12v solar charger

[lairdAl_374474951]

hi all, iv'e had one of those 12v trickle solar chargers for xmas.

son thought it would be a good idea once leisure battery was charged to connect this and keep battery topped up until van comes out of storage at easter.

I haven't tried it yet,does anyone else do this ? your thoughts / comments would be appreciated.

laird al.

 

[Oldsalt49]

Hi Laird Al,

I have done exactally that. Due to an error on my part, my leisure battery was totally flat and I mean flat. I bought a Ctek Multi XS3600 and had the battery on charge for about 3 weeks. After a week it still only had 8.1 volts, so I connected up my old charger and gave it a quick charge to 12.5 volts. I have been in contact with Ctek who said they thought my Ctek charger was struggling with the 110Ah battery. I have since bought a 12amp charger from Argos (

 

[Oldsalt49]

Sorry Laird Al, I missread your post and didn't recognise you saying a solar trickle charger, so my reply above may be useless to you?

 

[RonD]

I have a small solar charger which sits in a south facing window of the van. The battery reads around 13v on a sunny day. It will charge at around 85 to 100 mA in full sun, much less on a cloudy day, but still enough to keep it topped up, providing it's fully charged to start with.

Ron

 

[JohnnyV]

Hi,

I have been wondering about something like this myself - basically to avoid taking the battery off when in storage and bringing home to charge (as a tracker is fitted I also have to notify them that the battery is off - plus of course I am actually invalidating my insurance because of the discounts for alarm & tracker).

Do you simply connect the solar panel up to the battery terminals ? Can it be that simple ? Is it ok then just to leave the battery connected to the van for the alram and tracker to draw from?

Cheers

Jon

 

[Oldsalt49]

Not sure about other make, but my new 2010 Swift has a connection for a solar panel. I can't say if it is fitted on older models. Why not have 2 batteries and swap them over every 2 months, problem solved with the insurance cover? Mind you, another battery probably costs about the same as you got in discount.

 

[Rita1]

We use solar panel to keep battery topped up when on sites in the summer brill bit of kit

How to wire solar panel to battery

http://www.ehow.com/how_5041271_wire-solar-panels-battery.html

 

[lairdAl_374474951]

Hi all,thanks for your replies much appreciated,battery's fully charged & have connected the solar charger etc.will see how it performs.

Just got to go to halfords now & get a voltage meter.

laird al.