Integrate Solar Energy in your CarPC Project - Page 2

hexxamillion · 08-14-2009, 08:56 AM

If anyone else is looking into solar charging their eeepc, check out this thread on eeeuser. Very informative- http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=626194

hexxamillion · 09-24-2009, 06:59 AM

I have not abandoned this project, but will continue it later because I am redesigning my CarPC installation. Stay tuned.. feel free to post any ideas you have for integrating solar power in your car.

hexxamillion · 10-10-2009, 07:10 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by hexxamillion

UPDATE: This thread originally started as a project to solar charge your laptop/netbook in the car. I now have a new CarPC project in progress and decided to update this thread to integrating solar energy in your CarPC project to make it more diverse.

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Ok so my next major enhancement to my project is to use solar energy to keep my Eeepc charged. I thought I would post this here since its related to power and I will link to this post in my worklog.

**Of course your car needs to be in good sunlight in order to use this and my car is always in the sun so why not use it.Where I live there is plenty of Sun to go around...maybe a little too much

I will post my brainstorm diagram image later. In the meantime here are my source references on the major components I plan to use:

More or less...I am a newbie to Solar energy but I think starting small with a project like this one will be a great start...My car is green in color, why not make my electronics green

******** EDIT ***********

Alrighty..here are my 'rough' brainstorm images/diagram

One of my ideas for placement of the flexible solar panels is fused to the bra somehow. The company that manufactures these also does custom for OEM projects and I am hoping they can fabricate these in black. There may be a concern regarding pebbles or debris. These panels are supposedly designed with 'rugged' in mind. Why not put to the test and see. Fortunately for me I do not do a lot of highway driving so this may not be a huge concern for now.

This is my ...more or less.. layout or scheme

Any thoughts or other ideas please share and post away!

I would like to relocate this thread to the worklogs section of the forums.

ramaloji · 10-12-2009, 02:11 PM

my solar integration in v70

normal utilization,recharger ,carpc etc

for freezer in summer

Bugbyte · 10-12-2009, 03:11 PM

How many watts does your system put out? Aside from the experimentation factor, this would only be practical for me if it was able to supply enough power to run the system without a battery. I don't leave the iPhone in the car when I park it - I take it with me and use the car to top off the charge on the phone.

Perhaps you intend to extend the life of the system on standby, so that's another use for solar. I think it might be useful for one of the Sheeva plugs I've been experimenting with (6 watts max draw). It might be possible to keep the system online for long periods of time on a small lead acid battery with a solar system to supplement. It would probably eventually go dead anyhow but it might last quite a bit of time and the car could recharge it every now and then.

hexxamillion · 10-12-2009, 03:43 PM

Nice use of solar power. I plan on using something a little less obtrusive and safe for the front but nice idea for the panel in the roof. I thought of something like that but not too sure how I could implement that without it being too odd. Not sure if they have roof storage racks for an Altima, but I'm sure there must be some aftermarket kits..that may be a great idea.