Would wiring a solar panel to the car be bad?
#1
Would wiring a solar panel to the car be bad?
I have a solar panel that i wanted to stick on the sunroof and somehow (i will see how when the time comes) wire it to the cars electrical system like to the cigarette lighter or something; So would it be bad for the car and i would wire it to a switch or something so i could control the power...
Any insights or suggestions you can offer would help...thx..
Any insights or suggestions you can offer would help...thx..
#2
What is your goal here, to trickle charge the battery when the car is not driven for an extended period of time?
If so, then yes, that would actually work just fine. The ones I have seen though charge through the OBD II port.
If so, then yes, that would actually work just fine. The ones I have seen though charge through the OBD II port.
#13
edit:
just checked on the internet, a cigar lighter needs more than 100w to light up.
Last edited by jasonmax; 08-08-2008 at 04:23 PM.
#15
Trickle charging or heat exhaust fans are the two biggest upsides for a non hybrid/electric vehicle.... Good for tailgaiting or camping when you are using the battery juice with the car off though.. Your better off making a solar umbrella that sticks out of the roof... More square footage to work with...
#17
EDIT: i see you're part of the lancaster crew... are you the guy that was gonna be my 6 speed silver TE twin coming to the FDR park barbeque?
#20
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RV guys use them to charge their (and additional) battery/s all the time. You need to make sure that you have a charge converter as well, some panels have them built into the back, many do not. Without a charge converter in full sun it will overpower the battery and warp the plates w/potential for explosion and fire.
#22
i think he wants it more for when the car is sitting in the sun all day, it just help keep the battery charged and i presume that would increase the life of the battery.
#23
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None really, he's more likely to have an error or failure and actually ruin the battery imho, which is why (Edit I deleted it) posted about having an entire extra battery that was switchable, ie it would disconnect the regular bat and switch over to the extra battery/solar to power all the 12v accessories, a battery that you wouldn't care if it fully discharged. With that it would be sooooo gay but kinda cool especially for theft deterence if you switched over to the other battery/solar system to constantly power the markers, tails, and fogs when your car was parked. That second batteries lif would be crucial to not over or undercharging off the solar panels, the nicer charge controllers will cut all the draw(s) off of the system until the battery reaches back up to a minimum voltage, (as well as stopping the charge at a maximum threshold).
Having an undercharged battery is bad as well, allthough not like overcharging which will cause rapid failure, but it will still slowly sulfate if it is undercharged. The only thing I need to look up on again though is if solar arrays are better suited to regular or deep cycle discharge batteries, or neither, allthough I geuss it really depends on how much the panels will actually be putting out vs how much your going to draw and discharge it before ut will charge it back up. See, there's a lot to think about, for sure at the least you would NOT want to just blindly hook a solar panel up to your car, that would be stupid and pointless.
Having an undercharged battery is bad as well, allthough not like overcharging which will cause rapid failure, but it will still slowly sulfate if it is undercharged. The only thing I need to look up on again though is if solar arrays are better suited to regular or deep cycle discharge batteries, or neither, allthough I geuss it really depends on how much the panels will actually be putting out vs how much your going to draw and discharge it before ut will charge it back up. See, there's a lot to think about, for sure at the least you would NOT want to just blindly hook a solar panel up to your car, that would be stupid and pointless.
Last edited by KRRZ350; 08-10-2008 at 06:39 PM.
#27
I could see this coming in useful to recharge a dead battery. But since your alternator is charging your batter as you drive there really wouldn't be much functionality to permanently install this on your sunroof. I would hook it up to your house and at least try to save a little money on your electricity bill.
#29
#30
Pointless unless you are using it because you are letting your car sit outside in the sun for a while. And i wouldn't let my car sit out without a car cover or something like that for a while. But I do have a solar panel on my boat keeping my batt. topped off.
#34
If you want extra battery time to run the radio why not just buy and optima and call it a day. the next gen prius is using solar panels to run the a/c motor so it will allow the engine to run more economically saving gas. Think big!
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