Solar Assistance Project

[DriverOne]

I've really been considering this as of late - the incorporation of solar into the electrical system of the Festiva. I have it in mind to install the panel in the roof in the form of a sunroof, with the panel underneath a lexan pane in the shape of a standard sunroof so that I achieve a multitude of things:

A, flexibility of the lexan pane.
B, no UV blockage found in auto glass.
C, flush, clean, and even stock appearance.
D, no direct contact between the UV panel and the Elements and/or road debris.
E, overall longevity of the system.

It is my goal to override (or otherwise assist) the charge going to the battery from the alternator at times when the UV panel receives charge. I'm going for an increase in fuel economy (alternator under load takes ~10hp, no load = ~+10hp, engine works less, gains ~6.3% efficiency? ) I'll need help from all you gurus on this project.

Please keep in mind that progress WILL be slow due to funds and time (I'm in college, and time to be creative is extremely limited).

Any positive input and/or information will be greatly appreciated.

[Movin]

Bonus..if the battery is down it will be charged all day while you
sit in physics and play in lab!! The alternator will be ready to goof
off after start up.

If you only drive short distance and have a good battery, say amg or
better it would be interesting if you could by-pass the alternator!

LED lights, magneto, hand powered wipers..
Seriously some of the new LED "driving" lights
put out as much light as my old halogens did.
They kind of look like HID at night .

It would probably work to remove the alt with
enough panel and the sunniest parking spot
is usually available!!

[DriverOne]

I plan on a complete conversion to LED inside, custom LED turn/tail/running lights, HIDs, and having the option of an air horn. 80% of the places I park have no shade, so that's helpful, although not to the paint.

[getnpsi]

Might as well make it a manual slider style to actually have a sunroof. There is something cool about littering straight up on the highway rather than a clumsy arm tossing stuff out.

Let us know how it goes with pics. I know on other boards a metro sees gains but he does have to plan trips and has 2 batteries in his car just in case. To me not worth it. Maximizing what you have and sdding fulltime trickle is a good start

[DriverOne]

Might as well make it a manual slider style to actually have a sunroof.

That sounds like a good idea. I'll have to see how much headroom is affected.

Let us know how it goes with pics. I know on other boards a metro sees gains but he does have to plan trips and has 2 batteries in his car just in case. To me not worth it. Maximizing what you have and adding full-time trickle is a good start.

It seems excessive to me as well. I'll look at the Metro boards to get some ideas.

[htc]

I picture a large panel when closed and layered looking similar to a folded rag top when open. What kind of power can you generate from a 3' square panel?

[Movin]

about 150 btu an hour. a gallon of gasoline has 125,000 btu

[mikeyjd]

I've done allot of research into this. You won't run the battery on solar panels alone. From a functionality standpoint this is only practical as a replacement for the alternator if you have a very short commute and plan on driving the vehicle for a long time to have the panels pay themselves off in fuel savings. On the other hand it has been done and been shown to be effective as an assist, when used in conjunction with alternator cutoffs. The issue with the cut offs is that they are harder to do then the delete and don't save as much. For me a delete is all but a non-option since your range is severely limited (100ish miles with 2 deep cycle batteries). A friend of mine uses a manual alternator cut-off and a solar panel in his metro and has seen 3-4% fuel increase over a period of time. Another thing to note is that you must keep an eye on your batteries with an amp reader. If you let your batteries continually drop below what your car needs to restart easily (assuming you're using pulse and glide regularly for the free 10-15% fuel economy) it will kill the battery quickly, and cancel out any savings. Good luck and I'll be watching to see what you end up doing

[bravekozak]

That girl in the news who invented a cell phone battery with a 30 second charge should design one for a car.

[Old Geezer]

Hate to be a killjoy but before you start I would suggest that you work this up as a business project. Once you have the design you can determine the parts. Once you have the parts you can determine the cost. Once you have the cost (put an estimate in for you labor, costs to acquire the parts, etc) you can then figure how many units of time needed to recover the costs. I don't myself believe it will save enough to make the project worth while except for your satisfaction in doing it and see that the system works.

[Movin]

Hate to be a killjoy but before you start I would suggest that you work this up as a business project. Once you have the design you can determine the parts. Once you have the parts you can determine the cost. Once you have the cost (put an estimate in for you labor, costs to acquire the parts, etc) you can then figure how many units of time needed to recover the costs. I don't myself believe it will save enough to make the project worth while except for your satisfaction in doing it and see that the system works.

The american way is to hype the heck out of it on U tube then sell plans and kits on the internet, High priced , Then get investors before leaving town for retired life in Ecuador . The life time guarantee is obviously up when you leave town!! Bonus for getting obama to put interest free guv loans in as well.

Convert each bumper into a flip up wind power project, now we are cranking out some serious power in your wind amplified sunny parking spots!! Make the whole car open up like a flower of solar panels when you park it! Then instead of 150 BTU's an hour you can crank out 15,000 BTU's per hour, possibly generating all night!!

[jjk1224]

I work with deep cycle batteries and solar panels at my work every day, we use them to power our trap machines on the sporting clays range. One thing you must have is a solar panel charge regulator that is rated for your panel. I have seen batteries get cooked after a weekend in the sunlight off of a 1.5'x2' panel. I have thought about a similar project to help with mileage as well with multiple panels covering my roof in parallel.