Solar Cookin' Time!
Solar Cooking with Vic and Sam.
Latitude: 44°N
Conditions: Partly Cloudy (not very good)
Cooker 1: Home built CooKit
Cooker 2: Car sun shade rolled into a crude CooKit shape and taped to a chair for support
Start time: Approximately 12:00 pm EDT
Finish time: Approximately 2:30 pm EDT
Time in the sun: Approximately 2 1/2 hours
Top temperatures observed:
(CooKit) 150°F / 66°C This is at about the borderline temperature for cooking meat, but iffy. The sausages used were a precooked variety as a precaution.
(Sunshade) 135°F / 57°C Below the temperature required for cooking meat. Lucky for us we were doing a mix of strawberries blueberries and blackberries, and not meat.
Notes: The CooKit cooker was used the first time a few days previously, and was used before the glue holding the aluminum foil was completely dried. Steam from the damp glue caused bubbles under the foil, probably reducing the efficiency of the cooker.
The car sun shade makeshift cooker used a black pot, but the lid of the pot was reflective, which may have reduced its efficiency as well.