Solar Roof

[miket]

I wasnt thinking so much in terms of alternator delete but it keeping the parked vehicle from going way way above ambient, like the prius gen3. Its not only really uncomfortable when coming back to the vehicle, my car has black leather lol so i know, but its terrible for the life of things with lithium batteries.

Which blower setting would i need to use? low, medium, high?

Mounted on a warm roof with a flat angle using damaged ebay cells how much would they be derated from spec? My guess is by half.

[jedi_sol]

If you're talking about mounting a small electrical fan on a window, you would just need enough cells to run that fan.

cheap 12v d/c fan = ebay solar cells are 0.5 volts each = 24 solar cells.

Is this what youre talking about?

[miket]

No i was talking about powering the vehicles hvac blower from panels mounted on the roof of my dads truck or under the sunroof of my car. I dont know how much airflow is needed.

[miket]

I think if the lowest speed doesnt work in direct sun then the second lowest will.

Testing my car parked, the difference in the amount of air coming out of the vent onto my hand, with the windows open or closed was barely even noticeable. My car is definitly not air tight. However recirculation increased the amount of air a lot. The restriction in my car is the intake or the cabin air filter.

[Piwoslaw]

Gascort, does that extra layer of cells on the roof help to keep the heat out? I mean does it insulate the roof thermally in a noticeable way?

[C3H8]

i have wanted to add solar panels on the roof of my car for YEARS. i am glad someone else did it so i can see how things go.

[gascort]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Gascort, does that extra layer of cells on the roof help to keep the heat out? I mean does it insulate the roof thermally in a noticeable way?

Not that I can tell. I removed all the sound deadening insulation stuff when I bought the car - it was hanging and stapled everywhere - and now it looks cleaner but is noisier. And the roof is still pretty hot when the sun't hitting it.

Regarding the blower motor, I can run the blower on it in full sun but it's about 1/4 as powerful as it should be. I used to be able to run it and it was near full output; since I screwed up the cells getting them wet, etc. the first time they have dropped in output badly - now just a trickle charge, best to recharge battery or listen to the radio on.

And to date, I still have ZERO water creeping in. I took the aluminum strip off the back end to help air flow toward the Kammback and just have a few screws and washers there, and the LEXEL stuff is keeping a tight seal between the painted metal roof and the lexan sheet. I highly recommend it for anyone using similar materials. I may be making another panel (next summer - I'm broke / busy with the house now) for a friend with an RV; he wants it to both maintain his batteries in the winter and to keep him charged somewhat in the summer - will use a full sheet of Lexan probably - might split it in two to avoid thermal expansion issues as I have noticed some during the day - the top is bowed a bit above the cells - and I only have a small panel.