Sounds like the solar panel/vent system on the 2010 Prius is a good idea, but my question regards what happens to the soalr panel when you are driving the car with the AC on. Does the electricity from the solar panel charge the battery, or is it a separate system from the car electrical system?
I'm not aware that they power the fans while the car is in motion. I believe it's only when parked with the car locked. A bonus is that if you're waiting in the car for someone and it isn't hot outside, you can use the solar panels to vent the car.
That's what I suspected. That's a shame though. I realize they don't generate that much, but with all the sunshine we have here and in Arizona where we travel a lot, it just seems there's potential there that ios wasted on the road.
There has been some previous discussion about that on this board, even to the extent of doing a modification to allow charging of the 12V battery. Tom
However despite that discussion, there's some hints that the solar system remains disconnected as it became a rather large antenna (transmitting noise) while the car was on. If this problem could be isolated, we'd be golden. I'd love to think the solar panel was continuing to drive the blower motor while driving along.
Noise source? I don't see it. Super low impedance and poor transmission characteristics. I haven't researched this but my gut tells me that solar cells are very poor antennas.
Neutron, there was an article someone linked from here that referenced this problem as mentioned by the chief engineer @ the Napa, CA press event. I found it odd too, and they weren't willing to dig too deep for now into the "problem", but did mention that it caused a significant amount of radio interference when interconnected.
High powered sources, such as the switch-mode power supplies, can overcome nearly any poor antenna. The problem is solvable, but if their resources need to be focused elsewhere ...
On the topic of solar ventilaton, it IS kind of ironic that the cel is built right into the roof. Our rooftop PV panels are elevated maybe 4 inches or so above the tiles ... to allow for cooling / ventilation. The panels are less efficient when they begin to cook. So I wonder what % of efficiency the Prius panel has for loss when it gets up to 125f in Vegas summer temps. Admittedly, it would make for a horrible look, if the panel was mounted above the roof, like some kind of white trash awning ... but hey, I never did like velveeta, except for chumin' for trout.
