solar chargers for vehicle batteries

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Have any of you tried those solar chargers that you put on the dashboard of a vehicle to keep the battery topped up? What do you think of them? There's a bit of range in the prices, is more money better? Do they hold up if not protected in a vehicle, i.e. sitting on the tractor with a bad generator? Given time will they bring back a fairly flat battery or is that too much to ask of them? Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), June 11, 2000

Answers

Gerbil: I haven't had any experience with the panels specifically sold as charge maintainers but I bought a 30watt, 12v panel at MREA a few years ago and use it as a remote charger for the backhoe, tractor, truck etc. This particular panel is 1' x 4' and probably bigger than you want but it will charge a battery quickly. I paid $100 for it or a little more than $3.00watt.

I doubt if the weather will have much effect on the performance of the panel itself unless its covered with snow etc. but the thing to watch for is its frame. If its specifically designed to sit on the dash it might be some kind of rinky dink plastic thing. Those that are designed as battery maintainers are usually small trickle chargers so I'd start with a freshly charged battery and see how it goes. It won't be fast but should do the job.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), June 11, 2000.


Gerbil: I forgot to mention the money they're asking should be directly proportional to the rated output in watts/amps. Typically for the big panels new the prices run from about $5.50-$6.00/watt. It might be worth while to e-mail one or more of the solar places on line and enquire about used panels. They often take used stuff in trade. They'll last forever if not broken and with a minimum of care. There's even a flexible panel out which can be rolled up when not in use. Look for something that will give you at least one amp at about 17 volts. That would get you in the happy medium range between small trickle charger measured in volts and miliamps and full blown panels which can cook your battery in a couple days of full sun. I should know--I've done it.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), June 12, 2000.

I used on for my camper batterey. Just a little 8x8 thing, gives just over a maintenance charge. Would charge the camper battery in a few days of full sun, and that was inside the camper at the window. Make sure it has a diode, so it doesnt drain your battery at night

-- STAN (sopal@net-port.com), June 12, 2000.

We are in the process of installing, on a gradual basis, "Solargizers" on all the equipment at work. I'm sold on the idea and I believe our battery replacement costs are going to start going down. The panels we're buying are not chargers per se, but deliver a very frequent (several 100 times per minute) micro charge or pulse that desulfinates the lead plates in the battery, restoring the sulfer to the acid solution. From our research (I work for a heavy equipment maintenance shop) most lead-acid batteries go bad before the estimated service life due to sulfer buildup on the plates, this micro-burst/pulse technology pervents that. We are also gradually replacing the lead battery connectors/terminals with brass connectors and are looking at replacing the battery cables. In conjunction with the solarigizers we are also using a pulse charger to try and recover dead batteries, prior to using the pulse/burst technology I'd say we managed to recover, through conventional battery charging 10% of the dead batteries, we are probably above 50% now. The solargizers and chargers came from a company called Midtronics - I know there are other brands out there. I was thinking of getting a solargizer for my Ford 9N but all the panesl sold by Midtronics are for 12 or 24 volt systems and my Ford has the original 6 volt system.

-- Robert (STBARB@usa.net), June 14, 2000.

Hey Robert: Are you guys using EDTA as part of your battery recovery efforts?

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), June 14, 2000.


The military has been using those solar chargers for a couple of years now in their tactical vehicles. The hummers have two 12 volt batteries in series and I know my radio system put a tredmedous drain on them. We used to have problems time and again with running the batteries down too much to start up the engine, but I never had that problem once we got the chargers (or maybe I just did a better job of keeping an eye on my guages).

-- Chris Stogdill (cstogdill@rmci.net), June 15, 2000.

Gerbil,

Download (or buy) a copy of HomePower magazine and plunder about the ads. Their classifieds often have all sorts of goodies.

J

-- j (jw_hsv@yahoo.com), June 15, 2000.


I've been using a 5W flexible panel in my greenhouse with a small deep discharge 12V marine battery with a great deal of success. This particular panel is designed for marine applications and is weather proof and has an in-line diode so it won't discharge the battery in darkness/cloudy weather etc. Of course this isn't an automotive set up, but I don't see why it wouldn't work well in such a setup. If your not going leave the panel connected for long periods things should be fine, but for long term a 5W panel may cook the fluid right out of the battery! They make 1 watt panels for on dash use and I would think they should work out fine for maintenance purposes as long as there is a diode in line. There are charge controllers for use with panels that have a full charge cut off so the battery won't be damagd if the panel is left connected for longer periods. Hope this helps!

-- Bob Johnson (backwoods_bob_2000@yahoo.com), June 15, 2000.

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