Solar panel cooling fans

[joecvt]

In order to help control the heat while parked I decided to put some
12v cooling fans on each side behind the cargo vents. There are holes
in the chassis that fit perfectly. The flexible panel was white so I used
permanent black magic marker to cover the white area. Here are some
pictures of the final installation of the solar panel.

A shot from the outiside.
A closer shot from the outside.
A shot from the inside.
A closer shot from the inside.
A shot from looking at the rear view mirror.

You may think that this installation would obscure my vision so thats why
I included the last shot. See the van in the background. There is a shiny
object near the front windshield of the van...That is actually one of the
bottom bolts in the frame of the solar panel...I don't see the actual solar
panel at all....Only the two lower bolts of the frame holding it in place.

Now all I need is to order ventshades so I can slightly open my windows
with no fear of rain...I hear the Civic 2 door version should fit with only
slight modification.

JoeCVT

[jtmco]

A few questions:

Can you show a photo of the fans?

What brand of solar panel did you use? Where did you purchase it? What brand of 12V fans? Where did you purchase them? Does the solar panel put out 12V? Have you wired it directly to the fans.

Have you seen Figgy's pictures (link somewhere in the forum).

Thanks,

Jim

[joecvt]

I have seen figgy's pictures and his fans are the same size as mine
except that I only use one fan on each side of the cargo vents and I
put mine behind the vent. I do not have a picture of them but here
are the specifications of the solar panel and fans:

Uni-Solar Flexible 5 Watt - Click here for more detailed specs.
Panaflo DC brushless - DC12v 0.09A

I bought the solar panel at http://www.mrsolar.com and I work at a place
that takes apart computer equipment so I found these fans at work. I
had to use low amperage fans because I only have one panel installed
but it does spin the fans pretty fast in bright sunshine.

I wired the fans to a switch so I could turn one off to give the other one
more power if I wanted to.

JoeCVT

[Yves M.]

cool idea!

Addition:

It is a little far to access (20 minutes of dismantling) but the prbable best place for cooling fans is behind the exhaust traps accessed through the rear bumper. One left and 1 right of the car. See the rear picts of:
http://www.md92raid.100freemb.com/insightbumper.html

[Tim Maddux]

Cool installation. How noisy are the fans, and how much do they help keep the car cool?

[joecvt]

The fans are very quiet...The only time I hear them is during autostop.
I do not have ventshades installed yet so it is not a fair test but I did
see the temp drop down by 9 degrees without the windows open. I will
probably not be able to bring it down close to outside temps (like Figgy)
but it helps a little. (Figgy has double the fans and many more panels.)

The pictures of the bumper removed are great. The holes that I put the
fans in go out to those vents behind the bumper. I read somewhere that
the cargo vents go to the outside, I just didn't know exactly where so
thanks for the links to the photos. If I ever take the rear bumper off I
may consider using one larger fan if possible.

JoeCVT

[sunhunter]

How did you remove the plastic vent covers in the hatch area? I want to mount some fans back there as well. I gave them a little tug and they appeared to be part of the fabric. Does the fabric have to be removed along with the vents?

Thanks, Hunter

P.S. Thanks for your write up on your automatic engine air intake valve.

[joecvt]

I left the panel attatched to the fabric. You can get behind the vent
just by following and undoing the clips holding the fabric in place. The
top part slides underneath the rubber of the hatch and the bottom is held
in place with a couple of plastic clips. You then have enough room just
to fold the fabric up towards the front to expose the vent holes. The fan
size is the typical fan that you see in a PC power supply or the optional
fan mounted in the bottom front of a PC chassis. You just have to be
careful of the amperage of the fan. The fans I used came from big
HP servers with high quality fans...They last a long time.

Thanks for your comments,
JoeCVT