Battery Dying Too Soon / SOLUTION

Another option would be to put a solar panel on the dash when you park. You'd lose some light through the windshield, but I expect it would still work. You could store the panel in the gap between the passenger seat and the center console while not in use. I propose referring to that gap as "the filing cabinet".

 

You could get a Battery Tender brand solar panel which is regulated to prevent overcharging.

There is some level of current that you can continuously apply that won't overcharge a battery, but it's probably around 20mA for this size battery, for the battery itself. And of course there's the parasitic draw but that's probably another 20mA. I think 1/3 amp would be a little too much without some kind of regulation.

 

I didn't realize they make a solar controller now. The price isn't too bad, either at $28. Of course, if you live in CA, this thing will kill you immediately from the cancer-causing stuff in it, but the rest of us have no worries.

021-1162

 

Or the all-in-one solution. It's a little expensive, but I'm thinking of putting one in my other car that doesn't get driven much.
021-1163

 

I guess it's both. If it does get some sun and generate useful output, what prevents it from overcharging the battery?

 

I will pass. No battery problems on mine.

 

I don't understand the problem. Is the 12V not holding charge and the car is not starting? Time to replace it with a Yellowtop!

Nope, not by a long shot. Far too close to the ground and will never be facing the sun except a sunrise/set and then only if the car is pointing east/west. He'd be better off slapping it on the hood when the car isn't being driven.

I'll answer even though it is rhetorical You get more power from a horizontal array on cloudy days than one that is pointed directly at the sun. In places where it is cloudy most of the time (like apparently Glasgow, Scotland) the calcs for proper angle get thrown out the window.

 

Nope, looks pretty darn vertical to me. Even well more vertical than my panels are in the winter at latitude 45°

 

Guess we need a side shot In any case, per schedule, I adjusted my 2 ground mount arrays to 17° today. My most vertical angle is 64°, at your latitude summer would be 8° and winter 55°. You really would be better off with it laying on the hood.

 

His comments are perfectly valid......and your snotty reply is NOT.

AND......since you have never responded to post #4, I assume that you are just trolling and trying to stir up trouble. You should find better things to do.

 

Let me see it after it goes through a car wash.

 

Yep. All of the things driven by engine belt in a conventional ICE car, such as A/C and power steering, are electric in the Prius. Some, such as the A/C, run on on high voltage AC generated off the high voltage battery by an inverter, and others run on 12V generated off the high voltage battery by the DC-DC converter. In the first generation Prius (2001-2003), the A/C was driven off of an engine belt, so if you were sitting at a light, the engine had to turn on if you needed A/C, which was a real bummer, as I recall.