Quote:
Originally Posted by Daox
Good point, but if I use too much energy from the battery, I loose range. I do have some room to play of course, but not a ton. Its kind of an odd problem. I have excess energy, but not really enough to do anything really useful with.
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Ok, so lets analyze -
You have a solar panel array that can do ~35w at 12VDC, right? (In full sunlight, by the way.)
What is there in a car that only requires >35W to run?
I'm thinking a second 12V battery would be the best way to go, something that could be used to power a fan or some lights in the car, or moved from one location to another in the event that it's needed. The extra weight might be justified by the mobility, and you can use the 12VDC battery to power things in your home as well, like a reading light at night, or a fan, during the summer, to help keep you cool w/o running the A/C.
Would it be enough to run the engine coolant fan all the time? I think you could run more of a grille block if you had the fan running by some input that didn't require engine power.