Halp Mounting a solar panel

dbzeag

Wants to kiss you where it stinks
Jun 9, 2006
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Hello all!

I know you are very savvy people and I have a brainstorming idea I would like some help with.

In planning a carputer strategy (it took me over a year of planning on my last one) I thought it would be cool to use solar panels to power the PC indirectly. Now that I am in a climate zone that actually has a sun, solar panels would be useful.

What I was thinking was lining my roof flush with this:

http://www.amazon.com/R-28-Rollable...1VOUFSIGRIGBC&s=generic&qid=1269372585&sr=1-7

I would use more than one "strip" to fill the whole roof for maximum coverage. The advantage of the film is that it's light weight and can conform to the shape of the roof more easily. Being flush mounted, it wouldn't cause any more wind noise or drag. Being light weight, it doesn't make my car top-heavy.

What I have been struggling with is a way to mount it to the roof. I would prefer to not have to drill holes into the roof to mount it, but rather find some way to "stick" it on there. I would like it to be removable eventually so it should not mark up the paint underneath when it is lifted.

Also the mounting apparatus needs to be able to withstand speeds in excess of 80mph as well as the seering heat of Texas.

Anyone have any suggestions?
 
Hmm, maybe I could line the underside with sheets of magnets to stick it to the roof
 
magnets would probably be the way to go, but imagine youll have to drill at least one hole to feed the wiring through.

I would just send the wiring down on a corner at the hatch. I did the same thing with my GPS. It's just one small wire under the weather stripping.
 
LMAO, I had no idea this was going on your car, too.

Jeezus, between the carpootur and this solar stuff, you're gonna end up with some craaazy shit!

 
Put it on your dash like normal people. You can also use the panels to keep your battery charged.

That's the idea. I was going to hook the panels up to a controller to prevent overcharging, and send the power straight to the battery. The carputer would be pulling from the battery anyway. Doing it this way, I can add the solar stuff later if I want to, making it a modular option. It won't 100% drive the carputer bits; I will still run the carputer with or without solar power.

Dash isn't large enough space for as many panels as I would need/like.
 
That's the idea. I was going to hook the panels up to a controller to prevent overcharging, and send the power straight to the battery. The carputer would be pulling from the battery anyway. Doing it this way, I can add the solar stuff later if I want to, making it a modular option. It won't 100% drive the carputer bits; I will still run the carputer with or without solar power.

Dash isn't large enough space for as many panels as I would need/like.

Up top it is, then. Just protect your paint.