Solar Panel only runs for an hour?

I just got back from the dealer (I pick up my IV with sunroof tomorrow night) who said that he just got out of "training" and that he learned the solar panel will only run the ventilation fans for 1 hour before they run out of "juice".
I am suspect of this, as I would have *assumed* that as long as the solar panel got enough sunlight, the vents would run indefinitely.
Can someone who has one confirm with me that the dealer is wrong?
Thanks!

You are right that it will run as long as there is adequate sunlight.


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You are correct and your dealer must have been sleeping during his training As long as there is enough direct sunlight on the Solar panels, they will run the fans. Many of us have noted that when there isn't enough direct sun the fans will tend to "cycle" on and off. Hope this helps.

How much sun is "enough direct sunlight?"
How late in the day should it keep running on a clear day?

Well I notice mine running fine by 11:00 am but when I leave work at 4:30 its not blowing fast like earlier in the day. I'm not able to check the car very often during the day but those are the times that I have noticed. Hopefully some other Solar owners can add their results too.

About 4 billion years from now the Sun will run out of its own "juice". Nothing to worry about until then. Your dealer has been inhaling too much Helium, a product of the sun's fusion energy process.

I'm pretty sure if there isn't enough sun to effectively run the vents, then it won't be enough to continue heating the car up, so venting won't be necessary.

Well, the dealer was trying to impress you because in reality you would first need to find an hour of continuous sunlight. I don't know about NJ, but I haven't seen much of that in the last 6 weeks or so. Strange, it started when the first load of Prii docked in Newark. Coincidence????

I just hope that getting your Prius will be the catalyst nature needs to right itself!

The hottest part of the day is often around 5PM and the other poster said the fans started fading at 4:30, so that can become a problem if you have a car parked in an office park parking lot all day and you step out of your office to head home at 5:05.

being pretty far north, we get sunlight past 10 PM at night, but the angle is pretty low. i actually went out about 9.15 last week and tracked the on/off time the fan ran...

one thing, the fan probably ran at medium low speed. it ran for a short period averaging about 20-25 seconds, then off 10-15 seconds. so it ran just over half the time.

i can say that at 2 PM with full sun, the fan is running faster probably medium high speed and runs nearly 100% of the time.

That's the reason I don't want the solar panel. I refuse to pay for an option that will become obsolete.

Good one!

Maybe if you park on a steep slope with the roof facing the setting sun???

If our human race is still hanging around on planet Earth in 4 billion years, I imagine that the automobile as a means of personal transportation will become obsolete long before the Sun itself becomes obsolete.

What they probably meant was that once it runs out of sunlight, it will run for an hour after that before running out of juice. Makes a lot more sense. But I can't verify.

Well, that's a deal breaker for me. I'll wait for the Prius Gen MCMXIII, the one that travels through worm holes.

So do you not buy a prius because it will become obsolete?
Is the genII obsolete now that the genIII is out?

nope. no storage. no sun, no fan.

the remote ac runs off battery (no belts) and is for 3 minutes then it stops

Will the fan run in a clear but overcast day?

no direct sunlight no fan, period. There are no batteries to keep sun juice stored...

I still need to find out if a slight haze will keep it working or not...