Solar Powering the Navigation

Discovered this by accident while tinkering with 12v charging options:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaXA5YwpbNg

I'm not inclined to leave it this way, as it doesn't provide any value, but I suppose if you wanted to listen to music without using any battery in the car, you could.

I'm considering tapping into the existing spoiler solar panel and making a much larger array on the roof. The same size panel I have here should do the trick, though I want something much more low profile. Not sure if I should try to build it myself or try to find something small enough to mount to the roof. Open to suggestions.

Another concept I'm considering is designing my own larger spoiler to house a larger panel.

I hope you are being sarcastic.

Doing some research on providing device charging to hurricane ravaged areas that may not have power for months, I came across one of the best articles on what solar panel charging is actually capable of. IT IS VERY LIMITED - is the bottom line. As I have almost 7000 watts of panels, it is always surprising to me how much panel area it actually takes to do much of anything - especially with realistic sunlight conditions AND limitations of actual designs of shading and battery constraints.

Like most have learned, the Leaf solar panel was marketing only - money that could have been spent on better heat dissipation of the battery and/or chemistry (IMHO).

Yeah, the built in solar panel on the spoiler is a complete joke. But the one in the video does an excellent job charging up my other larger 12v batteries. Tapping into the wiring harness and putting a REAL panel in there. 20W should be plenty.

Doing some research on providing device charging to hurricane ravaged areas that may not have power for months, I came across one of the best articles on what solar panel charging is actually capable of. IT IS VERY LIMITED - is the bottom line. As I have almost 7000 watts of panels, it is always surprising to me how much panel area it actually takes to do much of anything - especially with realistic sunlight conditions AND limitations of actual designs of shading and battery constraints.

Like most have learned, the Leaf solar panel was marketing only - money that could have been spent on better heat dissipation of the battery and/or chemistry (IMHO).

Marktm said:

Doing some research on providing device charging to hurricane ravaged areas that may not have power for months, I came across one of the best articles on what solar panel charging is actually capable of. IT IS VERY LIMITED - is the bottom line. As I have almost 7000 watts of panels, it is always surprising to me how much panel area it actually takes to do much of anything - especially with realistic sunlight conditions AND limitations of actual designs of shading and battery constraints.

Like most have learned, the Leaf solar panel was marketing only - money that could have been spent on better heat dissipation of the battery and/or chemistry (IMHO).

Click to expand...

Is his a canned response?

Supersleeper said:

Is his a canned response?

Click to expand...

No - just my screw up with double posting with bunch of distractions. Here is the article ;

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-portable-solar-battery-pack/

Yeah, I don't recall what the actual solar panel is on the spoiler in watts, but by it's dimensions, it can't be more than 5w, which is useless, and would barely charge a cell phone let alone a car battery.

Since the wiring harness is there, and in a convenient spot, I plan to eventually tap directly into it and augment or maybe even replace the array with a 20w panel or series of cells.

Marktm said:

Supersleeper said:

Is his a canned response?

Click to expand...

No - just my screw up with double posting with bunch of distractions. Here is the article ;

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-portable-solar-battery-pack/

Click to expand...

I have a couple of those portable foldable panels. I love them. One is not unlike the one in the article, but the other one is a series of 8 panels capable of charging a laptop while powered off. I use the first one, not to charge a phone directly, but to charge a usb brick with DIY 18650 from recycled laptop batteries. It seems to do the trick at Boy Scout summer camp while I mount it to the top of my tent, then charge the phone at night with the USB brick.

Puerto Rico is going to need literally thousands of cell phone chargers (probably solar) at some point (telcom has to be a top priority and could precede utility power by many months?). I'm trying to figure a realistic/pragmatic solution, working with a local advocate group. It seems many of the "foldables" stop charging at the first cloud - that's no good - and they are quite expensive. I'm wondering if a solar system that is just large enough to revive the small, UPS batteries (5-7 ahr, 12v SLAs) with cheap cigarette lighter USB assemblies might be an answer, but it has to be large enough to charge these completely discharged batteries (which I'm sure is the current state of most server/UPSs on the island). And it needs to happen quickly or all those batteries will die (if UPSs are not gen backed up). Maybe some combination of a generator to do the initial recharge and then the small maintenance solar chargers to distribute to the remote areas. This is just a thought.

Anyone, any ideas?

I like your thoughts on this subject, but let's make a new thread on it so this thread doesn't get hijacked. I have literally hundreds of salvaged 18650 batteries I'd be willing to donate if anyone can donate usb bricks. Also, maybe we can talk to local solar companies to donate panels?

Yes, a new thread is needed. I'm waiting for the local Puerto Rican group to get back with some basic needs and timing information. I'll copy my post to a new thread.