This is the first version (V1) solar bike I built in 2017, based on a M5 recumbent MRacer model with:

  • Bafang geared motor, 26 inches front wheel

  • 150w solar panel

  • GENASUN solar controller, max Voltage 41,6V (for a 36V lithium battery)

This is a list of the main issues I faced in the building of the V1 prototype:

  • Interference of the Bafang motor with the front fork.
  • Solution was to add a 2mm spacer

The wheel was not turning freely as expexted from a geared motor

Solution: I had to ship back the wheel to the supplier in UK since it was defective and still under warranty

The support of the battery was extremely fragile and was broken in few spots, so the fixing under the bike was extremely problematic.

Solution was to repair it with a special product (mouldable plastic “Multimorph”)

Finally the motor stopped working: so after a long trouble shooting I had to send back the controller in UK.

They confirmed that a Mosfet was burnt and they sent me a new controller

 

Even with all these issues I was able to complete the Solar Bike V1 and to start riding with it to test the overall solution 

But given the gravity of all these reasons  on one side and having been accepted for the Sun Trip 2017 on the other side,I decided to start investigating seriously on higher quality components.

This was the reason to move to phase 2 of the project.