Hacking the solar?

i also wanted to place a solar panel under the front solar roof haha
not use it as a solar roof but for solar energy haha
to protect solar cells i put behind it

 

Why no posts since the details and the cars became available? Were I knowledgeable enough and so inclined, the hack I'd like to see would to put the remote A/C on a timer instead of the key fob. Being able to it set to turn on the time I usually leave my desk would be awesome--then it would actually have 3 minutes to run before I get to it. By the time you are close enough to activate it from the remote, it will probably be only 30 sec till you reach the car!

But I am hoping the ventilation to reduce the inside temp while parked works at least to a moderate degree. We've already had 15-20 days over a hundred here in central Texas. We usually don't get this bad until mid to late July. It's going to be a very long summer.

 

Ah, well. Maybe someday the programmable A/C will be a reality someday. One can dream.

How has the ventilation been working for you in AZ? Do you think it was worth it?

 

so.. since this subject is still flying around...

i know.. the geek factor..

but still.. Toyota engineers didn't tap into the solar panels because it created noise in the audio system.. too much noise.. so they isolated it. If you can figure out what interfearance or noise they are referring to.. and find a way to dampen it... i don't see why you couldn't tap it into the 12v... all we need to do is wait to see who finally gets a hold of the schematics for the pv system and it's wiring harnesses...

My car has never seen a garage.. and in California i'm never worried about snow or hail.. so.. a solar roof would be rather sweat...

 

FYI,
One of Japanese Prius enthusiasts, the Japanese CAN-View guy, installed a PV panel to charge the HV battery on his 2G Prius.
PV panel on 2G Prius (Japanese only)

He is very good at designing the MPPT(Maximum Power Point Tracking) circuit for the PV panel.
The energy gain per day is 30 to 50 cc of gasoline. It is very little gain, but gain is gain.

Ken@Japan

 

not a aerodynamic installation but i guess driving slow city makes now differants

what the watt on this panel? to the looks of it i say? around max 30 watt?

 

It's 45W solar panel.

Ken@Japan

 

Hi All,

Seems to me that one could hook the solar panel up to a heater that is under the traction battery case for winter months. So, if the battery case temp is below 32F, the battery gets warmed up, instead of the ventilation fan spun.

 

donee,

I agree, and this idea could be extended to overnight use via a AC-DC
converter, and not limited to just the Gen III. But there's much work and
little interest shown in the past:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-.../57752-hv-battery-pre-heat-anybody-tried.html

 

Just found this in the owner's manual. Not sure it's relevant, but wanted to post it here just in case...

p.432
When charging the 12 volt battery
Never recharge the 12 volt battery while the hybrid system is operating. Also, be sure all accessories are turned off.

 

So my understanding from google translation is that he is saving about 58ml of gas on a good day?

If gas was $3 a gallon that would be a saving of about 4.5 cents per day?

So if he was getting 60MPG this solar panel would get him almost to 61MPG?

Am I correct on those numbers?

 

How did you come across this information? I'm a little skeptical about the noise. Power generated from PV cells is pure DC, which does not create electrical noise interference. I'm guessing it's the conversion to AC that's causing the noise.

 

This has been discussed somewhere else on PC in the past months. I am not so sure its noise in the audio system, or RF hash radiated by the panel. Do a google on Microstrip Antenna, and you will how close the panel mounted to a car body is to such a device. Any noise in the power converter would then radiate through the panel, and jam radio reception of all nearby cars. There are regulations regarding RF emisions of electronic devices. I imagine they could not come up with a solution fast enough. By hooking the panel to the fan, a relay could be used to switch the fan back to the 12 V system car is powered up.

 

But what is the aerodynamic losses?

 

His schematics is here.

He is saving approx 40 mL (5 JPY=5 cents) on his return commute.
This makes his return commute mileage from 7.8km/0.26L=30km/L(70.6MPG) to 7.8km/0.22L=35.5km/L(83.4MPG).

He doesn't own the 2010 Prius yet. Maybe, in the near future.

His system is working while the car is in motion too.
We know the base electric consumption on the 2G prius is approx 200W, therefore the 45W solar power helps the consumption a little.

I think the aerodynamic losses are very minor.

Ken@Japan

 

nice..

this dc- dc converter is that only converting and showing some info about the energy provided by the solar panel or is it also shutting the dc- dc converter off when the SOC of the prius battery is getting to high? when standing in the sunlight to long when i is not driving it for weeks?