Don't laugh yet!
IMPORTANT NOTE: All thoughts here are just conceptual. Some of them would likely void your warranty, or could cause damage to your car. Tampering with the NIMH batteries is dangerous. The purpose of exploring this topic is to devlop ideas. Often, bad ideas end up producing great results after proper thought, modification, evolution and innovation. Hopefully, in the end, a well organized, safe, benefit-yielding design can be made.....maybe not! We will see! Please don't harm your car or yourself with premature ill-conceived ideas yet to be thought out. Over time, I would like to develop a well conceived plan that takes all factors into consideration -- safe, non-warranty-voiding, and a productive addition the Insight.
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Background: I have a 2004 CVT. Here are some observations I have made since purchasing it. I think some of these observations are different for 5 speeds. My solar thoughts appear later, and are based upon these observations.
Battery
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(1) My battery never fully charges. It is at 2 bars below max 95% of the time! In the other 5 percent of the time, it is 3 bars less than max -- never lower. This is obviously a unique characteristic of the CVT and possibly newer software in the 2004 model.
IMA
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(1) IMA assist (the way I drive) is never more than 4 or 5 bars. In order to get more, I would have to drive like a maniac. When flooring the gas pedal, it goes several bars higher, but simultaneously the MPG goes below 10 MPG. Therefore, I feel I am better off with 4-5 bars assist and "learning to like it" (gets about 25-50 MPG when using 4-5 bars assist in highway driving). I get 4-5 bars assist in City driving too (more if I lay rubber when pulling out!)
(2) The ASSIST always stops assisting before I am finished accelerating -- both highway and city ... this is very frustrating.
I often wonder if a contributing factor as to why CVT's get poorer MPG is due to the restrictions on how and when assist is applied. I know everybody attributes the primary difference to the lack of lean-burn, but I am not so sure. Perhaps restricted assist is 1/2 the reason, and lean-burn is the other half.
Momentum REGEN - Highway Driving
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(1) 4-5 bars assist is very helpful on inclines
(2) On descents, I get 4-5 bars (green) battery charge
(3) The 4-5 bars charging on descents
SLOWS DOWN THE CAR BADLY!
(4) I often have to apply pressure to the gas pedal on descents in order to stop it from charging the battery in order to maintain spped DOWNHILL. Using the vehicles power resources to travel down slopes on the highway doesn't make any sense to me. It makes sense when you want to slow down, but that is almost never the case traveling on the highway. But, that's the way it is designed. Remember -- I got a CVT. I owned a stick all my life prior to the Insight. With a stick, putting it in neutral, yields far less resistance on descents than automatics; you just can't 'coast' like you do with a stick. ASSIST complicates this even further creating a real problem looking for a solution.
(5) On ONE (just one!) occasion my battery was fully charged. it coasted very nicely on descents ... it was a real pleasure to drive! As a rsult, I got significantly better mileage because the car did not engage regen, and therefore DOES NOT SLOW DOWN THE CAR!
Momentum REGEN - City Driving
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(1) When I take my foot off the gas pedal in City driving, 95% of the time I do so with the intent to slow down. In the city, momentum charging is helpful for both purposes -- slowing down, and charging the NIMH's.
REGEN -- From the brakes
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(1) I can't detect any slow-down whatsoever from brake electrical regeneration. When extreme light pressure applied to the brake pedal, I often get about 10 bars! I can't feel any difference (slow down effect) between (a) momentum regen alone and (b) combined momentum and brake regen. The mod I saw on a thread in this message board to activate brake regen with a button seems like a good idea!
SUMMARY -- AND IMPORTANT OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
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(1) Momentum REGEN is costing me MPG on highway driving (on descents)
(2) Fully charged battery saves me MPG (and frustration) by not having to apply gas pedal going downhill!
(3) Boston, MA climate can be extremely cold during winter
(4) Extreme cold bad on battery system?
(5) MPG suffers badly from cold and extreme cold engine starts
(6) MPG suffers from continued cold engine temps while driving
(7) Extreme hot interior temp is bad on battery during summer?
(
Extreme hot interior temp is bad on me during summer!
(9) 12V battery draws power from main system to recharge itself, thereby reducing the potential for full-charge-state of main battery.
(10) Having a fully charged battery system each time you drive it (both 12V and NIMH) would be great!
THE FANTASY BEGINS?
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(1) Cover/replace the entire roof of the car with a large solar panel, or panel array. It could be supplemented with more solar panels in other places, but my thought is to not make this thing look like a science project -- keep it's rather distinguished appearance by making the roof panel(s) neatly designed, packaged, etc. -- make it look as good as it can.
Note: My idea to use the entire roof for solar panels is a result of posts from other threads suggesting only trivial power can be generated by smaller panels. If this proves untrue, a less dramatic solar system would be used. People smarter than I can hopefully aid in this aspect of the design. Also, smaller panels could be used if a more effecient application of available energy were to be developed thereby reducing the need for additional power.
(2) Acquire a hand-held pocket-pc or palm computer (lowest power consumption possible, minimal RAM, etc.)
(3) Acquire or create a panel controller to connect the panels to the NIMH batteries -- it has to prevent overcharging (of course!), and have a diode to cut off the circuit during non charging time periods. Since the NIMH batteries charge the 12V battery, I don't think it would help to attempt connecting to the 12V for charging purposes (redundant?)
(4) Install exhaust/intake fans on cargo area air vents as described in other threads. Computer would compare indoor/outdoor temps to determine when fans are needed, and only run when needed. The fans move air bidirectionally depending on circumstances. The computer could detect when little or no further benefit could be achieved by running the fans for additional time, and shut them off in order to devote electric resource to some other system.
(5) Install 3 liter thermos to connect to coolant system to help increase engine temp when car not in use, or help heat it while driving during extremely cold temps where desired engine temp can not be maintained. (This was a mod proposal/thought from another thread).
(6) This one might be a bit extreme! Install an electric blind on the rear window. (The purpose of which would be to enable unobstructed vision while driving, yet could be controlled to block sunlight while the vehicle is not in use (to keep interior cooler during summer, and possibly keep it warmer by acting as an isolator during the winter by automatically closing it when car is turned off. During winter, if the computer detects that the outside temperature is higher than the inside temperature, it would open the blinds. Otherwise, it would close them -- 24 hours a day -- all automatic. (Cooling fans could act as both heating and cooling with some added smarts, and would operate in a similar fashion)
(7) install a set of sensors (a) Interior temp, (b) exterior temp, (c) coolant system temp, (d) daylight sensor, (e) car-in-use may not need a sensor since I suppose you could connect to the cig lighter wiring, and detected the presence or absence of current, thereby indicating verhicle in/out of use.
(
Install a thermal resistance heater someplace in the car for interior comfort.
(9) (
NEW) Add a series of peltier thermoelectric device and develop some type of indoor/outdoor thermal transfer system to cool and heat the interior of the car. These devices are used in coolers that plug into your cig lighter adapter. This idea was mentioned in a couple of other threads on this forum. Clearly, they won't cool and heat very much, but every little bit helps. The "every little bit helps" concept is proven by the Insight's design --- Honda apparently measured every nut and bolt that went into the Insight to produce an 1850 pound car. It appears to have been accomplished by taking advantage of every savings possible. Each on their own may be trivial. However, when considered as an aggregate total, trivial savings can be significant.
IMPLEMNTATION
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All of the sensors would be connected to the hand-held. The loads would have to be connected to some type of controller which would interface to the handheld to allow the handheld to programatically turn each attached load on or off.
All the computer has to do is (a) be programmed, (b) be able to read input from sensors, and (c) turn on and off 12v DC loads.
THe computer would operate (unattended) on a 24 hour basis. When the software detects low charge on handheld battery, it would shut itself off (or perhaps hynbernate) and disenable all attached loads and power sources. It might be a thought to attach a private backup power source (perhaps an array of D size NIMH's) to the handheld to allow it to operate for entended periods of time when external charging is not available. (Of course another option would be to implement this system with a programmable controller (chip) for very extremely low power consumption -- more difficult to build!)
Other than an obvious mod to the roof, this system needs to be minimally invasive (if at all) to the "stock" function and operation of the vehicle. Warranties must be protected, and it must be safe to install. This is important to me, as I really don't want to redesign or change the way the car was designed to operate in any way (In other words, I am don't want a mod that simply "tricks" or "fools" the system into doing one thing when it was designed to do another. As an example, I would not want to install a regen-cutoff-switch, or a i-didn't-let-up-off-the-gas-pedal button to fool the Insight's systems into doing one thing when it really should have done another -- and thereby damage the system.
SOFTWARE Fantasy
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I'm a software developer by profession, so this part seems the easiest to me.
The overall purpose and design of the software would be to manage all resources as appropriate ... as needed, as available -- on a 24 hour a day basis. It would turn systems off when generated electricity is not available, and distribute them based on a needs-based criteria when they are available.
I would develop a desktop based application with a friendly user interface to configure/program the handheld. It would likely use a Compact Flash or SD memory card to allow me to easily transport it back and forth from the car, and allow easy reconfiguration.
The computer would allow you to monitor the environment, and make intelligent decisions as to how generated electricity could best be spent.
During the cold: (a) you might want to focus on engine temp while car is parked. (b) you might want to focus on NIMH charging while driving, or (c) perhaps interior heat. During cold, once computer detects NIMH battery is fully charged, it could then switch from the NIMH charging load to interior heat, or perhaps engine coolant heater.
During summer: (a) while parked, you might want it to concentrate on NIMH charging and once it detects full-charged state, switch to interior temp reduction. Or (b) perhaps, you might want it to split the electrical resource between interior temp reduction AND NIMH charging (not by running them both at the same time, but by programatically splitting the amount of time devoted to each load). Or, (c) it could turn off the other loads for a few seconds, and adjust the rear electric blind such that the sun is blocked.
In other words, make it smart. Another possible enhancement would be to add voice recognition to the handheld, and have it give audial beeps and/or computer generated voice status reports. The "magic" of the system would like in the computer and software. With the hardware in place as described, the features of the software are only limited by your imagination.
LOGGING DEVICE
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THe handheld could be used as a logging device to measure how successfully different systems perform. As an example, while using the coolant heater, it could log coolant temperature in 5 minute intervals over an extended period of time. This would provide you with precise knowledge of how each system preforms given environmental considerations With this data, you could then better configure the software to allocate energy resources. Overall system effeciency could be tightly managed. The log could easily be examined on your in-home computer.
802.11b or BLUETOOTH
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I already own an HP 5555 Pocket-PC. It accepts SD memory cards, Compact Flash. It also has built-in 802.11b as well as Bluetooth. For long term use, it has way too many features needed for this application. However, I would likely start with it with the intention of replacing it later with something smaller and less power consuming.
With wireless capability, however, I could have the pocket-pc log performance data directly (remotely) to my indoor desktop PC. Also, I could reconfigure it wirelessly without having to run outside. This would allow me to study how well different heating/cooling systems work, and easily make changes to test lots of different configurations. The intent here would be to optimize the Solar systems resources to achieve the greatest return.
SOLAR PROPULSION?
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I started with "Solar Propulsion". If this idea could make a car able to (on average) move from point A to point B with improved MPG, would it qualify as "Solar Propulsion?"
Solar charging the NIMH's while driving would give me a better chance of reach ing full power -- something it has only done once since I have owned it. Again, full charge means no descent slow-downs from regen charging --- improved MPG! Also, Higher engine temps in the winter helps propel the car more efficiently. Coolant engine heating would help while parked (for startups), and keep it warmer while driving -- both helping MPG.
CONCLUSION
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It is true – solar panels can’t create large quantities of electricity on demand. They can, however, produce large amounts over extended periods of time (for example, while the car is parked in the parking lot, and you are inside working for 8 or more hours).
Based on the input from many of you in other posts, it became clear that solar power is a limited resource. So, I decided to focus on how to find the best possible application of a limited resource to produce a greater benefit (and also, to intelligently direct that resource to the most immediate need!)
Ok, so have I really lost it? Need to be committed? or What? I have decided not to show this document to my wife. Reasons should be obvious.
This would obviously take some time to implement -- probably more design and planning than actual installation. While I have the software skills, I lack in the required hardware skills. Also, I lack other knowledge dealing with electricity and solar power generation.
I would welcome any ideas, suggestions, problem identification, and knowledge, anybody might be willing to contribute to this exploration.
Solar Propulsion or Solar Fantasy?
