@rajeshkav have you checked if the ather can be charged via your ups in the morning when solar is available as it’s a 1.5 kV ups with 2 batteries … also can I know the make and model of your inverter used .
I do not charge directly from panel (dc). So question of sunlight or dark does not hold good. I have MRO Teck MPPT inverter.
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Usually, inverters are smartly rated in apparent power (VA) to give a false sense that it can handle higher loads. This is done because the manufacturer does not know what type of load will be connected to the output of the inverter and also helps them as a marketing gimmick. Hence a 1.5KVA is actually capable of delivering somewhere around 1.2 KW real power or true power. If Ather charger consumes 1KW per hour to charge the vehicle, it would take around 3 hours to charge a 2.7KWh battery and consume around 3 units of electricity. 2X250 Wp solar panels can generate 500 watts only at ideal conditions. In reality, you would be able to get 2 units in total (6-8 hours of sunlight) on the best day.
If you do not run any other significant load on your inverter, you may charge your bike using off-grid solar setup but you would still be drawing from the grid for that additional 1 unit. I also read in this forum that Ather chargers are sensitive to fluctuations and stop charging when there is a fluctuation in the power. If the inverter is not pure sine wave inverter or if the switch time from the grid to the battery is more than a few milliseconds, the charger may stop the charging. We need to test this practically and results may vary from one inverter to the other. Since I already have an off-grid system in place. I am planning to request Ather charger installation team to provide me with an electric box near the charger. This box would have two sockets, one will be connected to the lighting line(Inverter) and the other would be the heating line (AEH). With this setup in place, I can choose to run the charger on solar or grid by inserting the charger input plug in the socket of my choice. This way, I can also consider the existing load on the inverter before making this choice. In a worst case scenario, if someone accidentally adds significant load to the inverter while it is charging, the MCB on my inverter would trip cutting the supply. I would have to reduce the load and reset the MCB.
On the side note, a grid-tied solar system would have avoided these hassles implicitly by its design.
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Any one here in the forum who has experience building similar solar systems as below as a hobby .
It would be a boon to have a portable solar charger that can charge the vehicle anywhere .
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I am hearing about some changes in the solar policy for KA? Rumors that net metering is being discontinued… or something along those lines.
Has anyone heard about this?
Has anyone here installed solar panels for a rented house…? If yes and if you don’t mind, could you tell me what were the various aspects you took into consideration.
If no one has here, does anyone have an opinion on feasibility?
As long as your owner is okay to install the panel on roof and run the cable to the inverter, then it should be very much possible. Other than this, everything else is conventional.
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But it would be a stand-alone and not grid-connected… correct? For a grid tie you’d need to change the meter to a bi-directional one.
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True, your understanding is correct. If it is Grid connected, lot more is needed and owner need to be involved heavily with Electricity board in the initial phase. Agree with you that I should have asked this question with Arvind.
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Some pertinent question of the top of my head:
- What is the projected load?
- do you have sufficient space to host panels to match that load?
- do you need a hybrid inverter?
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Ah man, thats a deal breaker already, a grid connected solution is what i wanted and the owner is definitely not the kind who will bother with stuff like this 
@raghav.srinivasan thanks for the questions. I am about to convince my relatives to go solar so i’ll keep these in mind 
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For grid connected net-metering systems the landlord needs to sign a powershare agreement with BESCOM and change the meter as well. Upfront cost for a 1kw system is close to 50-55k INR + meter cost of 15-20k INR.
Is this Grid only? When I installed 5 years back (with Hybrid Inverter, Battery, Solar Panel), it used to cost 1L per KW (note, this is not Grid). Good to know if the cost has come down!
Prices are coming down rapidly as many new companies are getting into this business importing panels at a cheaper price than others, i would like to see india getting adapted to solar panels for energy independancy ASAP ,one side helping our planet as well as making our pockets getting bulkier
The cost of grid connected and off grid both have come down considerably sir. When we got off grid system installed 10 years back it was close to 1.5 lack/KW. Now the govt rates are close to 60k and 80k respectively.
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Yes. Grid only cost that included installation, consulting etc.
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I have a rented house with a 1.5 KW solar installation.
150 W 12 V solar panel * 6; 320 W 24 V solar panel *2; 600 AH Solar C10 Luminous batteries; 2 KVA inverter + Charge controllers. I built this over a period of time - I would have spent about Rs. 1.2 L for this setup. Checkout mypowerkart.com for good indicative prices. I have bought from them and they are very professional.
The panels are mounted on the terrace with Solar Panel stands from Loom Solar - they are sturdy enough and I have not cemented/bolted them to the roof since this is a rented house.
I use the solar power for most items in the house (including running the 550 L inverter refrigrator). The inverter is not powerful enough for the AC, washing machine, dishwasher and the water pump.
My electricity bill is around Rs. 700 per month - I am ok with this given our usage. My inverter is fully automatic with Solar priority - so I keep the mains turned off for my inverter. On rainy / cloudy days, I turn on the power to the inverter and run it on mains to avoid the battery voltage from going below 24 V (I do this to improve the life of the batteries).
I have an Ather on pre-order; the goal is obviously to check if I can charge it with my solar setup (at least on sunny days).
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But panel is not sufficient atlist 1kv is enough
Hai,
I want to install portable solar panel to charge my Ather.
As I don’t have enough electrical knowledge, please guide me in this,
How much the solar panel capacity should be?
I want to charge my Ather directly by Solar power, it is possible?
What will be the investment amount for that???
Thanks
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It is good enough for my usage. My requirement is 4 to 6 hours of usage at night and for this 2 panels are sufficient.
If my load is more or if I need more usage in dark hours, your statement is correct (panel is not sufficient)