Quote:
Originally Posted by msantos
Good question.
It is pretty hard to do just that without making this into a full fledged project of academic proportions... which happens to be something few of us will gain in doing.
However, it is possible to eyeball the benefits by using plain old inference and some calculations based on the trickle effect the solar panels provide to the 12V battery. Is this quantifiable? If anyone is willing to be methodical enough and include all variables then, yes, it is.
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It is not too complicated to get an idea about the maximum theoretical savings.
Assume that your solar charger provides 40mA for 10hrs straight, and that it can be completely used to charge the 12V battery.
Remember that:
Watts = I x U and Joules = Watts x seconds
Then: 40mA x 12 V = 0,48W
0,48W x 10 hrs x 3600 sec = 17280 Joules, or 17KJ
The enthalpy of a liter of gas is approx. 33MJ, therefore 17KJ equates to 0,5ml of gas.
Assume that your ICE has an efficiency of around 20%, then it takes 5 x 0,5 ml = 2,5 ml of gas to generate 17kJ of output.
2,5 ml is about 1/2 a teaspoon. That's what you could save, on a sunny day. It would take about 4 years to save 1 gallon of gas in total, so I don't think it makes economical sense to install this solar charger, but I think it makes good fun.
EDIT: Just picked up my HCHII today! After 4 months Japan has finally shipped some to Europe.
Mine is Galaxy Grey with a grey leather interior.