can solar power slow-cook food in 89 LXi (has sunroof) ?

[rebuild]

i drive around the country and get so hungry that so many times i have dreamed of this ..
i would feast. i'm telling you.

so has anyone rigged up a small solar panel maybe just under the sunroof glass or on the back shelf and know how much power can generate to run a small slow-cooker during the day?

[Dr_Snooz]

Well, a slow cooker pulls 70 watts on the low setting and 250 on high. You might be able to get a sunroof-sized panel to produce 70 watts, but it's not likely. A 250 watt panel would cover half the car. Bear in mind that it would be 70 watts at 12v. You'd need an inverter to turn it into 120v. Assuming a very cheap $1/watt panel, you'd spend $70 on the panel and another $15 or so on the inverter. So figure on about $85 to take a flyer.

I'll caution you that I found solar to be a big waste of time. The rated output of a panel is only in optimum conditions. If the sun isn't directly overhead, the output will be a lot less. In the situation you're describing, you would do well to get 2 hours of peak output a day. Glass will also diminish the output. Tinted sunroof glass will affect it much more. Worst of all, solar is highly variable and requires constant fiddling. Each time it craps out, you'll be throwing out a meal that sat at ambient temp all day.

For my purposes, solar was very expensive and simply not reliable at all. You'd be better off building a proper solar oven out of cardboard and aluminum foil. I'm not bashing your creativity. I've just been down that road, spent all the money and had my heart broken by a useless technology.

[g.frost]

..... You'd be better off building a proper solar oven out of cardboard and aluminum foil.
.....

+1 Use the sun roof for a sun tan. A 2 foot diameter solar funnel/cone cooker will boil a 2-3 liter crock pot on any sunny day. This is the most efficient way to cook with the sun. A PV panel is maybe 18-20% efficient.

[lostforawhile]

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h281/halfbreed187/ls1tech/THREAD.jpg

[gp02a0083]

I agree with snooz. Using solar can be a very frustrating ordeal to tackle. I recall in my tech class back in high school we cooked hot dogs for lunch with a reflective setup like Snooz was describing. At best it was able to cook them within 2-3 hours. Practical low tech solutions have not worked out very well, however some of the newer technology is more promising. I saw an article the other day that they are trying to use 3D printers to just print out solar cell pad arrays making accessibility greater. The current silicon based second generation solar cells are inefficient and the 3rd generation cells that are typically dye /anthocyanin based with porphyrin groups show better efficiency. All that stuff is high tech and is not practical.

[conozo]

I used to put pop tarts on the dash to cook on hot days, and in the winter i would put them right over the heater vent. It actually worked pretty well.