solar battery chargers

[roger buckley]

I am looking at a solar powered battery charger from Maplin at 9.99 , that apparently trickle feeds the van battery at 12v 1.5w. Has any one used these successfully to keep the battery topped up , or should i await the show this weekend and see what is available there ?
Regards roger

 

[atakd]

Hi Roger

See this hread:
Link Removed

My opinion is that a 1.5V panel is too small, especially through glass, to maintain a battery. 5W is about the smallest you'll get away with.
Andy

 

[Geo]

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick
But only just more gimicky than usefull
10 -15 watt is best to stand any chance :thumb:

 

[zaskar]

I am looking at a solar powered battery charger from Maplin at 9.99 , that apparently trickle feeds the van battery at 12v 1.5w. Has any one used these successfully to keep the battery topped up , or should i await the show this weekend and see what is available there ?
Regards roger

Be very carefull with these. They're not that powerfull, BUT, I'll tell you a little story.

Last year, after just 12 months, we decided that a twin axle was DEFINATELY not for us and bought a 5th wheel. We were lucky enough (financially) to be able to have both side by side on site whilst we swapped everything over to our lovelly new 5ver.
The caravan then spent 4 weeks at the side of our 5ver empty till we sold it.
During this time, I HAD to keep the battery topped up to run the Phantom tracking system and so I got a "dashboard" solar panel, wired it to the battery and placed it just under the heiky roof light to get max performance.
Within 4 weeks, the battery was bone dry!!!!!!
I was dammed annoyed with myself cos battery levels is something I usually am pretty keen on. I'm certain I checked the levels before I conected the panel, but within 4 weeks it was dry! This was last May when we had about 2-3 solid weeks of very nice full sun weather.

All I'm saying is, be carefull, dont just conect and forget.

HTH

 

[GJH]

See this thread - Link Removed - as well.

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[Douglas]

I am looking at a solar powered battery charger from Maplin at 9.99 , that apparently trickle feeds the van battery at 12v 1.5w. Has any one used these successfully to keep the battery topped up , or should i await the show this weekend and see what is available there ?
Regards roger

As a 12 volt battery charger its a joke, it wont even keep up with the natural self discharge rate on the battery IE you battery will still flatten its self even while its on charge.

12volt at 1.5watts = 0.125 amps or 1/8 of an amp/hour or 3 amps per day

And that is assuming that the solar panel is receiving 100% max sunlight for 24 hours a day. Save you money and get something much bigger.

Doug

 

[ShiftZZ]

I alsoi had one and it killed my battery dead...

ShiftZZ