Solar panels do work through tints but with a slightly reduced voltage relative to the light, with the sun shining i lost about 2 volts when behind the tint to not..........
I have the small maplins one on the rear window using the supplied suckers and wired through to my centre cubby box power outlet, you can hide the cable behind the seat and under the rear rubber mats.........the 2002-2005 RR appears to have all the outlets live even after sleep mode. I use the centre box as its convenient to pull the plug when i get in the car to drive, i just leave the cubby box lid up when connected to remind me when i get in.
My Bosch battery will only charge now to about 12.24 after a good run or using a battery charger so the solar panel is just to help keep it there when standing for a bit, the ideal should be 12.66 after a charge or run so mine is about 60% efficient against a new battery and may need changing come the winter.
Anything below 12.24 tends to set off the HDC inactive ping on start up............
Various states of charge of a battery, without a drain or load, after the surface charge has dissipated, are:
12.66 volts = 100% charged
12.54 volts = 90% charged
12.45 volts = 80% charged
12.39 volts = 75% charged
12.27 volts = 60 % charged
12.18 volts = 50 % charged
11.97 volts = 25 % charged
11.76 volts = completely discharged
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