[Lee GLS]

does anyone use a solar battery charger? are they any good?

I was thinking of adding one the my battery to run along with my split charger.

[SunShineCleaning]

I had on on my last vehicle and found that I only had to recharge the battery 2-3 times in winter. It wasn't connected to a split charger or anything but it was a £70 panel from maplins.

I will see if I can dig out a video I took.

If connected to a split charger or even the main battery, I cant see any reason why you would ever have to charge it as the solar panel will keep it topped up.

[LWC]

I use the main battery to power pump, have for a long time but was thinking about getting a solar panel to keep it charged.

Are they any good? Any links?

[Lee GLS]

I had on on my last vehicle and found that I only had to recharge the battery 2-3 times in winter. It wasn't connected to a split charger or anything but it was a £70 panel from maplins.

I will see if I can dig out a video I took.

If connected to a split charger or even the main battery, I cant see any reason why you would ever have to charge it as the solar panel will keep it topped up.

thanks, that would be good.

[SunShineCleaning]

I think this is the one I have

[LWC]

Thats brilliant for £39! Ive got a problem with my van at mo charging so ive been sticking it on charge at night but i think this might get one of these.

A first class water proof 12V solar panel, with a decent power output. It recharged a battery in 1 day. I would recommend it to anyone.

This and rainwater, we really will be "green" lol

Cheers

[Lee GLS]

I think this is the one I have

thanks, looks good.

[SunShineCleaning]

Video One

Video Two

These are not very good or really that informative but I did them 3 weeks after I got the solar panel.
I think I say it's a 1kw panel but I'm not sure it is, can't remember, but it is about 1m long by 30cm
Hope this helps. I had a pick up at the time and the panel was fixed to the top.

[Scrimmer73]

I use a small Maplin Solar panel  ,, it does its job , but i cant honestly say that i can rely on it ,, the battery still needs a good charge ,  every week , changed Vans  recently and I will get a split charger ,, but for £15  it has paid for its self.
 A locksmith i know has a Panel on his roof that fits most of his Transit roof ,, he has 240 volts to use a soldering iron  and his computers ..
 

[LWC]

Dont think you can say you could rely on one, not a £15 one anyway (no offence intended) maybe you could rely on a bigger one, but for a constant trickle charge i think these would be great

[Spruce]

I think this is the one I have

Sorry guys,

but I'm struggling to understand how this is going to help you in the day to day short term. The link is for a 1 amp solar panel. If your pump is drawing 6 - 8 amps per hour, then 1 amp is hardly going to make an impression on recharging the battery, even if the pump is only working for 20 mins per hour.
Little wonder that Scrimmer says that the battery still needs a good charge.
A decent size panel would work, but at the cost, hardly worth the money IMHO.

They would be fine as a trickle charge while the cars standing at the airport, but then again, would I want something connected to my battery that had no cutout and would just slowly carry on charging the battery, even when fully charged? Think is would be safer to have the AA out to jumpstart the car.

Spruce

[SunShineCleaning]

I only had to charge it twice during the winter and it wasnt linked to van battery and I only used car batteries fro scrapyard, what more can I say it works.

Don't forget your pump is never running ALL the time.

[windowswashed]

The 1 nmetre solar panels kick out 18 watts charge and are best mounted on the roof bars for trickle charging battery. They have an overload protection built in so no chance of overcharging battery

[windowswashed]

Last message should have read 18 amps, not watts......sorry!

[gto]

watts not amps

http://www.sunshinesolar.co.uk/khxc/index.php?app=gbu0&ns=prodshow&ref=saver15&sid=29zef387b33h4b348b06pjuhwj134989

[Spruce]

18 watts is just over 1 amp

[C.C.S.]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200614032508#ht_3189wt_1139
that's what is use .install it last month ,took 30  min , connected to a car battery from scrap yard and works very well no more lugging the battery to charge it .one of the things i'm sorry i did do it earlier

[Spruce]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200614032508#ht_3189wt_1139
that's what is use .install it last month ,took 30  min , connected to a car battery from scrap yard and works very well no more lugging the battery to charge it .one of the things i'm sorry i did do it earlier

I fitted one of those on my son's van, but still have to fully charge the leisure battery with a battery charger every few days. We don't do much mileage though. He did use his van for a private journey of about 40 miles the other day, and his battery still wasn't fully charged when he got back. The split charge relay is protected by 15amp fuses and they have never blown. He uses a Peugeot Partner hdi.

I do get the feeling that a car battery (starter battery) will charge faster than a leisure battery from the same alternator, but this is only a hunch. Does anyone know if this is true. Before I replaced the last leisure battery in my Citroen Relay, I had toyed with the idea of using a similar size van battery as an experiment.

Spruce

[C.C.S.]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200614032508#ht_3189wt_1139
that's what is use .install it last month ,took 30  min , connected to a car battery from scrap yard and works very well no more lugging the battery to charge it .one of the things i'm sorry i did do it earlier

I fitted one of those on my son's van, but still have to fully charge the leisure battery with a battery charger every few days. We don't do much mileage though. He did use his van for a private journey of about 40 miles the other day, and his battery still wasn't fully charged when he got back. The split charge relay is protected by 15amp fuses and they have never blown. He uses a Peugeot Partner hdi.

I do get the feeling that a car battery (starter battery) will charge faster than a leisure battery from the same alternator, but this is only a hunch. Does anyone know if this is true. Before I replaced the last leisure battery in my Citroen Relay, I had toyed with the idea of using a similar size van battery as an experiment.

Spruce

usually  my battery lasted 2 days or 1 1/5 days before the relay so was a good battery but know it seems it always fully charged .my work it's spread over an closed area .i don't do to many housed in one street but in same area so i do move my van a few times a day