Fuelly Forums - Getting solar panels from VW dealers

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EDIT: Oct 31/06 by metrompg: split these posts from the thread Alternator v. no alternator - 10% gain @ 70 km/h , since there is some potentially good info in here.

If you want some cheep solar panels visit your local VW dealer and ask for the panels that come with the new cars - they throw them away - suction cup mount to the windshield and put out 200-250ma - I have a stack of them. I also inquired yesterday on pricing for the SunPower cells and panels. $9 per cell quantity 50 pricing was what I got a few years ago and each cell puts out 3 watts 5.5 amps peak sun at .65 volts. You need high efficiency when you want to power up a car electrical system since sunlight surface it minimal.
Also note that not all cig plugs are connected to the battery when the key is off so charging there will not do much other than power up any accessories that are connected to the same circuit with the output of the panel, which under no load can reach 24 volts POOF! Both my Scion and 94Geo are on/off with the key.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JanGeo

If you want some cheep solar panels visit your local VW dealer and ask for the panels that come with the new cars - they throw them away - suction cup mount to the windshield and put out 200-250ma - I have a stack of them.

That's a really interesting tidbit. I'd love to have an unlimited supply of free 250 mA panels! (I could cover the ForkenSwift with them!) No VW dealer in town though :(

JanGeo - Why do VW's come with solar panels on them brand new?

Jeff

I wondered as well, I should call damn vw and try to get some.

yup they sit in dock yards for months and the alarms and other stuff in the cars slowly drain the batteries and are a big problem when the power goes out from a dead battery. SLA batteries are damaged if not kept fully charged.

What are the dimensions of those panels? At 200-250mA, that would throw about 1-1.5W per panel?

I'm gonna have to haul myself to a VW dealership. Thanks for the tip!

Jeff

Wow, def have to call VW, writing this down...

Well, if you live in the Houston area, don't bother. Since VW's port is here, the dealers ship all of their solar panels back.

Bummer...

Jeff

Called VW and they said it was more of a 2004-2005 thing, but every once in a while it will happen. The manager told me to call the parts department on monday and see if they had anything lying around. I wonder if any other makes do this...

I will have to call audi later and see if they have any, I'll prolly try a lot of dealerships in monday because this is amazing. You can get them on ebay for about 20 shipped for a single or less if you buy a lot, I need to learn some wiring and mehbe turn this into a summer project, :)