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Old 08-08-2014, 10:06 PM   #9 (permalink)
oldtamiyaphile
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Quote:
Originally Posted by silvermazda View Post
I understand your concerns, but I have read a review on the specific solar panel which a user a state north of me -placed the panel on the ground and got 70w and I think at lease 20w when cloudy.


Some of this was answered above and I chose the 100W flexible because it's practically the size of my trunk lid. 40 inches by about 26 inches. THe thing about heat...hm. Let me think about that. It's an external type aka not hatchback, so it shouldnt affect me, and most of the year its 40-65*F, so I dont see another 10*F being a problem as the paint probs gets up to 90 in standing sun (correct me if I'm wrong). Did I say its not a conventional one aka glass frame, so I dont know what your 10mm will do.
I also used the semi flexible type panel. I never saw anywhere near the rated output, I live at 32* latitude. Mounting angle is not going to be in your favour on a boot lid, and cuts your output by around 30% right there compared to angled house roof mounting.

The paint temp will depend largely on the car colour. On my white roof the temp difference was about 30*C on a cool day. I was really surprised by this and it basically killed the idea of solar roofs for me I had a 10mm gap because the roof had ridges in it. This heat build up also reduces your panel's output.

Keep in mind that elevating the boot lid should improve aero, so you could build a height extension for the boot lid to mount the panel on. If you can find a boot lid cheaply I'd get one and mod it. Keep the original for returning to stock. Again, couldn't do this with a roof!
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