Why You Should Consider Converting Your Electric Golf Cart to Solar Power
How many times have you been stuck on the golf course with a dead battery? If you’re anything like me, probably too many times to count! Thankfully, converting your golf cart to solar power can help keep this situation from occurring again. This can save you time, money, and even possibly extend the life of your golf cart! Now that’s what I call winning! In this article, I’ll be going over three ways in How to make a solar power golf cart.
Why Go Solar
There are many reasons you might consider converting your electric golf cart to solar power. For one, The concept of environmental protection is deeply rooted in people’s hearts. The use of renewable energy is very approved with visitors. The combination of sports and environmental protection is a good advertisement to attract customers.
More and more people pay attention to renewable energy, solar panels installed on the roof of the vehicle is also getting popular, in some of the golf courses you can find some golf cart top with black roofs, that is, solar panels installed.
Another reason to switch from an electric golf cart to a solar-powered one is that the process isn’t complicated, the solar modules can be perfectly integrated into the golf cart,Golf carts come with a sunshade roof, and this top is perfect for having solar panels installed. The latest flexible solar panels are now so thin and light that they don’t stand out when installed.
after installing solar panels, you also have to install rechargeable solar batteries, and a solar controller to regulate the charging process. They are also easy to integrate into the overall vehicle.
Electricity bill may continue increasing as they have over recent years, Especially if you want to increase the number of carts.
After the run the golf cart with solar, there is no need to frequently charge with grid power, at the time the cart is parking and waiting, the solar energy will continue to charge the vehicle battery, so that your battery is always fully charged. You can save a lot of money on your electricity bill. Compared to the small investment of installing solar, the long-term benefits are huge.
How to make a solar power golf cart
To complete the process, you need to have a blueprint in mind or refer to some tutorials on YouTube. You will also need to purchase some powered solar golf cart essentials. These include solar panels, solar controllers, and solar batteries. If the existing batteries are the solar rechargeable type, then there is no need to upgrade, just choose a solar controller that matches the battery type.
Solar powered golf cart essentials:
- Flexible Solar Panels
- Solar Panel Racks
- Boost Solar Charge Controller
- Solar Controller Fix Gadgets
- Connection Cables
- Battery Balancer
Flexible Solar Panels gain attention for its lightweight, high efficiency and newly introduced. The size of the solar panel depends on the size of the cart roof it has, the bigger the better, so you can get more energy.
Boost Solar Charge Controller is a controller that allows a lower voltage panel to charge a higher voltage battery, and can charge a large battery when panel mounting space is limited, for example, you can use 12 to 24V solar panels to charge 36V and 48V batteries..
An battery balancer is not mandatory, but we recommend installing one. It equalizes the voltage of the battery cells, thus stabilizing system performance and increasing battery life.
Solar power golf cart installation
You can purchase a solar panel kits or purchase each parts and install them yourself.
Add Solar Panel to Golf Cart Roof
read the instructions before installation of the panel, after fixing the panel, check and make sure the positive and negative poles is not reversed, if reversed, it may lead to the inability to charge, and in more serious cases, even burn the battery panel.
Use qualified cables for connection and use different colors to differentiate the polarity, which will facilitate the installation later.
Do not forget the use of MC4 Connectors, which can effectively prevent electric shock, add waterproof, thus ensure the safety of personnel and systems, and it’s plug and play.
Connect the waterproof MC4 connector, positive with the male, negative with the female, use a multimeter to test the open-circuit voltage fo panel, so that you can check whether the connector is on, also to provide a choice for the series-parallel connection, you can try first parallel and then series, but the parallel connection of the two panels open-circuit voltage needs to be the same.
Add Solar Golf Cart Charger to regulate the charge
To charge the battery bank and make the system work you need a dedicated solar charger for golf cart. this kind of solar charger is a boost charge inbuilt charger, it boost the charge voltage and enable to charge 36v 48v battery with 12v 24v volt panels.
The wiring procedure for a solar system is to connect the controller and the battery first, then the controller and the panel, this step cannot be reversed.
The Cost of Going Solar
The cost of installing solar panels on a golf cart and charging the vehicle with them is about $1,000 for 2 solar panels and a boost controller. This price varies widely depending on your location, the quality of the system, and whether you’re using thin-film or crystalline cells. For example, an average home installation cost around $15 per watt in 2016, while commercial installations cost closer to $5 per watt. Thin-film panels are much cheaper than crystalline panels because they require significantly less material.
the cost of boost charge controller is around $100, a 10A boost controller will be fine for most solar goft carts.
Perks Of Solar Power Golf Cart
Going solar isn’t just about doing your part for a cleaner planet. There are many perks of installing solar panels and charging a golf cart with solar power. For starters, it’s a great investment. it save a lot on electricity bill and has long life supporting.
The perfect integration of the solar panel kits makes the golf cart look upscale, neat and technological.
Is a good selling point to attract players.
Its stable system does not need too much maintenance, only daily inspection, maintenance costs will be reduced a lot.