Solar Panels charging an electric hunting buggy.. above my pay grade !

[Brokenbear]

Well do we have any knowledgeable folks on here who know the ins and outs of solar panel charging/maintaining a 4WD all electric UTV 48 volt / 2080AH capacity ( 4 each Discover Dry Cell technology batteries) I am looking for something quieter than my Yamaha 450 Rhino obviously

Here is the deal ..my farm in the boonies has no electricity available (where I hunt of course has lots of hills n log trails) .. and age, knees and back need to ditch packing into the stands in the dark and ice and snow and mud

I have looked at electric trail bikes but shoulders as well as railroad rail like places covered/camouflaged with hardwood leaves ankle+ deep (in case you have never ridden a motorcycle if you try crossing a rail at no angle to speak of you have a 50/50 chance of busting your keester) have me luke warm on an electric bike ..

I have looked at quad/atv's but the only thing even slightly interesting is a Daymac Beast 4X4 ($5999.99 +$600 shipping and no supporting dealers stateside) they have no US presence (Canada only)

Then there WAS the Polaris EV UTV which basically (never seen one ..just read about) used a battery n motor system about like a golf cart including a lead acid deep cycle battery that even in the best energy management conditions of constant battery watering charging etc will degrade very badly and battery reliability starts becoming an issue in three years and that long only if it doesn't sit unattended all winter or summer

Polaris does seem committed to electric for they have come out with a replacement for the EV model but it's price is that of a new automobile !

Enter the Hisun Motors Sector E1.. 4X4 ..Yes it is Chinese built and yes the jury is still out as to how strong it is now as well as to it's future with regards to reliability,performance, parts etc etc HOWEVER ..

The dealer 40 Min from me says Hisun Motors has a 300,000 square foot headquarters in McKinney Texas ..so at least this company seems intent to have a presence

Plus things I believe are really going to heat up as far as EV electric off road models AND technology offered by the major US atv/utv marketers ..but I stll have the need to solar charge/maintain one whether it be now or in two years

Heads up for anyone thinking EV hunting rigs ..study study study ..especially energy source (batteries) location of motor and type of motor and make you own decisions ..for example Lithium batteries are the cats meow ..most of the time ..and with present technology ..did you know a Lithium battery will not take a charge if the temperature is below 32 degrees ?? ( so I read ) ..there is a work around assuming the battery has some life to turn on head lights or whatever to create internal battery heat enough to start taking a charge ..NOT good if you rig is in an unheated area ..further a Lithium battery in cold weather (I read) gives up a smaller amount of it's total energy than other traditional storage batteries

Gents and ladies every thing I am discussing is from reading ,reviews, forums, feedbacks Etc ..I am inviting you all to input from you knowledge or hands on experience as I'll bet I'm not the only bunged up old fart looking for a way to stay in the field ..safely.

Bear

[Froogal]

Age, knees, and back. I'm in the same boat and if I was to venture out into the boonies I would want a vehicle that I could rely on. NOT electric.

[farmbif]

the only off-road vehicles I have are tractors, very reliable if cared for, but after reading and looking at a whole lot of off road vehicles I keep eyeballing Yamaha kodiak 4x4's.
most good reliable used off-road vehicles that are found advertised for sale seem to be priced at just about what a new one costs. unless you just happen to come across one of those few and far between deals or get one given to you in a will or something like that. I'm pretty sure you can get really good mufflers for a lot of them that are used for hunting and not screaming around dirt trails. but I'm not expert.
as far as engine noise scaring off deer. I guess sometimes they do. but just last month I was down in the field with my 65hp tractor running and two bucks and a doe came within less than 50 yards away from me. they came walking up turned and gave me a good eyeballing and wandered back off into the forest.

[jim 44-40]

Do you know if you can use a solar charge controller for gel,AGM type batteries with the Dry cell battery?

[rancher1913]

go over to the "diy solar power forum" and do a lot of reading and studying, you need to fully understand the bad as well as the good to solar power use before you buy anything solar.

[jim 44-40]

100% what Rancher1913 told you. There are so many things you need to look at like how many hours of good sun light your location will provide.

[MrWolf]

Solar and the woods combo just doesn't work for me. I have a Polaris Ranger 570-4 crew. Way bigger than what you probably want as his has two rows of seats and a tilting cargo box. I finally learned to keep the battery up with one of those smart chargers hooked up to solar in my utility shed (no power). I have been using four panels and two car batteries. Over the last few years the system will not hold a charge overnight. I know the batteries are not the fancy ones, UT they should at least be able to handle the minimal load I have on them. Anyway, the smart charger has been working great. I would not trust solar anything going into the woods and bringing my busted butt back along with a deer, etc. Why not gas powered? Are you concerned about the noise? Critters are used to engine sounds in my limited experience and electric crunching along would probably scare them more. Good luck.
Ron

[elk hunter]

If I were looking to solar charge anything of consequence I would talk to a solar energy company. A local solar company is going to set up a battery maintenance system, a simple task for them, for the road grader I operate at the local shooting range as we don't have electrical power available. I just put $500.00 worth of new battery's in it and don't want them setting for long periods and discharging.

Not to be critical of ATV/4X4 users but, my Jeep is my off road vehicle. It will take me anywhere I could or would drive a 4X4/ATV type of vehicle. With a heater and air conditioning it's comfortable year round, gets decent mileage and I can drive it to my hunting area at highway speed. 4X4 's and such are not legal on the public roads here because they're not licensed and insured. And in many local areas vehicles of any type are not allowed to drive off road. I see lots of people driving them in the woods and try to envision what advantage they might have and then I think to myself "I'll just stick with my Jeep".

[GhostHawk]

I was an early adopter of 2 wheel sit down electric scooters.

First 2 were sealed lead acid battery's, which were ok.

Last one was Lithiom Ion which doubled the number of charge cycles before it started degrading. Added about 50% range over the lead Acid. Take up less space/weight.

Now these are designed and govenered to not exceed 18mph (for sidewalk use) So no change there.

What I really noticed was that I only charged the new one once after the initial charge. Lead acid required 2 or 3 charges per summer to stay up and snappy.

That being said there is a lot of work being done on battery's right now. They are coming out with new types with better effeciency, lower cost.
Mine was mostly used to give my PomChi some exercise. Once around the full block. First 2 blocks were pretty much full bore as fast as he could go with tree watering stops.
Third block was kind of a mid level coast. Last block was generally kind of a cooling trot. But that was due to the dog not the scooter.

Hope this helps.

[Good Cheer]

Gave all my solar power texts to younguns setting up their homestead in Arizona so nope, can't help yah.

[Soundguy]

you may need a charge controller for each battery / cell bank.. but should be doable.

[jim 44-40]

Footprinthero.com
Solar panel charge time calculator,

[popper]

HiSun has a warehouse or 2 there, probably assy area also as all are made in China. IIRC Coleman is HiSun, being sold by Lowes. a Solar needs a large array, it's own battery storage to charge the ATV. Figure only 5 hrs actual use when doing anything in the woods. Electric motors draw a LOT of current when actually doing any hard work. Fine for the golf course. Just not practical!! The noise from a 1000cc gator is minimal to animals. I rode my Suzuki 500 ATV out to the pasture one nite, with the headlite on, saw 2 deer across a small (4 acre) pond - they looked at me and then went on browsing. And it will pull an extra 500# easy.

[country gent]

Hmm may have to look at a solar panel on my all terrain chair to extend the range between charges.

[tja6435]

You can find lithium batteries that are self heating but I wouldn’t trust them to maintain when it’s -20° or worse.

What I would do is find a good, reliable 4 stroke ATV and take it to a muffler shop and have them install a muffler that makes the engine exhaust as quiet as possible. If a muffler can make a V8 engine pretty much silent, I’d think it’s doable for a single or twin cylinder ATV engine.

I also like elk hunter’s recommendation for a jeep, a 1997-2001 Cherokee can be had for less than a used ATV, easy to get parts for and an enclosed cab with heat would be nice during the winters. Avoid Jeeps before 1997, they have ODB 1 ecm and are not as easy to get trouble codes from vs the 1997+ with ODB2 ecm’s

[jim 44-40]

That UTV has a 1200 watt/on board charger,that takes 6-10 hours to full charge
2080 amp/hr battery with a range of 48 miles
And only a 2 year warranty

[blackthorn]

My kid (he is 62) sold his ATV and bought an old 4 door Chev tracker. He loves it. He can use it around town or on the highway, it has a cab and heater. He says Suzuki parts are interchangeable and, best of all he gets real good mileage and he stays warm and dry!

[MaryB]

That UTV has a 1200 watt/on board charger,that takes 6-10 hours to full charge
2080 amp/hr battery with a range of 48 miles
And only a 2 year warranty

Then all you need is a Solar panel/charge controller/battery/inverter setup to handle however much current the onboard charger takes. If you tell me how many amps it is I can get you a rough estimate of cost. Having a little battery power for other stuff is handy, like charging power tools, a couple led lights... won't need a huge battery but it has to be there to even out the power to the inverter. Only way around that is a hybrid grid tie/off grid inverter with built in charge controller and they are big bucks and designed to run a house.

[jim 44-40]

If I had to charge a EV out in the boonies,I would use a inverter generator so all I would have to do is plug my EV in and let the onboard charger do it's job. If you feel safe about leaving all your solar equipment out in the boonies that is one thing to think about.sorry for getting off track of your goals with solar power,

[jmorris]

…48 volt / 2080AH capacity…

That is going to be one heck of a solar charging system, if you use it much at all. Out of curiosity I went here.

https://footprinthero.com/solar-panel-size-calculator

And used 48 volt, 2080 AH, dry, 50% discharge, PWM, 5.06 hours peak sunlight (for ideal St. Louis average @ 30.9 deg tilt, 1.8deg W azimuth), assuming you would want it charged in a day, that would take a 31,030 watt solar panel.

Looks like 30kW panels are around $45,000.

https://sunwatts.com/30-kw-solar-kits/

That’s a non starter for me. I have ATV’s and UTV’s my family and friends have used for decades that don’t have that much invested in them. They just don’t drink the gas, we actually use non ethanol gas because the regular stuff will gum up the carburetors as they are not used quickly enough.