20:50 When a battery cell is replaced the voltage must match to keep the battery balanced. The battery voltage could change due to temperature or other factors, but in that case the voltage of all cells would change together. Thanks for the support.

Wouldn't it be nice if the manufacture's provided a low power DC charge port for < 2kw

Love it! The reason shade impacts solar panels so much is because the individual solar cells are all connected in series so the voltage drop of one has a large impact on the whole string.

Fascinating experiment! You may be shaping the future of EVs

This is the video I've been needing to watch. Very educational thanks

This video answered a few nagging questions -- thank you! I don't (yet) want to attach solar panels to my car -- but have often wished that I could buy a few (hopefully inexpensive) solar panels and wire them straight to my EV so that I could get a few extra miles of charge while it's just sitting there on a sunny day, doing nothing else for long stretches.

Thanks for running through the options. I'm looking at adding solar panels to a Citroen Ami since it's an ideal candidate. It's intended for short trips and gets 8 miles per kwh due to a low top speed so adding even 0.5kwh per day would be useful. It's also running off 48V so significantly safer to work with. My only concern is manufacturer warranty, I don't really want to cut holes in the battery pack within the warranty period.

Great video with facts and correct path to Solar charging ! Thanks for sharing !

Great video, and answered a lot of questions for me. One thing to note, some cars are designed for direct solar. For example, some versions of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 come with a solar roof, and I've seen videos showing it trickle-charging the high-voltage battery on cloudy days. The Leaf is not a candidate for a solar cell array being plugged right into the high voltage battery, but some cars are.

Nice! That's a good find. Jame's system looks very promising.

Tons of good info. I have lots of solutions for these common problems. Your efforts have helped me confirm.

Very interesting, thanks.

The EV already contains all the necessary electronics in the regenerative braking system for spurious charging of the main battery! The vehicle maker providing a solar DC IN port seems like a simple add-on for the EV electronics, compared to Solar->AC inverter->Charge controller->Car->DC converter->Battery way of doing it.

This is a great video, thanks for all of your work. Question (forgive me if you have answered this elsewhere): is there any benefit it installing a solar panel of around 160w (for e.g. a semi-flexible panel that can bond onto the roof) purely to charge the 12v battery under the bonnet / hood. will that in any way decrease the load on the traction battery due to air con use etc? thanks.

Great video!!!

The 2014 leaf on is bidirectional system so it’s a power wall on wheels, we aim to keep two leafs to allow us to optimise this approach! Your ideal would better used on a van or truck with a trailer which folds out into a solar array!

Pre-charge resistor is to stop massive rush in currents due to a a bunch of inductive loads. Energize these components through a risistor saves the contractors from sparks ruining them.

Love the content. Why not trickle charge through the regen brake system. Thanks

great video great ideas!

Thanks for the overview of porting roof panels to an EV battery. With electric vans and RVs coming to market, capable of supporting relatively large solar arrays, demand for vehicle solar self-charging should soar.

Great video! Lots of information 👍. I have several ideas that I've been contemplating for a while, being that I bought the full traction battery of a BMW sold by battery hookup, I was going to the battery extender pack like you mentioned, by connecting it after the precharger directly to the main battery. After a lot of thinking I've decided to make a trailer solar charging station with the BMW battery and take my LEAF to a battery makeover and add potentially 11 or 12 bars at ace hybrids in los Angeles CA. Or I could buy a better LEAF and swap the battery? That doesn't make sense, maybe, but I like my car a lot. Okay... I still don't know what to do, I guess. Excellent video my friend!

Hey, I admire your spirit. Real good job on this project. Thanks very much for the link to James! You might also consider powering the "climate control" while parked out on hot days. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to your next installment. "Bonus question": how many watts, measured at the battery terminals is required to move a Leaf at about 5mph on level road, no wind?

Love the suneater! If you ever decide to get a replacement battery, hit me up for a free CAN-bridge, that way you can upgrade to a newer 24/30/40/62kWh battery!

This video was so informative! I had an idea last night to create a solar carport for my Mini Cooper SE and I'd trying to figure out the most simple way to do it. I'd really like to avoid needing a battery buffer like you have, but I also don't want to dig into the vehicles battery electronics. Because I could potentially add 600 watts of solar to the roof of the carport I'm hoping I could reduce the size of the battery buffer needed, but I hadn't thought about the wear and tear that could be caused by starting and stopping charging - as you described in this video. Really helpful! I'll have to keep thinking about a viable solution here and welcome any thoughts you have in regards to a system that could have many more solar panels.

great video !

"Necessity is the mother of invention." :-)

You using the secondary battery to charge the main battery at intervals is along the lines of what I was thinking of trying.

The black LEAF is likely like mine, a 2011 that got the Lizard pack upgrade after 2015 or so 👏🏼. Did you get the pack swapped and did it need CAN communication adjustment to recognize it? I'm working on the same thing here.

What do you think about connecting solar via mppt to the 12 volt start battery and then let that charge the high voltage battery via an added inverter and a j1772 cabel? I'm aware of the losses from things like cables and inverters (both the chargingcables' inverter aswell as the extra external inverter Im thinking about adding). Will the losses be too much? If the original starter battery is not sufficient then maybe that can be replaced by an agm deep cycle battery?

What would you think about doing something like this on a plug in hybrid like the ford cmax energi? It has full ev mode for about 20 miles on a secondary battery located in the trunk of the car, and has a normal hybrid setup under the hood? I believe ford even had a cmax solar energi concept car as well.

You can generate something more power than those solar panels are collecting those flexible panels are some of the least efficient panels around if you were to hard mount to 400 watt panels up there you could probably get 6 or 700 w out of two panels. I got to say though those slide out wings are freaking awesome

Any updates on creating this system you talked about at the end? This one you speak of that gets a few miles a day?

Just bought a flex solar panel which will give a total of 32000 watts (4 panels). I will be going to put on my Nissan Leaf directly to the battery I will be glad to see a detailed video on how to do it. your video did not provide it .can you do another video with details thank you

You could have a front slide out panel that also shades most of the windscreen as an added bonus

Add a tilt to the extended panels to make direct contact with the setting of the sun to increase efficiency.

nice video

Have you tried an EcoFlow as a buffer to charge your car

1) Canada is leading in EV hacking, there are a few companies that already have their own boards and do battery swaps from the old leaf with the new leaf batteries. Pretty cool. 2) When adding solar panels to the doors, make sure to protect them against dents caused by other doors or shopping carts :( 3) If you lose 2 more bars on your battery, it will be the time to DIY the battery swap and hacking. Awesome job as usual. Great interview. Thank you!

Have you considered the chademo connector. It's dc fast charging. All we need is the chademo charger supplied by solar dc.

Can you charge direct from solar panel array in garden? Batter is DC,so no inverter needed?

Diy ideas sometimes have merits, but need knowledge to the internal of the car requirement too

Best I’ve come up with is taking care of the 12v system on the leaf. I think 100- 200w going into a large 12v bank for all 12v ancillaries could save a heap from the main pack during normal use. Every time I look at leaf spy it’s chewing 200 to 400w etc while the car is on. Also losses caused by aerodynamic impact of roof racks etc makes me think surface mount panels are the way to go. I also want to think of a way of cooling the car when it’s not in use and in the sun, this could be by way of fan vents etc, saves energy on the Ac when you return to the car and have to cool the air down etc. all these savings can easy be offset though, inverters , panels , modifications all cost money. So far for me , charging during the day off our house solar seems to be winning.

Im using a ecoflow mini, to charge my smart fortwo ev. Dont have a solar panel(s) tho. Since the car roof is so small. Even have a cable to charge the ecoflow at the charging station while charging my car Edit: I bougth a 240v 6a charger and I have solar panels on my shed now.

I have 3000 watts generated from a portable solar carpet but cannot run directly into EV charter using 1772 or CCS. What did you use to get the power to recognize power at 720 watts. You pushed a button to engage charger… what was that?

It seems to me that if you connected enough solar cells in series to get up to 400V that would be the simplest way to trickle charge an EV through the DC port. I don't know if anyone has tried this, but that's what I'd be looking at.

Hi can I hook up a car alternater from a 12 v charge to the battery with a electric motor .?

Roof folding solar panels, are they the future of cars? After unfolding, it can achieve 1500-2000 watts of solar charging power, with an average daily replenishment range of 30-50 miles.

Now we are talking. This is the way to go. Solar> batteries > Inverter is heavy and wasteful! However running high voltage solar is also tricky: Having 700 cells in series, require that they all get irradiated equally, or your voltage drops off. Individual lower voltage panels are more resilient to partial shading. Ideally you want as high voltage as practically possible. Then use an industrial efficient boost DC/DC converter, which is much more efficient than household inverters. You can possibly do without a MPPT too, because the vehicle battery pack only has a 30V or so difference between 10% and 100% SOC, so your panels will be kept in the sweet spot easily by the DC/DC, and don't use a bank of lead acid batteries (why would you need batteries to charge batteries?). For controlling the charging, bypass the vehicle charger, it easily uses 250W just to be turned on, but use some glue logic and a seperate small precharge and contactor circuit to connect to the battery directly, i.e. Arduino, to cut charging when you reach the end of the CC phase, so the charging stops when you are at around 80% SOC. That way you'll get 85-90% of the power in the panels into your battery. (you are not required to buy special gloves! That only applies to certified electricians working professionally. A pair of leather or heavy duty Nitrile gloves are just as insulating as a $100 pair of gloves with the right stamps.)

When they actually make an EV that I can just plug into an array of panels with none of that AC/DC conversion loss....I will consider buying one.

What about the panels to batteries to charging skipping the inverter for dc fast charging?

Nice setup man. Is it possible to put a mppt solar regulator between your EV main battery, the solar panels and backup battery.? That would be a great solution.

This was very helpful. James' web presence seems a bit sketchy. Is there somebody I could pay to set me up with a solar charging system for Nissan Leaf? I am a civil engineer in AZ at an apartment and I don't drive much. So I think a solar system could be good for me.

id like to see How you wired this to the drive battery and how you ran the wires

You need to get 700w, 144 cell panels. Size 1.3 meter x 2.4 meter. You can put 3 x 700 w = 2100W. One permanent, 2 slides out. That should be enough to directly charge your EV.

Hello! Any progress on this project?

Can you charge your battery as the same time as charging your car?

where do you get the things for the wheels?

By attaching leads into the battery pack behind the resistor don't you by-pass the resistor which is designed to be another safety device. If the resistor fuse is blown there is another route that the high voltage can electrify the car outside the battery. Causeing the risk of electrocution.

I’m in the U.K. I’d love to charge my Nissan Leaf with mobile solar panels. Why not put a small wind turbine on the roof also?

I've experimented with modifying the CAN-messages going to the charger, it is possible to run 500W as a minimum level (not that it helps much). The LEAF itself draws about 300W when the coolant pumps are on and inverter/charger is active, so it pays off to charge the car with as high amperage as possible to increase efficiency (16>10>6)

How many miles do you loose in drag?

Is it possible that you can convert Nissan murano?

Contractors are fine bruh... there is also a precharche proces w. a 3rd smaller contactor, the main contractors never spark and the mechanical wear is neglect able.

I love the idea but if you short out 400 hundred volts DC you’ll get a giant arc and possibly severely burned or killed from high-voltage electrocution shock. A shock like that will cauterize the blood inside your arteries and it won’t be a good outcome. I have a solar powered electric car and My 20 kw array is sitting in my backyard. I have a 2007 Uplander and the alternator burned out so instead I put a 230 watt solar module on the roof with a secondary battery and it works pretty good .

I have always wondered about a light trailer that you could pick up with batteries that would extend vechile

Please work together to create a kit. I was looking into the rockpals 300wh packpack/inverter with its foldable solar panels, but it doesn't have enough amperage to start the j1772. Too bad, as it would have been. Sub $500 way to solar charge a leaf (we have 2 Leaf Pluses and used to have 2013 Leaf). Looking forward to your 2nd Leaf projects.

What is the name of company that does custom solar panels??

I don't drive very much average is a few miles a week. I am very interested in in mounting solar panels to an EV

New Sub here... I like your content, it will help me with my EV coversion project..

So does it charge the batteries while the car is in use? Or is it that you have to turn the car off for it to charge? The reason I ask is I commute for 3 hours 2 1/2 of that is sitting or barely rolling on the high way it would be nice if you can keep your batteries up while just sitting.

Re: discussion of contactors 16 minutes in.. if your system is barely making 500W max (an more often much less) then the arcing damage to a heavy duty contactor will be minimal. The contactors are only really eaten up by the electric arc if they are shut off under high load (heavy amperage draw). Zero to five amps of this discussion will have very little effect.

do you have Diodes installed on each panel because you running in parallel, not series?

i've always thought that nissan have missed a trick, not putting a socket in the boot, to charge from a genny or solar.

Why didnt you have the rack open up towards the front and back to shade the windshield instead of the sides?

You make me feel lucky to have 8/12 bars lol. My gasser has been in the shop and got delayed even more so I’m doing everything I can to do as many instacart batches in my leaf as I can in a day. Keeping it simple for now by removing the “mud flaps” and airing up the tires to 45 psi etc. anyone know any other cheap and easy mods that increase efficiency for leafs?

What is the total range you get from your battery setup. I have a spark ev and would love to get a few more miles.

hey how can i find the wire that will charge the 12v battery in the leaf becuse im thinking to instal 100w solar into the 12v battery becuse i think i will gain miles by doing only this

I didnt watch the full video yet but how much did all that cost

Do you help people convert their cars? I need help.

Oh cool, finally! A fitting car for the name Nissan Sunny 😂

If only one of these solar hardware manufacturers would build a DC charger thats powered by one of their power stations and has a chademo or CCS outlet that would be the best solution.

So is it possible for a wiz kid to build a dc fast charger from solar that a ev would recognise. Basically copying the fast chargers at the mall but diy version from a generator or solar system.

awosome I need this type of car please

If I plug solar panel directly into 12V outlet (cig lighter outlet), will that charge the battery? Please don’t laugh… I am learning. I have a Kia Soul EV 2017. I want to mount 2 small 50W sunpower units simply to trickle add juice basically. Sunpower units have charge controller built-in.

Can you double check the link to James channel? Seems to be incorrect

Solar power wall on wheels sounds suspiciously like an average solar trailer 😂 but don't let that stop you, doit just DO IT ❤

A better simple efficient way is solar direct to battery using a DC voltage booster and one big diode on the positive terminal of the battery. This should not interrupt the car std charge system

What do you think about the Prius?

I don't know if you do but don't fast charge older Leafs

Remove and replace parts with carbon fiber or fiberglass 😂 I want to buy a leaf and remove the motor and swap it into my car. Since i like modified cars it'll be as light as possible for maximum efficiency 😅 For now it's an idea since I've found out i can run my manual transmission no problem. No clutch but still its a manual

Solar panel creates massive drag that steals more than gives.

Here’s the 2023 version kzfaq.infoAYMa95lZtb4?feature=share

Would you mind if you can toast me, Sam?

A couple questions, it’s not a criticism and I have no personal experience with EVs. But aren’t those panels on the roof of your car, and even more panels, better off on the roof of your home that charge large capacity batteries throughout the day at home. Then instead of adding additional batteries feeding of the car roof solar in the back of your car, rather install larger capacity batteries directly connected to the other EV batteries in series to extend your range. Then when at home, the large capacity batteries charge your vehicle and extend its range with its additional capacity? You then save on electricity and you extend range? Second, and you may have touched on this in the video, apologies if you did, but can you not arrange more aspects of your EV to run off the 12v car battery, I’m not sure which parts do, like AC, power steering, brake pressure, coolant pump, all the usual stuff, then have the roof solar panel charge the 12v car battery, freeing up your EV batteries a bit from charging the 12v. And if your 12v car battery drops in volts by a certain amount, the EV kicks on the DC-DC charger to top it up. Just wandering.

Why don't you just hack the Chademo charge connection ? Wouldn't that be more efficient and keep all of the safety controls involved? It would be safer to hook up and remove. I built a Solar generator that I can tow down the road on a small trailer behind my RV to my hunt camp. I installed and built all of the complicated systems onboard. I went the route of installing a regular campground RV plug box onto my trailer. My connection to my RV is easy and all other 120v outlets are also there for accessories. I have Solar panels mounted on it that keeps the battery pack charged up and maintained constantly. I built it 12 years ago. My battery bank is built out of 8 - LC 16 heavy built Deep Cycle batteries wired Series Parallel. They are driving a high end 3500 KW inverter that can handle an inrush of 5800 watts for 25 seconds. I have charged EV s off of it like an emergency bank to get them down the road or over to a near 240 outlet. I have direct connection that I have welded off of and have connected portable gas powered generators onto in order to charge up the battery bank quickly and run power to the camp. Many areas will not let you run a generator after 9:00 p.m. and this was my solution. I can use my gas generator to top them up quick or hook jumper cables off of my truck and juice them at a high rate of speed. 130 amp alternator. I believe in thinking outside the box like you do. Guys in the Army used to call me MacGyver.

I don't think the guy at 32:20 has placed solar panels 😅

i think the sulfur from the batteries emitting would burn a hole in your lungs if the battery is inside the vehicle.

take a plunger to that dent

Why you think they made it so hard to do this?

..pyrofuse hacks