Hello All-

New to the Forum, and had seen a post on the less travl'd A8 forum, and thought that this might be getting a bit more traffic.

I am trying to get information on the Power Solar Sunroof option. What is this option, and how does it differ from the typical moon or sunroof that is most commonly seen as a std feature on A8, and also seen on the A6 models. I am specifically looking at a 98 A8 that has this option.


Many thanks,
CMS

 

the soloar sunroof is a solar panel that runs a fan inside the car when the car gets to like 70 degrees. its supposed to keep the car cooler when its sitting in a parking lot all day but i have never noticed a difference in any of them i have been in. the glass panel also has all grids in it so you cant see out it .

 

Hi - I'm also a newbie to the Audi forum. In regard to the solar roof operation, I have been stonewalled just about by everybody I have contacted at the Audi consumer advocate servicing department and bs'd by 2 Audi dealership service departments. I recently purchased a 2006 Audi A6 4.2 with the solar roof option. The owner manual could not be written any more vague than it is regarding the solar operation. Since I was not detecting any fan running I bought the car back to the dealer and they claimed that the factory setting was not done correctly and corrected the problem. I can not get an Audi tech to call me and describe what I should expect the solar roof operation to do. I have had my servicing dealer give me 2 different answers as to how the solar roof ventilation is supposed to work. I have been told that the roof charges a battery which in turn will run the ventilation fan to bring the car interior close to the exterior temperature provided the sun is shining on the solar panel and then shut down when the battery looses it's full charge - I questioned that because it did not sound logical. Then I was told no, the fan system will run continuously off of the solar panel until the temperature drops or the sun is not energizing the solar panel any more. In either case, all my solar ventilator does is run maybe for ten or fifteen minutes and then shuts down and never turns on again - the interior gets like an oven! I have been trying to get a straight answer out of Audi direct with no success over the last 2 months since I took delivery. At this rate I will soon be asking them how is the heating system supposed to work? It is very disturbing that a Audi owner has to exhaust all means and on top of that get a run-around as the right answer. Maybe someone out there has had better luck than us and can shed some light on the proper operation sequence of the solar panel ventilation system.

 

I have a 2003 A6 4.2 that I got 2 weeks ago. It came with the solar panel sunroof. Today was the first day it was hot or sunny enough to use the solar panel. I noticed no real difference in the interior temp. In actually, I couldn't tell if the fans were on. My wife likes the sun shades that came with the warm weather package, but I may soon be posting questions to see if I can get a standard sun/moon roof installed. I think the solar panel is a gimmick, but I wasn't going to pass up on a 4.2 because of it.

 

I don't think it's a gimmick, I have it on mine and I live here in Los Angeles, believe me it makes a difference, I got a new ac condenser and if I put my hands on one of the vents I can really feel cold air coming out from the vents
It came with the car so I have no complains and it runs on a free energy keeps your car interior in a good shape since my A6 is filled with real leather on all the seats...

 

I didn't even know that audi has a solar panel sunroof. I think it can be really useful in some hot cities like Las Vegas or Houston.

 

Options like this are great, the is a revolution on electric vehicles nowadays, for example, you can buy the audi e-tron, and install Renogy's battery inverters, solar panels, and some other stuff and now you have full electric autonomy in your vehicle! It's great, you can travel long distances this way and don't need a special electric charging station!