Thin film on hood?

[ColoDisco]

My son and I are solar enthusiasts and were brainstorming ideas to power our fridge freezer while driving and while parked. One idea we came up with and I wanted to get advice on is a thin film hood. Permanently attached.

Wiring is really strait forward, charge controller, batt, good to go. Where we need advice is install. It would have to sustain harsh weather including freeway speeds with wind gusts. What would be the most rock solid form of mounting? Any ideas?

 

[lysol]

You have a few choices in solar panels for a vehicle. The more expensive "portable" panels such as foldable and rollable. The foldable is out of the question as it will flap like a ********. I've seen a few RV's using the rollable ones by PowerFilm on top and haven't heard of any problems if you can get all the sides down and secure as to not let any wind under it. Then you have the rigid panels (aka the framed solar panels). I will be going the rigid panels route and mount 1 or 2 on top of my roof rack. I've seen one mounted on a hood, but I personally wouldn't go that route as it would make more sense to me to put it on the roof rack.

 

[4RunAmok]

Check here: http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=259

There may be others similar to this. This particular model is tested to 120 MPH.

Specs on this model are 14 Watts, so you'll need 4 of these to power a fridge. 14 watts X 4 panels = 56 watts / 12 volts = 4.6 amps to the charge controller. Enough to keep the battery topped off, and run the fridge.

None of these film-type solar options are going to be cheap.

 

[ColoDisco]

Great info Mitch! I am not looking for cheap, just that it can withstand the punishment. I hadn't done the math on quantity yet, as this would be on a Discovery it might be tricky with the hood design.

 

[madmax718]

the only issue with the hood mounting is potentially extreme heat, and possibly stone chip damage. Don't know how the cells are produced and if one small piece of cell can be damaged and the rest still produce power. (I think powerfilm does a demo shooting theirs with a 40 cal). Other than that, its a great idea, and provides free power.

 

[ColoDisco]

Definitely, the Disco hood does get pretty hot. I was thinking of adding a reflective barrier on the underside of the hood, or ventilate in some way.

 

[Dan Grec]

I'm also worried about getting strong reflections of the panels while driving.... I really don't know though.

If you go ahead with this, I'd love to see how it works out.

-Dan

 

[1leglance]

Light reflection into the drivers eyes would be the greatest concern.
Heat is another as the effeciency drops as the temp rises...but powerfilm style panels work best under high temp conditions according to the reseach I have seen.

I really like this idea but glare into my eyes is what would really put me off.

 

[lysol]

Would the glare be any worse than the high gloss paint that is already on the hood?

 

[ColoDisco]

Good point. Searching I can find 3M anti glare on a roll. Which raises 2 questions. What is its staying power under wind? How will it effect solar efficiency?

Continuing research...

 

[unplannedbbq]

Even with an unlimited budget, the streamlight seems pretty spendy. 4 @ $230, plus I'd want a solar controller & fuse at a minimum in there. Figure ~$950 to get 56watts for ~$17/watt.

An amazon search for streamlight also pulled up some unisolar stuff. The manufacturer went under, but a number of folks on the forums seem to be pretty happy with the performance.

if you have 112 inches of roof, or can cut it down, you get 68w for $250 including a cheap controller for ~$3.60/watt

I was looking at stick-on solar for a long time before I decided to go with a hard frame panel for our westy.

Good luck!