Make My Roof ALL Solar!

Crissa

Well-known member
First Name
Crissa
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Threads
126
Messages
16,211
Reaction score
27,074
Location
Santa Cruz
Vehicles
2014 Zero S, 2013 Mazda 3
Country flag
There was this great study that revealed if you lifted panels just 6' off the ground, you could use the land unimpeded as grazing.

I wonder why more places don't do that instead of hiring people to weed-whack and wash all the panels in trucks?

-Crissa
Sponsored

 

FutureBoy

Well-known member
First Name
Reginald
Joined
Oct 1, 2020
Threads
207
Messages
3,522
Reaction score
6,012
Location
Kirkland WA USA
Vehicles
Toyota Sienna
Occupation
Financial Advisor
Country flag
2.5kW solar tracker equals 4kW fixed panels
stick one of these in the bed and off you go
1609131897300.png
Yeah! That won’t affect the driving efficiency at all!
 

Deleted member 5322

Guest
2.5kW solar tracker equals 4kW fixed panels
stick one of these in the bed and off you go
1609131897300.png
I like this Idea. It could be stored in the secret compartment inside the bed and when you need it - vuala!
 

firsttruck

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Threads
172
Messages
2,537
Reaction score
4,036
Location
mx
Vehicles
none
Country flag
Those may be the PV panels they use for assisting farmers to grow shade crops and generate power at the same time. I would really like some scaled examples done by universities that have both engineering and agriculture departments... my home state of Indiana's Purdue University might be a good choice.
One of the losses with solar panels is due to light reflected off the panel surface.
Bi-facial panels are used to capture energy from light that reflected off the ground behind or underneath the solar panel. Bi-facial is really just two standard panels packed together (one front side and the other back side).

The light does not go through bi-facial panels.

There are special panels that let some of the light through but doing that lowers efficiency.
You already have a very limited amount of space available on cars/trucks so using much lower than normal (19-21%) panels might defeat the whole economic case. Today 19-21% might be economically viable on Cybertruck but higher efficiency would be better (25%-30%).
 


mhaze

Well-known member
First Name
mhike
Joined
Jul 17, 2021
Threads
5
Messages
250
Reaction score
244
Location
Texas
Vehicles
Tesla 3; Smartcar; F150 Raptor; Avalanche 2500 4x4
Country flag
Exactly, I drive 37 miles a day. I don't know about anybody else, but being able to harvest (even if as little as) 40% of the energy for my daily commute from a FREE source (and all I need to do for the FREE is to just exist!) would keep a permanent grin on my face :).
And if the CT is a 2nd vehicle not the primary daily driver, it might never need to be charged...
 

ldjessee

Well-known member
First Name
Lloyd
Joined
Apr 22, 2020
Threads
14
Messages
1,148
Reaction score
1,357
Location
Indiana, USA
Vehicles
Nissan Leaf, MYLR, Kaw 1700 Vaquero
Occupation
Business Intelligence Manager & Analyst
Country flag
One of the losses with solar panels is due to light reflected off the panel surface.
Bi-facial panels are used to capture energy from light that reflected off the ground behind or underneath the solar panel. Bi-facial is really just two standard panels packed together (one front side and the other back side).

The light does not go through bi-facial panels.

There are special panels that let some of the light through but doing that lowers efficiency.
You already have a very limited amount of space available on cars/trucks so using much lower than normal (19-21%) panels might defeat the whole economic case. Today 19-21% might be economically viable on Cybertruck but higher efficiency would be better (25%-30%).
I am not referring to bi-facial panels, the cost is just not there yet for the gains, in my opinion.

I am talking about shade agriculture, where plants that do better with some shade.

I am referring to this:

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/made-shade-promise-farming-solar-panels

Though I do agree with what @Crissa said.

There was this great study that revealed if you lifted panels just 6' off the ground, you could use the land unimpeded as grazing.

I wonder why more places don't do that instead of hiring people to weed-whack and wash all the panels in trucks?

-Crissa
"Solar grazing" is the term, I guess...
 

mhaze

Well-known member
First Name
mhike
Joined
Jul 17, 2021
Threads
5
Messages
250
Reaction score
244
Location
Texas
Vehicles
Tesla 3; Smartcar; F150 Raptor; Avalanche 2500 4x4
Country flag
I'm always amused at what people think they are going to get from solar mounted on a motor vehicle and while it may seem I am picking on this man I just noticed that he is in Manitoba! As noted in an earlier post 15 mi is going to take about 6 kWh and 30 will thus require 12. In Manitoba a 1 kW system delivers about 2.1 kWh/da in December (the worst month) and 4.4 in April. Thus we'd need a 6 kW array in December (about 24 typical roof top panels) but but only about 3 kW ( 11 - 12 panels) in April.
(I think I don't have) grandiose illusions on the concept of on-CT solar but there are a couple issues here. (A) I like the surveillance mode option in the Tesla menus, but it seems to eat about 30 miles range for every day it is left on (B) As a 2nd car driven every couple of days, "trickle solar" charging could make a lot of sense. (C) As a "last resort."

A couple of examples. Leave the truck at an airport parking lot, come back, and it's 100% topped off. Drive it just once a week, 15-30 miles extra charge per day adds up. Or suppose you're stuck somewhere, like trying to get out of Houston when a hurricane is coming in. Chargers are not working, or long lines at them, and its total chaos. Park the thing on high ground, catch a ride and get out. Come back in a week, it might be good to go.
 

firsttruck

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Threads
172
Messages
2,537
Reaction score
4,036
Location
mx
Vehicles
none
Country flag
I personally would swap a moon/sunroof for an all solar cap. I know, some would say that may look ugly, but, think of the joy of gaining miles on a long trip or not losing charge while parked at work?
Besides, I can bet any dollar on the likelihood of Tesla creating an aesthetically easy on the eye solar cells for this purpose.
Yup, I live in a very sunny and hot geographic area and I prefer my Cybertruck have a solar roof or if not available a solid roof. Even when I lived in the U.S. Midwest or South I never liked the moon/sun roof and over the many decades of buying used cars I always passed on the ones that had them.
 

firsttruck

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Threads
172
Messages
2,537
Reaction score
4,036
Location
mx
Vehicles
none
Country flag
.....
A couple of examples. Leave the truck at an airport parking lot, come back, and it's 100% topped off. Drive it just once a week, 15-30 miles extra charge per day adds up. Or suppose you're stuck somewhere, like trying to get out of Houston when a hurricane is coming in. Chargers are not working, or long lines at them, and its total chaos. Park the thing on high ground, catch a ride and get out. Come back in a week, it might be good to go.
Another example is traveling business executives, traveling sales persons, traveling tech support persons might leave their vehicle at the office/plant/factory when they are on long business trips.

Also you probably want sentry mode on the entire time you are gone so energy collected from solar roof hopefully can offset what sentry mode will drain.
 


Crissa

Well-known member
First Name
Crissa
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Threads
126
Messages
16,211
Reaction score
27,074
Location
Santa Cruz
Vehicles
2014 Zero S, 2013 Mazda 3
Country flag
Yup, I live in a very sunny and hot geographic area and I prefer my Cybertruck have a solar roof or if not available a solid roof. Even when I lived in the U.S. Midwest or South I never liked the moon/sun roof and over the many decades of buying used cars I always passed on the ones that had them.
Technology changes.

-Crissa
 

mhaze

Well-known member
First Name
mhike
Joined
Jul 17, 2021
Threads
5
Messages
250
Reaction score
244
Location
Texas
Vehicles
Tesla 3; Smartcar; F150 Raptor; Avalanche 2500 4x4
Country flag

Crissa

Well-known member
First Name
Crissa
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Threads
126
Messages
16,211
Reaction score
27,074
Location
Santa Cruz
Vehicles
2014 Zero S, 2013 Mazda 3
Country flag
Selling something that might exist tomorrow today is called "vaporware."
Only if someone tries to sell it before it exists.

But my comment was about solar and glass roofs. In the 80s and earlier, coatings basically didn't exist and the seals for windows had poor reliability. But in the 90s, that slowly changed. By the last two decades, seals and coatings have become very reliable, coatings can reflect specific frequencies and intensities of light, and even window panes can have insulation in them.

Technology changes.

-Crissa
 

firsttruck

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
Threads
172
Messages
2,537
Reaction score
4,036
Location
mx
Vehicles
none
Country flag
Only if someone tries to sell it before it exists.

But my comment was about solar and glass roofs. In the 80s and earlier, coatings basically didn't exist and the seals for windows had poor reliability. But in the 90s, that slowly changed. By the last two decades, seals and coatings have become very reliable, coatings can reflect specific frequencies and intensities of light, and even window panes can have insulation in them.

Technology changes.

-Crissa
Just because I haven't bought a new vehicle with sun/moon roof does not mean I do not know or have not experienced the newer technology. I have ridden in plenty of newer cars.

I consider the newer technology for sun/moon roof glass that is commonly available in most autos today as not good enough. Once it is changeable from whatever low % value to 100% opaque & reflective (like 100% opaque solid white paint) at no extra cost it will it be good enough.

Not everybody has same sensitivity to light (both eyes and skin), sensitivity heat/cold, danger of lack privacy.

In very sunny & hot climates I only buy light colored cars. The new styling sometimes seen of two tone colored cars with roof only available in color black is really limiting.
In very sunny & hot climates even 5% extra heating is too much.

I never want to look up through the roof (or for other look down in).

When driving I do not like the light entering through roof and especially if continually changes shading like passing under medium sparse trees that causes shading to come and go.

Most U.S. I have lived in or visited have big picture windows where home owners leave drapes open so outsiders on sidewalk can clearly see in whether it is day and even night.

Because of past events I have personally experienced and other events more severe that happens in the world (ie. people be shot through windows, including doctors and other health care staff), I never feel comfortable in a room with that much outside to inside visibility. I even had heated discussions with hosts (some friends) that are unconcerned but that is just the way it is. There is no guarantee life will be fair or equitable. I wish in most places in public I was not so noticeably different looking. When some of my friends are out in public they have lower risks than I (and others) do and less probability of random people following them home.

Also when vehicle is off or in camping mode I do not want outsiders to be able to seen inside the vehicle through the roof.


---------------------------------------------

Sniper Kills Abortion Doctor in Amherst (near Buffalo, NY USA)
A sniper wielding a high-powered rifle from the cover of darkness shot and killed a well-known abortion doctor Friday night just days after U.S. and Canadian police warned of such an attack, citing four previous shootings against abortion doctors at this time of year in Canada and upstate New York.
October 25, 1998
By Michael A. Fletcher Washington Post Staff Writer
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/abortviolence/stories/sniper.htm

---------------------------------------------

A bodycam caught a deputy shooting a man in his South Carolina home.
Bodycam video contradicts the initial police narrative.
July 31, 2019
By Eliott C. McLaughlin By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/30/...ce-shooting-homeowner-simpsonville/index.html

Police body camera footage shows a South Carolina deputy shooting a man through a window in the man’s home, and the video doesn’t jibe with the initial account from authorities. The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged as much Tuesday, more than six weeks after the shooting.

The man – identified by his lawyer as Dick Tench, a 62-year-old retiree – is inside his Simpsonville home when a deputy opens fire, the footage shows. Tench, who survived two gunshot wounds, appears unaware it was a policeman who shot him, judging from his exchange with the deputy following the incident.

In a deleted June 14 statement posted to Facebook, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said the homeowner “pulled the door open and pointed a handgun directly at the deputy,” prompting the deputy to open fire, according to CNN affiliate WYFF.

---------------------------------------------

Police investigating a noise complaint shoot through window killing Halloween party actor.
All the guests at the show-business fancy-dress Halloween party were professionals from the film and music industry. The victim of the police shooting was one of the guests, a black actor who was dressed as the Devil and waving a toy gun.
30 October 2000
By Simon Davis in Los Angeles
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wo...y-actor-with-toy-gun-shot-dead-by-police.html

---------------------------------------------

Hamilton abortion doctor shot in 1995 featured in new season of true-crime podcast
Dr. Hugh Short from Ancaster, Ont., was one of three Canadian doctors targeted in the 1990s, presumably for providing abortions, along with two doctors from New York.
By Jessica Maxwell · CBC News
Posted: May 21, 2022
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/someone-knows-something-abortion-wars-hugh-short-1.6457934

---------------------------------------------

Abortion doctor stabbed in B.C.
Vancouver gynecologist Gary Romalis survived a second attempt on his life yesterday by someone believed to be an anti-abortion zealot.
Dr. Romalis nearly bled to death in Nov. 8, 1994, after he was hit by a shot from a high-powered rifle fired through his kitchen window.
Published July 12, 2000 This article was published more than 22 years ago.
By Robert Matas
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/abortion-doctor-stabbed-in-bc/article1040973/

---------------------------------------------

Woman shot and killed through apartment window by ex-boyfriend
By Derrick Lewis via KTRK logo
December 1, 2022
https://abc13.com/woman-shot-and-ki...d-deadly-domestic-violence-incident/12514212/

---------------------------------------------

Woman shot dead by Texas police through bedroom window
Woman was shot dead by police through her own bedroom window in the early hours of Saturday morning
Published 13 October 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50032290

---------------------------------------------

Porsche Taycan Sunshine Control
https://media.porsche.com/mediakit/...ycan-gts/panoramic-roof-with-sunshine-control

.....
multi-layered structure that shields against heat radiation so effectively that even in the transparent state the roof is protected against heat better than with a mechanical roller blind or a conventional glass roof. Only 15 per cent of the heat enters the interior of the car, as proven by measurements in the solar simulation chamber at the Porsche Development Centre in Weissach. This figure is more than 30 per cent with conventional roofs.


*** WOW, Sunshine Control option is priced over $5K.
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/roof-with-sunshine-control.9522/

---------------------------------------------

AGC Glass Europe - From clear to dark, at the mere touch of a button!
https://www.agc-glass.eu/en/news/story/clear-dark-mere-touch-button

---------------------------------------------

Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo Sunshine Control 2022
Testing out the new Sunshine Control feature on the panoramic roof.
Jan 23, 2022
Lorenzo In a Benzo

-------




---------------------------------------------
 

Crissa

Well-known member
First Name
Crissa
Joined
Jul 8, 2020
Threads
126
Messages
16,211
Reaction score
27,074
Location
Santa Cruz
Vehicles
2014 Zero S, 2013 Mazda 3
Country flag
This may sound a teensy bit harsh, but you guys do seem to know I try to say things straight.

My father was shot and killed through a body panel so I'mma gonna say I think your regard for them as safer than glass is misplaced.

Just because you can't see through something doesn't mean it'll stop a bullet.

-Crissa
Sponsored

 
 




Top