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Auto Cool
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Vendor Commercial
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ASOTVI Review
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August 11, 2008
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| | | ASOTVI RATING: DOESN'T WORK AS ADVERTISED |
What is it? A solar-powered fan intended to cool your car while it is sitting in the sun.
This product consists of a small solar-powered fan that is meant to hang on the edge of a car window, similar to how a speaker used to be hung at a drive-in theater. The product also comes with rubber weather stripping to fill the gap created by rolling the window down enough to accommodate the width of the plastic hanger of main product unit.
For our evaluation we took a temperature reading of the air outside of our test vehicle, and observed it was 96 degrees, in August, at about 1:00 in the afternoon on a sunny day. The interior of the vehicle was at 81 degrees. In less than an hour, with all of the windows rolled up, the interior temperature of the vehicle climbed to 93 degrees. We then attempted to see if the product would make any difference in improving the vehicle’s interior temperature. Unfortunately, we never got that far.
The product’s instructions specifically state that the product “…may not work on dark tinted windows.” Presumably, this is because dark tinting could prohibit sufficient light from activating the solar panel and producing enough electricity to power the fan. As you can see in our video, the window we put the product on had very little tinting, if any, which was how the window came from the factory. And yet, on a hot, sunny day in South Florida, the fan would not run when placed on a window. In fact, even when we faced it directly at the sun, if a small cloud passed by, the fan would stop. It was apparent that the solar panel on this product is not strong enough to perform its basic function without intense, direct sunlight. Anything short of that and we observed it was non-functional.
Furthermore, there’s a fundamental flaw in the basic premise of this product. That is, with the weather stripping provided, even if the unit were facing the sun directly, which could only happen in the morning or later in the afternoon when the sun is lower in the sky and therefore hitting the solar panel at the most advantageous angle, and even if the fan did run, then conceptually speaking, with no ventilation from elsewhere in the vehicle, no fan would be able to circulate hot air out of a vehicle without creating a vacuum inside the vehicle. Any hot air blown out would have to be replaced with air from somewhere else to equalize the air pressure.
Now if you cracked another window elsewhere on the vehicle, then there might be the possibility of some exchange of air, between air that is inside the vehicle which is hotter than the ambient temperature outside the vehicle. Then again, that effect can often be achieved by just cracking a window on both sides of a vehicle and taking advantage of any available breeze, as people who live in hot climates have known to do since the invention of the automobile.
If indeed, any window tinting at all of car windows renders this product useless, then that pretty much includes all cars and trucks made these days, for very few are manufactured with absolutely no tinting whatsoever—for the very reason that window tinting helps reduce interior heat. And unless there is a way for air to flow into a vehicle, then due to the basic dynamics of air pressure, the product’s fan isn’t going to blow very much air out of the vehicle, even if the fan could run. So don’t expect any substantive change in your vehicle’s temperature.
This product therefore does not work as advertised.
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Product: Auto Cool
Available From: Allstar Products Group
Summary:
- Requires direct, intense sunlight to work
- Does not work with any degree of tinting or cloud cover
- Cannot circulate air properly without creating an alternate air flow
$14.95 + S&H
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