Anyone know anything about solar car chargers?
With my wife as a stay at home mom and me working from home, we rarely drive much and when we do it's rarely far enough to recharge from the cranking. As such (plus the cold) we have 3 cars that either won't start or are very reluctant to do so.
The charging systems are all good and the batteries are all healthy. This is simply vampire drains, disuse, and not being driven enough to fully recharge.
The 996 has always been bad about being dead or hard to start if left idle for 3-4 weeks and I've often thought about setting up a solar charger (street parked so I can't leave the frunk open and no power access anyway), but never followed through.
Anyone here setup a solar charger for their car before? Tips, info, recommendations, websites with clear information rather than sales material?
What I would like to do (for the 996 anyway) is setup a permanent installation on the rear shelf. Is it possible to set something up so that it is permanently wired in where you don't have to disconnect it before starting the car?
The other part I'm not clear about is how much capacity do I need? I see everything from 10W to 300W, but combined with not always having full sun I'm not sure how to figure out all the math to determine if it is good enough without being overkill (e.g. $$$).
Solar car chargers?
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FRUNKenstein
- Curator Extraordinaire
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Re: Solar car chargers?
Man, this thread's got Schnelly written all over it.
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www.kansascityautomuseum.com
Current:
2002 996TT X50, Guards Red
1987 928S4, Guards Red
1987 951, Guards Red
1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red
2006 955S, Lapis Blue
Other toys:
1988 BMW 325i Cabriolet, Alpin Weiss
1987 Bertone X1/9, Verde Chiaro
Gone but not forgotten: 1975 914 2.0, Laguna Blue; 1999 996 C4 Aerokit Black; 1990 964 C2 Guards Red; 2006 955S Arctic Silver
Current:
2002 996TT X50, Guards Red
1987 928S4, Guards Red
1987 951, Guards Red
1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red
2006 955S, Lapis Blue
Other toys:
1988 BMW 325i Cabriolet, Alpin Weiss
1987 Bertone X1/9, Verde Chiaro
Gone but not forgotten: 1975 914 2.0, Laguna Blue; 1999 996 C4 Aerokit Black; 1990 964 C2 Guards Red; 2006 955S Arctic Silver
Re: Solar car chargers?
Or the new "Battery Guy" guy. Been waiting on him to find Schnelly's home made LiPo thread
Re: Solar car chargers?
Heh. I already PM'd battery guy to find out more about the name. He's not a lipo junkie (yet).
Gnat, I have some ideas...I'll post 'em up for when you have insomnia.
Gnat, I have some ideas...I'll post 'em up for when you have insomnia.
Understeer: You will hit the wall with the front end.
Oversteer: You will hit the wall with the rear end.
Horsepower: How hard you will hit the wall.
Torque: How far you will move the wall.
Gone hunting with Alec Baldwin and Dick Cheney. Back soon.
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FRUNKenstein
- Curator Extraordinaire
- Posts: 3949
- Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 11:02 pm
- Location: Wheat field, dammit, wheat!
- Contact:
Re: Solar car chargers?
- told you so.gif (488.57 KiB) Viewed 2344 times
www.kansascityautomuseum.com
Current:
2002 996TT X50, Guards Red
1987 928S4, Guards Red
1987 951, Guards Red
1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red
2006 955S, Lapis Blue
Other toys:
1988 BMW 325i Cabriolet, Alpin Weiss
1987 Bertone X1/9, Verde Chiaro
Gone but not forgotten: 1975 914 2.0, Laguna Blue; 1999 996 C4 Aerokit Black; 1990 964 C2 Guards Red; 2006 955S Arctic Silver
Current:
2002 996TT X50, Guards Red
1987 928S4, Guards Red
1987 951, Guards Red
1973 914 2.0 Bahia Red
2006 955S, Lapis Blue
Other toys:
1988 BMW 325i Cabriolet, Alpin Weiss
1987 Bertone X1/9, Verde Chiaro
Gone but not forgotten: 1975 914 2.0, Laguna Blue; 1999 996 C4 Aerokit Black; 1990 964 C2 Guards Red; 2006 955S Arctic Silver
Re: Solar car chargers?
I would think there'd be a way to run wires to the battery from the cockpit and set one up like a sunshade in th front window. Lots of people have them permanently mounted on the roofs of RVs and trailers with good results.
2002 Guards Red Targa, Fister exhaust, H&R Sport Springs, semisolid motor mounts
1997 MX-5 track car
Friday at the Track, Chin Trackdays, SCCA WDCR Novice Classroom Instructor, SCDA, Audi Club Potomac, TrackDaze HPDE Instructor
June 16, 2017 Funland GoKart Champion (6:13 p.m. main event)
Willing to risk life for track time
1997 MX-5 track car
Friday at the Track, Chin Trackdays, SCCA WDCR Novice Classroom Instructor, SCDA, Audi Club Potomac, TrackDaze HPDE Instructor
June 16, 2017 Funland GoKart Champion (6:13 p.m. main event)
Willing to risk life for track time
Re: Solar car chargers?
Yeah I know it's been done. I just haven't hit the magical Google terms to get useful information yet.
I'll try some RV related searches, thanks for that idea.