremely frequent DC barrel connector or the much less frequent small three-pin connector (each of which come within the QuietKat photo voltaic charger equipment), it should work in your e-bike battery -assuming you selected the proper 48V or 52V model to match your e-bike battery.

And since I don’t have an awesomely rugged Jeep-branded QuietKat e-bike, I couldn’t take a cool photograph like their advertising and marketing photographs under, however you get the purpose. It’s an enormous panel. Additionally it may well get up like a science honest trifold board, which is fairly cool, although largely inefficient until you’re charging at 8:00 or 18:00 when the solar is close to the horizon. For some other time, you’ll need the panel both laying flat (for noon solar) or propped up on one thing (like your e-bike) to angle it towards the solar for greatest outcomes. However the panel additionally has two tie-down holes with grommets within the prime corners, plus it contains two carabiners, so you too can dangle it on one thing if you need.

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The charger itself has three ports on the bottom, together with two USB-A ports and a DC barrel connector.

The USB-A ports will probably be helpful for charging up your cellphone, pill, GoPro or different motion digital camera, walkie-talkie, flashlight, heated socks, Tamagotchi, or no matter else you occur to deliver into the sphere.

The DC barrel connector is the place all of the heavier responsibility charging issues plug in, i.e., your e-bike battery.

Utilizing the included connector cable, you merely pop that sucker within the panel on one aspect and your e-bike battery on the opposite. For a typical 48V 10.4Ah e-bike battery, you’re someplace round 4 hours or so for a full cost in good daylight. Should you’re simply stopping for lunch for an hour, even getting 25-30% cost again into your battery is a particular risk.

The entire package deal is slickly designed and straightforward to make use of. You simply pull it out, unfold it, and plug in. That’s it. Straightforward peasy, lemon squeezy.

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The one laborious factor is that it’s a bit tough in your pockets, to the tune of $769. By way of {dollars} per watt, that can make some photo voltaic lovers wish to cry. However then once more, the purpose isn’t to make an affordable photo voltaic panel, it’s to create an all-in-one e-bike charging answer.

It’s an enormous comfort issue that you just don’t want any inverters and might merely plug the panel immediately into your e-biker, to not point out the comfort of the tiny measurement of the packed panel.

I don’t know should you’ve seen different 150W photo voltaic panels in actual life earlier than, however they’re normally across the floor space of a surf board. The truth that you may get 150W of solar energy folded into one thing the dimensions of a field of tissues (once more, People will use something to keep away from the metric system) is a reasonably cool development in photo voltaic powered e-bike charging.

So whereas this received’t be a toy for the cash-strapped, it’s a actually cool technique to cost your e-bike off-grid, and just about the one one I do know of that’s an entire all-in-one answer.

And that’s fairly cool in my view.

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