Greetings all - just recently took delivery of my first Fit, and wonder if anyone has a pointer to the info I'm looking for. My two previous Hondas had a sunroof I could leave cracked in the summer to help keep the car from turning into a broiler, and the Fit doesn't have that option. I remembered that on one ('95 Civic Si), a solar panel plugged into the power socket could allow the radio, fan etc. to operate even with no key in the ignition but that doesn't work on the Fit.

So - what I'd like to do is add a power "injection" port so that I can have a solar panel run the vent fan when I can't avoid parking the car in the sun on a hot Southern California day. I went looking on some car parts sites to see if I could track down how much amperage the fan needs, but came up empty.

If anyone knows how much power it takes to run that fan at a reasonable speed, or has a suggestion as to the best way to hook into the electrical system to power it from a solar panel, I would be grateful for the advice.

 

why not just crack your windows open? afraid of someone noticing? put the door visors. Then you can crack the front a bit without it being obvious. While the visors hide the front well, they can't hide the back, since it shows along the back edge.

another two tidbits... tinted windows and a collapsable sunshade for the front windshield.

if you want something electrical, you can try installing a remote starter... some have temperature sensors, to start the car when the temps reach certain limits. They'll start the car and run cooling/heating. of course, you have to set the cooling/heating yourself.

personally, I think window open with door visors, sunshade and tint would be enough.

 

Park in the shade more.

 

While I realize it's not quite the same risk as in the old days of pull-up knobs for the door locks, I still don't like leaving the car with the windows cracked - and I don't care for the look of the visors, or tinted windows. (In particular, since it's illegal in California to tint the front-door windows; if that were not the case, I'd consider it, but the look of having the windows on the side of the car not matching is not something I find appealing.) I am planning to get a sunshade for the windshield that is a better match than the one from my old Civic; I figured a solar panel could go between that and the windshield.

That seems excessively complicated (and expensive). I also don't see the point in burning fuel to do this.

If you can guarantee me a shady parking spot wherever I might want to go, that would be quite a feat!

 

I used to own a black with charcole grey interior integra when I lived in Cali. It got sooo hot inside parked at my apartment that it melted my third brake light along with a few other plastic bits I left inside.
I had a remote starter installed from when I was living in Northern Alberta and all I would do is leave the AC cranked when I parked and just hit the remote start 5 or 10 mins before I was gonna leave and it would be nice and cool inside by the time I got to the car. Shouldn't really burn all that much fuel.

 

A while back I saw a solar-powered fan advertised- you closed the window on it and it circulated a bit of air. Sorry I don't have more details.

 

rain gurads/window visor... then you can crack those windows slightly

 

no, cause that would be too easy.

 

If you used something like a high powered 120mm computer case fan it shouldn't require much power.

Although honestly, I think all a fan will do is circulate the hot air. Basically turning the interior into a convection oven.

 

Car Auto Solar Powered Ventilation System Cooling Fan

This is just one option I'm sure, but I would look on e-bay/amazon and see what gets good reviews. If you end up buying something let me know. My Fit, which I just got, is black. Which I'm sure means that it will really heat up in the sun as summer roles around.

 

I won't try to change your mind on most of the stuff, but I will say this...

Window tinting doesn't necessarily mean going dark on all windows. The primary cause of heat in a car is uv rays and a few other frequencies that are also not visible to the eye. For the rear door windows and rear quarter panel windows, you can simply get the lightest COLOR tint, so long as it provides "99%" UV and thermal blocking. 70% and above color tints are quite clear. Just about any decent brand tint will do it. If its nearly clear, you could get away with putting it on your front door/quarter panel windows too.

I'll be honest, my 35% tint looks really nice on the outside and helps with headlights coming from behind. But, its a PITA when I'm trying to back up at night with my windows closed (ie, in winter). These neighborhoods like having little to no street lamps. Gahh.

 

Thanks for pointing that out; as an office building I once worked in had clear UV/IR film put on the windows to reduce A/C costs, I should have realized that something similar would be available for cars. I'll consider that - but I still want to figure out if it's possible to run the vent blower from a solar panel.

 

I bought an almost exact solar powered fan for my black prelude over 10 years ago. It sucked, so I returned it. Rather it didn't suck enough air and having to add the window molding around the edge to seal it was a pita. My car had black interior and I lived in the south at the time so maybe it was too much for that fan to handle.

When I bought the Fit I stayed the hell away from black. too much maintenance and heat for a rolling greenhouse

 

one version of the prius has ventilation fan run by a solar panel, so it's not like rocket surgery...

 

You're right, it's not "rocket surgery."

Buy a sunroof... the Webasto TVS 935 sounds good (though pricey).
Replace glass with solar cells.
Add a small li-ion battery that has enough juice to power the sunroof (to it's flip up position).
Add a thermal sensor to trigger the sunroof to open when the temps hit a preset temp.

this will make it act pretty much like the Prius version. And you could probably get away with putting just solar cells in the front section of the TVS 935, since it's a dual panel roof. And aside from flipping up, it doesn't move so you don't have to worry about any wiring moving around.

you don't need a fan, all you really need is to vent the hot air from the car. As enough hot air escapes out the top, a little bit of air will seep in through the car's cabin intake/exhaust vents.

And like the Prius, it won't "cool" down the car... just reduce how hot it gets.

basically... same a cracking a window.