I have a saloon/hatchback with a solar panel sun roof. The idea is that in strong sun :sun: it powers the ventilation fans and keeps the interior temperature down. It does work from time to time and when it does there is a really good airflow. This continues until you start the car. But there are times on sunny days (like most times) when it does not cut in. I have RTFM, and it seems it should just work when the sun is strong enough.

Are there any undocumented "gotchas"? e.g. for a while I thought it seemed to depend on which key I used, but I think I have dismissed this theory.

Else it's off to the dealer...

Mine works in practically any strength of sunlight, as soon as the key is removed.

Ray

thanks for the info.

Now to call into the garage...

I had one on my old Mk1 and like Ray it worked in just about and strength of daylight. Kept the car nearly at the same temp as outside, much better than the normal greenhouse heat you get in a parked car.

Sorry for digging up an old thread, but when the car went in for a service I askd them to look at the problem. Response was "we can't do much as it doesn't diagnose on the computer"!! Plus they said it does not cut in till 80 degrees. If this was the USA, fine as 80 fahrenheit is not bad. 80 celcius is a bit warm...

So is anyone aware of any min/max internal temperature limits? Then I can go back and shout...

Edited 13 September, 201114 yr by boxer

... Plus they said it does not cut in till 80 degrees.

There's a technical term for that response - "cobblers."

I often drive my car out of the garage to load it up. The fan cuts in as soon as the key is removed, if the sun is shining on the car. The temperature inside the car at that time is not one degree above the ambient temperature inside my garage, so 80º is (see technical term above).

Ray

There's a technical term for that response - "cobblers."

OK, anyone know a good translation of the above technical-speak into swiss-german?

"Schuster" literally, I think. "Beschissen" is better, I suspect!

Ray

I have the same problem. I just got my car back from the shop and they say the solar panel roof was working OK. But i don't feel it working, i left my car for 1 hour in 26c and the car was very hot when i came back. Does anyone know if it's OK to just leave the Clima on Auto when leaving the car, or should it be manual air flow for it to work ? (I did of course try that but still no cooling from the SUN

There may be some misunderstanding of what the solar roof actually does. Its purpose is to circulate air within the car when it's parked and closed, without impacting in any way on the car battery. It does not, has never and will never cool the internal air, because that would require the air-con to be running, which - in turn - requires the engine to be running. If your normal mode is to have air coming into the car from the outside when moving, (rather than recirculating air), then the fan will circulate the internal air together with whatever air manages to find its way into the car from the outside. Given that there will be a positive pressure inside the car due to the fan, this is not a significant amount - unless the wind is blowing onto the vents at a greater pressure.

IOW, it's better than nothing - but only just!

Ray

Ok that explains alot. I was told by the dealer that if i was going to spain in the summer, i could just leave the car in the sun and if there was like 35c outdoor the car would be around 20c indoor so maybe the dealer is also confused about was the really does

Thanks for the reply.

BR

René

To be polite I think your dealer is confused. Like Ray said it just runs the fans, NOT the air con. If it is 35c outside then it should keep the car somewhere close to 35c inside as well, rather than the 50c+ it would get to with no air movement.

I had one on my MK1 and found it really worked well in the summer. The only bad point was on sunny days in the winter it would cool the car down as soon as you got out, so when you got back in from a quick stop at the shops your car was cold again.

There may be some misunderstanding of what the solar roof actually does. Its purpose is to circulate air within the car when it's parked and closed, without impacting in any way on the car battery. It does not, has never and will never cool the internal air, because that would require the air-con to be running, which - in turn - requires the engine to be running. If your normal mode is to have air coming into the car from the outside when moving, (rather than recirculating air), then the fan will circulate the internal air together with whatever air manages to find its way into the car from the outside. Given that there will be a positive pressure inside the car due to the fan, this is not a significant amount - unless the wind is blowing onto the vents at a greater pressure.

IOW, it's better than nothing - but only just!

Ray

Thanks for the explanation. I was planning to avoid this option due to the heat in the sun here. Your post has confirmed for me that it likely won't keep up and a steel roof would be the cooler option.

The sun in summer here is good enough that tools left in the sun cannot be picked up by bare hands. I suspect a sun-roof is the last thing I need.

This is slightly off topic, but I recently took receipt of my white superb and don't have the solar roof. Comparing it to a Race Blue Octavia I had, my brothers black Dacia or my father's black Audi...it is amazing how much cooler the white superb always is. It's a fell known fact that dark colours absorb more heat...but I never expected the difference to be so massive! So perhaps it's good to opt for light colours if you're living in areas where the sun really can bake? The superb has quite a nice choice as admittedly white isn't everyone's favourite

Indeed, almost all my cars are white and any skoda I order will be too. Only black or white would work with the company sign-writing so it's an easy choice. My brother has a black work truck and the AC in that is needed any time the sun is out.

The best setup for hot climates is the old landrover safari roof. A white false roof sitting about an inch above the main roof. Keeps the sun off and provides an air-gap for cooling air when moving.

Never got mine working consistently, but when it does it is rather effective. OK, not cool inside but doesn't burn the back of your throat when you breath. Also it tends to let the Aircon work a bit faster once you restart as all the ducts etc. are at air temp not oven temp!

However it looks OK on my car, but then its black. As the panel is black, it may look odd on a white car...