OutBack Zone and Kangaroo Friends- The Sun Foil

Warble's Sun-Foil Project with Kangaroo Kevin:

 This is a solar panel for your car, lessening the charge source needed by the alternator. Warble has explained here it takes 4 to 8 hp to charge a battery, where after each start a battery would need a running time of 45 min to fully recharge. This also shortens the battery life without being able to be fully recharged. The Sun-Foil uses solar cells to keep the battery at a constant full charge eliminating the short trip problem of the alternator charging also with that your conserving power that otherwise would be used to charge your battery, a fuel saving is achieved.  Also, The Sun-Foil is keeping the battery at a full charge state, the life of the battery is improved. 

 Take a look at, "Sun-Foil Short-Talk" to get the method of calculating the optimum PV size, for Spark-Ignition Engined Vehicles, whereas Diesels need the Biggest Panel that'll fit on the Vehicle without looking silly... (Diesels, particularly "Passenger Diesels" have a 30 Amp Glowplug per Cylinder....; 20 Seconds preStart, then 3 MINUTES After Coldstarting..).  And, for the Raw Data, "Sun-Foil Science...." is worth checking out... 

I sent Warble a message on PV size,  PV?  Here's his response:

Thanks mate, um, yeah ; sorry about the jargon... 

PV = Photo Voltaic (Panel, or Array)... Basically, I measure the Battery Drain while parked (Stereo Memory, Dashboard Clock, Central Locking, Burglar Alarm, Engine Management Computer), then multiply by 24 (full Day parked), then add 1% of the Battery's Rated Capacity (to allow for Sulphation)... 

That the Minimum Daily Discharge/Deficit, in Amp Hrs....; & the Minimum Daily Recharge will be 1.1 x the Discharge - whatever that is.  My Subaru sucks 0.1 of an Amp, & it's a 95 A/Hr (Reserve/Rated Capacity) Battery. So, 2.4 + 0.95 = 3.35 A/Hrs out, thus it needs 3.68 A/Hr per day, just to sit still & do nothing. 

So, divide the Min. Recharge by 2, & that's the Optimum PV size in Amps Output. So my Subaru's 1.7 Amp Panel will deliver a full day's recharge in 2 Hrs of Sunshine, or 10 Hours of a Rainy Day, or anything in between.  And the Car seems to burn 212 mls of Fuel per Amp-Hr from the Alternator .  

So, 5.33 Liters per week not burned, at $1.617/Litre, so $8.61/wk. Or, 5 months to pay back the cost of PV, Cable, Charge Controller & Fuse... The record payback time was a 20 Watt PV on a V-6 Petrol Ford Explorer 4WD Automatic, in City Traffic...; $138, in 7 & a half weeks. 

Alrighty then, that's no bullshit.

 SunFoil Short Talk (The Numbers)

 SunFoil Science

WarblesOnALot

rightwiththeship