Solar powered fan... is it working?

Hi there
I also have a solar roof equipped P3, I can assure you that you just have to press the dedicated button (with the car-fan symbol, on the low left sitde of the wheel) to activate the system.
There's a temperature probe inside the car, and if the inside air gets higher than a certain value (I don't know the exact value, but it should be around 35-40C) fans start. Also, the air intake is automatically set from outside. Fans should start after 5 mins (or something like this) after you closed the car. You can realize that they are working because you can feel the air blowing before switching on the engine. Of course no shadows should cover the photovoltaic cells. I'm not sure but I think that the higher inside air temp is, the higher fans speed is.

Have a great hipermiling experience with your brand new P3 :wave: !

 

Just turn on the switch. When it gets hot enough, and there is enough sun, you will get a breeze from the vents when the car is off.
I can attest to this, as it was 90F here a few days ago, and instead of being like 130 inside the car, as usual, it was only about 100. It may not seem like much on paper, but believe me, you will notice the difference.

 

You can also hear the fan running if you stand by the driver mirror and listen. You will hear the fan sound coming from the lower, left part of the windshield.

 

As always, RTM (read the manual). You have to push in the switch and have the air temp/fan set while the car is still in ready (powered up) mode. If not, it won't activate until the next time you power up/power down the car. IOW, pushing the switch while the car is off won't activate it.

 

Actually, the manual says you need to have the switch pushed in before you power off the car, otherwise the air mode won't change to outside air at the dash vents. I tried pushing the switch with the power off. The fan will still start, but the air may come out elsewhere (floor vents, or defrost if this was the last mode you used) instead of the dash. If you left the system on recirculate, the fan will just recirculate and not bring in outside air.

And you can hear the fan running from outside the car (listen at the air inlet by the passenger side wiper), and you should also feel air coming out the dash vents when you get in the car, before you've pushed the power on button to start the car.

 

On a hot sunny day I get in my car with the solar roof and feel the air blowing out of the vents until you turn on the car. It works great. I wish all cars had this feature. It was surprising how much air it moves. Makes owning a black car in the south actually bareable. Now my wife complains about how hot the Cadillac is compared to the Prius.

 

Is there any down side to leaving the windows cracked open in addition to pressing the button?

Where is the temperature seensor that senses interior temperature?

Also, I noticed that when I press the button, it doesn't stay pressed in. And no light/icon appears on the dash to indicate that I've pursed the button. Just making sure that all that is normal.

I can only assume that parking in the shade is better than being in the sunshine and using the solar powered fan feature.

Thanks for advice on all that.

PNB

 

The button should definitely stay pressed in; it's just an ordinary, mechanical, push-on/push-off button, like a cheap ballpoint pen. There is no light or icon.

It works best in direct, unshaded, straight-up, noontime sun. Lower sun angles mean less power from the solar panel, and the fan will go from an easily-noticeable breeze down to a barely-noticeable breeze, down to just blowing for a few seconds now and then while sounding like a constipated goose.

My favorite thing now about this feature is that it even works when the 12 volt battery is completely disconnected. I was putting in the auto headlight mod, and it was a hot, sweaty day, and I'm sitting there with the 12 volt battery disconnected and the top of the dash off, and the blower happily blowing at me the whole time. Made it a lot more pleasant.

...of course that also means: be careful around those solar panel and fan circuits when working in the sun, even with the battery unhooked.

-Chap