10-19-2019, 01:11 PM
This panel was going to go on my roof, but I would have had to shave it down a bit and add some area to my roof and it would be very visible, prone to scratches and I just said F it and keep it as a lightweight easy to store fragile portable.
I'd had some badly applied poor quality tint at the top of my windshield since 2001 which I just removed, which inspired me to finally test to see how it fits.
I have a strip of vertical grain douglas fir running lengthwise along top and bottom in this photo . Leaving it in on the dashboard for a half hour or so, a vertical kink formed in between some cells, between 3 and 4 left to right. I've seen some put other brands of flex panels in their windshields and they looked horribly warped bent and sagging around the rear view mirror, and now I can see how easy that would be to achieve when completely unsupported in the middle. I have added more structure to that doug fir to make a thin frame, but need to seal and paint it to prevent it from moisture and heat cycling to the degree which it can now.
Behind the windshield facing south, the extra 43 watts around noon is appreciated, and if it is safe from creasing, breaking intercell connections, getting blown over or stolen, the loss of the potential extra 44 watts is OK, acceptable, and when those ~44 watts are absolutely needed it can be placed on windshield instead.
The 50% reduction in wattage is obviously disappointing.
Cleaning the already pretty clean glass further, made zero difference in output.
Putting my regular reflectix window shade up behind it did not immediately change output, but I imagine with more time it would get hotter and lose voltage and thus some available wattage. I thought the extra reflection of light bouncing off the windshield interior from the reflectix, would be good for perhaps 5 more watts, but my meter did not budge in the slightest when I did so.
I'd had some badly applied poor quality tint at the top of my windshield since 2001 which I just removed, which inspired me to finally test to see how it fits.
I have a strip of vertical grain douglas fir running lengthwise along top and bottom in this photo . Leaving it in on the dashboard for a half hour or so, a vertical kink formed in between some cells, between 3 and 4 left to right. I've seen some put other brands of flex panels in their windshields and they looked horribly warped bent and sagging around the rear view mirror, and now I can see how easy that would be to achieve when completely unsupported in the middle. I have added more structure to that doug fir to make a thin frame, but need to seal and paint it to prevent it from moisture and heat cycling to the degree which it can now.
Behind the windshield facing south, the extra 43 watts around noon is appreciated, and if it is safe from creasing, breaking intercell connections, getting blown over or stolen, the loss of the potential extra 44 watts is OK, acceptable, and when those ~44 watts are absolutely needed it can be placed on windshield instead.
The 50% reduction in wattage is obviously disappointing.
Cleaning the already pretty clean glass further, made zero difference in output.
Putting my regular reflectix window shade up behind it did not immediately change output, but I imagine with more time it would get hotter and lose voltage and thus some available wattage. I thought the extra reflection of light bouncing off the windshield interior from the reflectix, would be good for perhaps 5 more watts, but my meter did not budge in the slightest when I did so.
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