Re: OT: RE: Cig Lighter Battery Boosters

[Neil.G.Miller.98@Alum.Dartmouth.ORG (Neil G. Miller 98)]

--- "kelwat" wrote:
On a similar note, I have a solar panel that plugs into the cigarette ligher
to assist the battery (trickle, not charge it from dead), will this work in
a case where your pack will go 20 miles and home is 21 miles?
--- end of quote ---

 Not likely. I'd hazard a guess that at most the power output for the solar panel is 25 W. Now at 35mph you're probably using about 7,000 W (7kW) (possibly 4 or 5 if the car is light and has low-rolling resistance tires). As you can see the power for the panels is neglegable.
 You might get some benefit from covering every horizontal surface of the car with high efficiency solar panels, but not from a little battery booster panel. I think the most efficient panels are around 25%, anyone remember how much solar power is available per m^2?

-n