Quote:
Originally Posted by RedDevil
I have a small solar panel on the inside of the trunk window of my Insight; it is hidden from view (from the rear view mirror) by the roof beam between the C pillars so it is not in the way.
The purpose is to keep the 12V battery charged up while parked. The Insight has a not insignificant draw and would deplete the 12V battery in a couple of weeks otherwise; it killed my first battery within the warranty and its replacement wasn't very good so to avoid further trouble I added the panel.
It should help with economy too (a tiny bit) as the car has to charge the battery less while driving as it is almost always near full - especially in these COVID times with long pauses between drives and mostly short errands.
The panel can get fairly hot in the sun, but the light would hit the interior anyway so I guess it has little effect on the overall temperature inside.
I believe it is useful. I'm pretty sure it helped extend the life of my 2nd 12V battery by a couple of years.
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So it seems pointless for my Ioniq? I’ve only had my 12v battery die a few times from sitting out too long. It died after a week because it runs a 24-7 dash cam while parked. The Ioniq has a special feature called a 12v restart where you simply push a special button near the steering wheel and the giant lithium hybrid battery jump starts the 12v battery instantly and then the car starts. Never need jumper cables again or have to worry about the 12v being dead as a problem.
Ideal I wish I could connect solar to the actual hybrid battery, because when the hybrid battery is higher, the car uses ev mode more when accelerating from a stop light, and overall torque and power feels faster and sportier when it combines the ice and battery at the same time. Plus it’ll stay in ev mode when driving around parking lots. Or since the AC is connected to the hybrid battery, having it pretty charged means that in the summer, I can blast the ac when parked for a minute or two when parked as soon as I get in the car and take no gas burning hit at all