Solar Panels for what?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Phase

How does it cause a green house effect? My car is already jet black all around? And a hybrid would need waaay less electricity than an EV. Like I said, I was thinking of installing them on the rear trunk spoiler when I build that. The area will probably be 2 feet by 4 feet. I’m just wondering if there’s an easy way to attach the solar panel plugs to the hybrid battery under the passenger seat. I live in Arizona half of the year. Trust me, plenty of sun down in the desert. Obviously Oregon in winter time would barely do much

My comments were with regard to the gimmick Hyundai has produced after researching the example you suggested. Adding to a spoiler wouldn't create a greenhouse effect.

A hybrid "needing waaay less electricity" isn't a feature, but a limitation. Any excess production for the tiny battery is wasted, and the amount actually utilized is miniscule.

[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.

[rmay635703]

The best use case for solar on an ICE is a cheap small panel is to maintain the 12v and to run a fan in the summer.

The Prius solar option was said to keep the interior of the car 20-40 degrees cooler and that was using expensive antique panels that would cost a small fraction of the original cost if priced today. As panels become commodities that are cheaper than toilet paper you will see them in more places.

I picked up a small flexible panel that plugs in the cigarette lighter for a dollar from a junk store, it doesn’t even output an amp but in the winter months when my truck might set for weeks
I still come in to a full battery with a fast start

I just set the panel on my dash when I know I won’t be using it for a while.

Before this my truck would always drain the battery in cold weather, sometimes in about a week, sometimes closer to 2, doesn’t happen anymore

True I could pop the hood and use a trickle charger but honestly I’ve had better luck with this and my battery is never dry or dead, my fully automatic trickle charger would many times error out and let the battery go dead anyway, the dumb one if left long enough would dry the battery out
I haven’t had that happen with this solar maintainer, well worth $1

[Phase]

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.

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

[oil pan 4]

No point. You are trying to step a few volts up to hundreds of volts.
Plugging in makes more sense.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Phase

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

Solar is best used on the roof of your house.

As time goes on OEM solar options will become more common and lower cost, when you trade up you might be able to buy your car with OEM panels and warranty

[Phase]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

No point. You are trying to step a few volts up to hundreds of volts.
Plugging in makes more sense.

I don’t have a plug in hybrid. Just a basic HEV. There’s no way to plug the battery in

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Phase

I don’t have a plug in hybrid. Just a basic HEV. There’s no way to plug the battery in

If there's a way to add solar charging to the traction battery, there's a way to add a plug-in option. I wouldn't bother, personally.

Running the 12v battery down even a single time does irreparable damage. It will never have the same capacity as before that occurred. Running a lead acid battery repeatedly down even to 50% will greatly shorten the lifespan. These like to remain fully charged, unlike lithium ion batteries. That's why everyone is telling you that if you must add solar, to add it as a means of topping up your 12v battery. If you size it correctly, you don't even need any charging circuitry because lead acid batteries can accept continual trickle charging, unlike lithium ion batteries which must terminate charging when full.

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by Phase

I have seen some people put after market solar panels on their cars? Older cars too! What is the purpose? to power a fan inside versus air conditioning? charge a cell phone? i'm pretty confused with solar panels on non hybrid cars...

A lot of people are car camping these days and small solar setups allow you to run a laptop or small cooler without the engine. #vanlife

now to my MAIN QUESTION-

IS THERE A WAY TO CONNECT SOLAR PANELS TO HELP CHARGE A HYBRID BATTERY?

I have seen that hyundai did a solar roof with the sonata hybrid, so it's clearly possible

but is it possible for me to get some after market solar panels and connect them to my IONIQ's hybrid battery for a little charge boost?

Possible? Of course. Worth it? Probably not for 99% of people given the DIY wiring, controllers/inverters you would need and the much higher risks you'd be assuming. OEM plug-in hybrids and EVs occasionally catch fire from defects & bad designs - are you going to do at least as good of a job as them? And for what? An extra 1/4 mile of EV range after parking it all afternoon?

On the other hand, I could see trickle charging your 12v being beneficial. You'd be able to use off-the-shelf components and, while you wouldn't boost EV range, you would increase your mpg - especially at low speeds.

Here is a graph of the calculated mpg of a gen1 prius at different speeds:



Notice how the 511watt load of just running the car's computers affects slow-speed mpg (pink mpg curve is with no fixed load, red is with). You might be able to squeeze 500 watts of solar panels on your car in which case your mpg gains would be like going from the red line to the pink line when driving under the midday sun. Negligible at 80mph, but significant at 20mph...

[redpoint5]

It would be easier to eliminate 5 miles of travel over the course of a year than to add solar charging to the hybrid battery. It would be easier to inflate the tires a bit more. It would be easier to fill-in-the-blank.

Doesn't make sense to start with the high hanging fruit of efficiency when there is so much low hanging stuff.