Yep; I had to search far and wide to buy non-owner car insurance when I was a field service tech. The company mostly foot the bill for the added coverage - until management told me to decline the additional coverage. I made the company pay me a monthly stipend for the non-car owner coverage. The monthly total came out about the same, it just made some bean-counter happy.
Nah no updates as of yet, havent had a chance to bring to a dealer. Ive continued to not receive any charge on the solar menu (0whz generated) when the car is off. Only when i turn on the car or plug in the car does the solar roof actually start generating some Whz. From what i'm reading on this thread it almost sounds like there's a threshold of minimal power generated in order to power the charging computers and maintain the 12v and failure to meet that threshold will result in no charge? I hope that's the case and its just winter sun.
If you install one of those Bluetooth 12V battery monitors, you should see a voltage spike when the sun is out. Cover the roof with a tarp and the voltage will drop back to battery reading. It'll send an maintenance charge to the 12V battery first, even if it can't turn-on a controller ECU. If you switch screens, one of them will tell you how many watts was generated - not necessary enough to move the car anywhere. My car averages 4 miles/KwH and your panel is only generating 180W/hour - assuming ideal conditions. Math is not your friend under these conditions. Hope this helps......
I get around 6 mi/kWh in my Gen 4 Prius Prime PHEV. Yes, charging at the plug is cheaper than buying the solar roof. However, that extra 6 miles you gain while parked might let you get home without the internal-combustion engine kicking in as you near your garage, preventing it from spewing fuel, water, and carbon deposits into itself and significantly reducing its lifespan.
I actually have a 12v monitor already. I dont notice a significant jump in voltage with the battery when in the sun (when my car is off). See the two images of today and yesterday, it was in the sun from 9am until 3pm which have relatively the same voltage as in the middle of the night. The big jumps are of course me plugging it in to charge. When i get into my car in the middle of the day and go to the solar tab in the infotainment, it will tell me 0Wz 'generated today' obviously meaning nothing was charged however it will then start generating watts when i keep the car on or plugged in. Could this be a bad 12V maybe?
Ha ha, it is snowing out there. What do you expect? It is not to mention that your solar roof is probably covered in snow, too. It actually shows some Wh generated on the 8th, on which you probably had a break in the clouds.
hah i wish snow being on the panels was the main issue. Yeah the 8th was when i was driving unfortunately otherwise i'd expect 'some' watts on other days
According to the owner’s manual, even the slightest covering of the solar panel can greatly reduce its output.
Figured id chime in with some pics I took today. The day ended up pretty clear and sunny. The 8am Pic is just before powering down getting to work. The the 3pm pic is when just powered up leaving work. The last pic is after a 20 or so min drive home parked in the garage. This leads me to believe that during the day there isn't quite enough strong direct sunlight during the winter to "activate" the solar charge controller unless the car is powered up. And the 3wh was "stored" in that 20 minute drive. Im very curious to watch as the year progresses to see when it starts storing that energy it generates during the day. If it doesn't look like its going to start storing any of that energy as spring comes and goes then ill take it into the dealer and have it checked out. Until then, ill just keep an eye on things. Cheers
understandably. But for all intents and purposes that image was from last month, and there was definitely no snow on the roof of the car at that time. Solar roofs been acting like this even without snow
Certainly an ideal way to park and gain solar miles in winter in the northern hemisphere (perhaps even in snow). But then again it seems to attract paint cans and there goes your free miles again.
thanks for your pics. Definitely similar to what i've been experiencing. Wonder if what you suspect is true. Im curious how the summer will work again.
I think you're both doing fine in what looks like an even higher northern latitude where it's even harder to get the best beneficial sun. Just looking at both your "All-Time" kWh reported both vehicles are generating power from the sun. (You can think in rough terms of 10kWh as being 39 miles of equivalent range generated). Be mindful of shadows because a single shadow on just part of the roof from a pole, an overhead line, or wispy branch can lead to an "extreme drop in power generation" as the solar cells are wired in series and like a kink in a garden hose it can have that kind of effect. Toyota, to their credit, engineered this solar roof into two independent circuits (the front three rows of cells on one circuit) and the back three rows in another. So there's that. It can be quite hard to get out of the way of shadows in the winter because everything casts such long ones when the sun is always low and your mind doesn't perceive any of this like you would see shade in the summer. But the solar cells react to it. And, temper your willingness to avoid all shade and gain free miles with the owner's manual warning: ■ Preventing damage to leather surfaces "Do not expose the vehicle to direct sunlight for extended periods of time. Park the vehicle in the shade, especially during summer."
