solar panels

[Ears]

Looking to buy a solar panel. I want to charge my batteries and not just keep them full. Anybody have an ideas on how big I need? I was thinking about a 17 watt or a 30 watt.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I have a 30 watt I got from Northern Tool. I love it. Charges and keeps the battery charged.

[beer batter]

I have some questions on these solar panels.

To use them, do you simply mount the panel outside of your shack in the sun and run the leads inside connected on to your battery terminals? Any other type of circuitry to make sure your battery doesn't get cooked?

What happens when the solar panel is not hooked up to a battery and the leads are just sitting around. Can you turn it off? What if the leads cross while it's on, would it short out the cells in the panel?

I'm thinking about getting one for the ice season, just want to know some more details first. Thanks in advance.

[Eric Wettschreck]

beer batter. Mine is mounted on the roof of my shack. There are 2 leads that you run in, + and -. It's that simple.

I would strongly recommend getting one with the back flow preventer. I can't remember what it's called. The better panels have them built in internally. I think it's some type of diode. That way, when your batter is fully charged it won't cook it and the battery won't send voltage to the panel.

Mine works pretty well on the roof. Even on partly cloudy days. It costed about $150.00. For me it's money well spent considering how much use my battery gets.

In the summer time I still keep it hooked up to a battery. It will trickle charge it and keep it juicy.