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Keep out of reach of children.
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Solar-powered headlamps.
Solar powered headlamps collect that lovely solar energy during the day and releaase it at night. Cheap to buy and easy to use!
[link]
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Kind of baked, as you can get a solar panel thing to plug into your lighter socket to charge up the whole car battery. |
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Try this sometime. Leave your car's lights on at night with the engine off. See how long they last without input from the alternator. PS, only do it if you have a battery charger you can use to recharge your battery after about 2 hours. |
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This may be a neat idea, but very impractical. Headlights draw too high an amperage for the battery alone to run them any length of time, which is why the alternator produces electrical power to run all of the electrical systems whilst the car is running. The battery is really only there to provide energy to start the engine of your car. |
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What [UnaB] said; and anyway, why? The alternator is producing power all the time the engine's running, so why not just use it? |
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Well, it would save some miniscule amount of fuel, yes? (sidenote: I have left my headlights on for over 8 hours and still been able to start the car [albeit with some slow cranking]). |
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Soterios. Low wattage bulbs and no requirement for a continuously powerful light source. |
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bristloz. Minuscule indeed, and the alternator is neede for brake lights, ignition (spark to ignite fuel), indicators, whatever in-car entertainment you use. In fact, it would make some sense to run the radio off a solar-charged battery. |
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[bristolz]: There would be no fuel saving at all. Alternators are rated to produce more power than required, and the output is 'governed' by the control circuitry, so there is usually spare capacity. There would, theoretically, be a minuscule reduction in driving effort if the alternator were run at a slightly slower speed, but this is negligible anyway because the moving parts of an alternator are not in contact with each other. |
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angel, doesn't the concept of an induction loop generator seem like a prizewinning halfbaked idea to you? |
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[UnaB]: Yeah, and I bet Tesla thought so too. |
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I'll bet he did. He was one clever little sucker. I believe no-one can work out to this day how he "pumped" electricity into the ground and electric lights glowed many miles away. |
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