Saturday, April 30, 2016

Mounting a solar panel on a vehicle

Note that small solar panels won't provide enormous amounts of energy, but they can keep small electronics working, particularly if they keep a spare car battery topped up. A coworker uses a panel on his Nissan Xterra to run everything required to login into work from the desert when he gets paged on camping trips (assuming a cell signal is available).

The first link from camperizecom.com
http://www.camperize.com/solar-panel-mounting.html

A similar link:
 http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/79454-Solar-Panels-Installed-On-Roof-Rack

Amazon searches for useful products:
"30 watt solar panel" - multiple small panels can be more flexible in mounting.  60 watts or more seems desirable. Check overall dimensions and allow space for mounting brackets.
"Solar panel controller" - required for most panels.  Match to power output.
"Solar panel vehicle mount" - a variety of fixed and adjustable mounts are available.

At the current state of the art, factory installed solar panels aren't worth their cost:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/410454/does-car-mounted-solar-make-sense/

Seven of the Most Fun Front-Wheel Drive Cars You Can Buy

Not necessarily the most powerful or the most expensive models:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/g6511/best-front-wheel-drive-cars/?

How SpaceX's Red Dragon could change the way we land on Mars | The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/29/11526886/spacex-red-dragon-spacecraft-mars-propulsive-landing