interior vehicle cooling by solar?

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Security and Convenience
Forum Discription: Car Alarms, Keyless Entries, Remote Starters, Immobilizer Bypasses, Sensors, Door Locks, Window Modules, Heated Mirrors, Heated Seats, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=127830
Printed Date: April 28, 2024 at 5:34 PM

Topic: interior vehicle cooling by solar?

Posted By: trae08
Subject: interior vehicle cooling by solar?
Date Posted: July 05, 2011 at 7:14 PM

during the day the inside of my truck gets extremely hot. What i want to do is lay a small solar panel in the bed and somehow rig a small fan to ventilate the air inside.

I dont have a sun roof. my question is do you guys have any ideas of how i could set this up?

Replies:

Posted By: lspker
Date Posted: July 05, 2011 at 8:00 PM

You can buy the premade vent shade.......it attaches to a slightly open window and blows air in or out powered by a solar pannel. Seen some in the $20-30 range, make your own......

Posted By: oldspark
Date Posted: July 06, 2011 at 4:40 AM

I bought one of those years ago - a throwout special for $5.
I thought they were a bit of a wink, but one of the first times I used it, I swore I had air-con!

These days I'd probably mount fans in two vents I have and simply power off the battery (vents intake at the front; PC fans to push into the cabin; with timer else simple (klixon) temp control).

Solar is still $3 per Watt for large panels, otherwise over ~$20 for enough to power the fans(s). I'd mount that horizontally on the roof or bonnet....

And yeah - I'd leave a gap in the windows. Otherwise mount an extractor fan in the roof.

Posted By: racerjames76
Date Posted: July 08, 2011 at 12:16 PM

I had thought about doing this too, since most trucks have vents on the back wall of the cab. It would't be hard to mount a few pc fans back there. I wanted to rig some kind of retractable panel, or quick mount system that stuck up over the forward bulkhead of the bed. The solar panel would hang over into the bed when in use, and either quickly release, or retract into the gap between the bed and cab. I would put in an ignition relay that stops the fans when the truck is running also.

You would just vent the windows, hop out and either snap on the panel, or pull it from its storage area, and the fans would push the hot air out, pulling cooler air in through the vented windows.

I never got around to finding a panel. If you do let us know!

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To master and control electricity is perfection. *evil laugh*

Posted By: trae08
Date Posted: July 08, 2011 at 6:51 PM

yea i was thinking the same thing about the pc fans in the back window.

would a pc fan kill the battery in a 10 hr period?

Posted By: racerjames76
Date Posted: July 13, 2011 at 1:29 PM

Well another, possible easier solution is a solar battery charger, and just running the fans off the battery.

-------------
To master and control electricity is perfection. *evil laugh*

Posted By: oldspark
Date Posted: July 14, 2011 at 5:27 AM

Hence the original idea - a solar cell (charger) to power the fans direct.
Hence no risk flattening the battery.