Solar panel battery chargers???

[woodybox2002]

Does anybody have any expierience with them? Pros and cons? I am looking to install one on a wheelhouse. I am mostly a weekend warrior, so how large of one would I need to recharge the battery during the week? Watts?

THANKS

[Ed Carlson]

You can get a maintenance solar charger kit for $40 that will do a good job on a single marine 12 V battery. They function as a 1.5 Watt charger, good enough for a simple maintenance trickle charge....just not for a fast recovery in the short term.

Gander Mountain, Harbor Freight, ect.. will have them on the shelf. If you can get one with it's own 12 V regulator built in and will also do USB charging...all the better.

[slurpie]

I used one a few years back not impressed with it. It was kind of a hassle thinking if it was gonna break or not moving across the lake. If i was gonna do it again i would look into a wind generator. But the new solar units may be better built.

[jeffreyd]

We used them on fire trucks that were not used much. mounted the small panel on the roof, and they would maintain the charge. we also used a device that was called a battery saver. when the truck was not running if it had a draw beside what was hooked directly to the battery it would cycle it down. the were ok but the solar panels worked the best to just keep them maintained. with new tecnology they will only get better.

[toughguy]

I have not used a solar or wind charger but I have read that wind is the way to go (especially in winter)

[woodybox2002]

Thanks for the input everyone. I am leaning towards solar instead of wind for the cost factor, also because it could be permantly attached to the house with out the setup every time that I move, and because I would think that it would be less visible to people with sticky fingers. Does anybody know the difference in length of time to charge a fully drained battery by using a 1.5w, 4.5w or a 15w charger?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I'm not a solar expert, but I don't think 1 15watt will be anywhere near enough. I think you'd be talking somewhere around 4 15watt panels in order to recharge a single battery in a day, especially during the winter when there is about 8 hours of good sunlight.

I debated doing solar or wind this year, and after looking at the cost I went out and bought a nice generator and an on board charger. I'll be able to recharge my 3 batteries in about 3-4 hours.

[Whoaru99]

Thanks for the input everyone. I am leaning towards solar instead of wind for the cost factor, also because it could be permantly attached to the house with out the setup every time that I move, and because I would think that it would be less visible to people with sticky fingers. Does anybody know the difference in length of time to charge a fully drained battery by using a 1.5w, 4.5w or a 15w charger?

The difference is proportional. The 15W charger will charge the battery 10 times faster than the 1.5W charger.

Bear in mind that a 15W charger is approximately 1A of charging current in good light. Less light = less output.

For sake of discussion, say you had a 105AH (Amp-Hours) battery (common rating for a group 27 deep cycle battery). Let's also say you drained 50AH hours from the battery (about 1/2)...that means you have to put at least 50AH back into the battery to bring it back to full charge. If the 15W solar charger puts out about 1A, then you'll need 50 hours of good light to bring the battery back to full charge.

Remember, it's all roughly proportional so if you have less (or more) charging need due to length of day or size of charger or amount of drain on the battery, the recovery time will vary proportionally.

As you can see, solar chargers of this size make fine trickle/maintainer chargers, but are not fast for quick turnaround of a low battery.

[jigginjim]

I had the same thought of solar panels for a winter shack. Mybe a pair of panels with a mirror system to reflect more light on the panel. But the on board charger and genny sounds good to. May work better for hunting camp, but I would have all led light in the shack. Run as few as possible during low light hours, don't need that bright of light to remove and bait hooks.

[peerchking]

Whoaru99 is right a 15w panel puts out 1amp, I have 3-15w panels on my roof. I run l.e.d. lights but also watch tv 1 to 4 hours a day (week day/weekend) the only time I had to add another battery was during the superbowl and then it was cloudy for two days. I have been looking in to wind, there ar a lot of kits on line. you could use it on the fish house in the winter and boat batteries in the summer.