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keeping it cool... temperature wise.

5K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  VTEC Mini 
#1 ·
#2 ·
The thought of louvers for the CR-Z has crossed my mind too, not sure whether I'd love them or hate them... I think without them the back of the CR-Z has allmost a porsche-like look to it...allmost. I can picture myself getting a wing for it, but im not so sure about louvers. Maybe what we need are solar panels to run a small air circulation system lol but most likely I will be getting a full car cover to keep in the trunk, I don't have to drive every day.
 
#3 ·
Well, short of tinting, it isn't. 3M has some tint films that are barley tint at all in the normal sense. The block only the IR. This is where most of the heat comes from. I am considering this path as I like to be able to see out my windows and my eyes are too old to see thru %20 tint. K

Other Auto tint manufactures have similar products. I do not work for 3M, do not endorse them and have not made a firm choice on this yet myself (end disclaimer).

CR70 69% transparent, 38% IR heat rejection
CR90 86% transparent, 19% IR heat rejection
3M product page link
 
#8 ·
Those window fans do nothing. One of the major magazines, R&T I think, tested a bunch of the infomercial stuff. Made absolutely no difference in interior heat levels. I thought it was funny because I received one of those for Christmas and never got around to trying it out.

I think the a/c should be electric, like the Prius, so when the auto start kicks in, the cabin stays cool. I cant take advantage of the auto stop because it's too hot in Hawaii. Sometimes I wish I could turn off the auto stop.
 
#9 ·
I think the a/c should be electric, like the Prius, so when the auto start kicks in, the cabin stays cool. I cant take advantage of the auto stop because it's too hot in Hawaii. Sometimes I wish I could turn off the auto stop.
There is no free lunch here, adding additional draw to the CR-Z battery pack would mean less power available for electric assist or you need to carry a bigger battery (like in the Prius). There is a thread about disabling the auto stop, try searching around somebody has posted a modification. On a side note, Aloha from Kunia!
 
#10 ·
I still think, a couple solar panels about 5 inches wide and 8 inches long under the glass towards the front of the hatch would provide more than enough power for a decent CFM fan, once you have that free power you need a small 1.5-2 inch duct that maybe goes into the hatch floor and reaches a (filtered) opening on the bottom/underside of the car. Being that its shaded under the car, you'll be sucking cooler air into the cabin. If I run out of projects this summer I might do some testing to see how many degrees cooler you could get with something like that, if its like 10+ degrees difference it could be worth it prolly 60 bucks total cost I'd guess.
 
#11 ·
I got some high-end window tinting done to keep the interior cool.

Llumar CTX film 15% all around
also Llumar Air Blue on windshield

These lines of tint have very high solar energy rejection (along with no signal degradation).

Working well so far; of course we'll be hitting the hellish summer temps soon here in Tampa...
 
#12 ·
great thread right here.. i also noticed the fans are not very strong. they have to be cranked up high to have an effect.

id recommend getting the intro tech sunshade on ebay, fits perfectly.

other than that and tint, id recommend a fan i guess, but even then you need the AC on to blow cool air around..

parking in shade really does help too..
 
#13 ·
I've been continuing research on using solar energy to cool off cars, of course we know the 20 dollar window clip fans are total gimmicks, but the idea as a whole is not without merit. I read up on Auidi's design which uses a solar panel in their sunroof to power the dash fans. I thought it was an interesting idea, I am still pretty certain my origional idea of putting a filtered duct through the bottom of the hatch would work well but who wants to go cutting 2 inch holes in the bottom of their brand new car right? Well following audi's design, it would take more solar panels or some more expensive high performance ones, but if done right I think we could get enough juice to turn the dash blower at a moderate speed. You'd have to mess with a wee bit of wiring, throw in some diodes to isolate the existing circutry and vise versa and a small switch somewhere out of the way, but once installed you'd never have to mess with it and you'd prolly get down to the same temps as with the foil shield but without the hassle of setting it up and taking it down. If you were able to crack your windows and have an influx of air from the dash, it could be extremely effective. Now I need to figure out how many amps it takes to turn the dash blower...
 
#17 ·
Another factor to think about is the fan design must exceed the rate of heat infiltration other wise with the cost of materials it wont be worth it. The other side of that is with such a higher CFM fan the possibility of building negative pressure inside the car which will cut down on airflow and make the fan "cavitate".
 
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