Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

[BAYLINER185]

I just ordered 2 Solar Power battery Chargers.
One for each bank of batteries on my 27 foot cruser. I figure I can moutn the two solar cells up on the rarar arch and run the wires all the way down inside to the engine compartment and wa la batteries maintained.

I figure that way when Im not using the boat ( its stored at the lake ) the batteries will always be fresh and fully charged or at least close to fully charged. When Im out using the boat the same thing is happening. I will always have an electrical signal keeping the batteries up since there is a lot of elsectrical demand on my BAYLINER 2755 cruser.

Woundering if anyone has had this idea or is using something liek this on their boat and what has the results been. Im expecting to not have to worry that my batteries may die unexpectedly.

 

[wire2]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

What's the volts & watts rating on the solar cells? It takes 12 watts at 12 volts to put 1 amp of current into your batteries. That's a bit more than you'll get from a plug-in DC adapter.
If the batts are down from accessory use, it will take many hours of charge to bring them back up

 

[BAYLINER185]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

Hello

The chargers are 2 watts at 15 volts.

I dont need the charger to totally recharge the batteries just to keep them close to full when the boats sits between each use at the marina.

It will be basicly be like a tricle charger wont it?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

You have about 0.13A (130 milliamps) of current going to the battery. That's not enough power to light a light bulb. I use one of those to keep my garden tractor topped off over the winter but has about five months to do it. For that purpose it works. For your application, it will hardly keep up with the drain the memory for the radio draws. If your battery had a drain of 10A for one hour, it would take that solar charger 100 hours to replace those amps. There is no way in heck they will add any value when you are under way. Demand far exceeds the output of those things. They are at best a novelty. If you have shore power available, a better investment would be an on-board charger. If you have power draw issues under way, you need a bigger alternator on the motor, or carry a small Honda generator.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

I was thinking of the solar idea myself, looking at this site. Now I can't remember the amps they claim to put out, but it's a trickle charge setup. I think these were 2 amp trickle charge. I myself don't live on the water nor do I store my boat on or at the lake. I live about an hour away. Of course if I have the boat covered I guess it wont do any good to have a solar panel lol.

"http://solarilluminations.com/acatalog/Solar_Battery_Charger_Panel_RV_Boat_Car_Truck.html"

So it's not worth it?

 

[BAYLINER185]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

wildmaninal LOL

Thats exactly the chargers I bought.......HMMMMM not worth it? Damn I feel stupid fro spending 76.00 now. I was hoping they would at least keep the battery banks "fresh"


I dont have power draw issues underway other then the normal load's ....a small fridge is maby the biggest load...But this Friday night out on the lake was no problem. Fridge running, A 1 amp green fishing light and nav lights wasnt a problems at all. I just want something to maintain the batteries when Im not using the boat and since we get about 360 days of nothign but un interuppded sun here in AZ I figured that would be cool to use. Actually have a use for the radar Arch LOL.....

I do have shore power on the boat but no shore power at the dock / storage. The boat has an onboard charger that I can use when I pull the boat to my house once every few months or so.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

Aint I good lol. I had that link on my web site. You could try and send them back or sell them local. Or put them on the boat and hope for the best, or just to show off the novelty as I think Silvertip said lol. They may work pretty good on a 4 wheeler, old riding lawn mower or something like that I don't know. There can be other uses for them. Good luck with what ever you decide to do and if you do install them let me know how they work. You could use them to power your watch , just joking.

 

[BAYLINER185]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

Wild

Ill let you know maby Ill rig them up at 1st to see what they do and then try a perminent mount iof they actually seem to help. Ill let you know what happens as this seems like a good idea. They make these things the least they got to do is do something right? LOL

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

I hear ya. Good luck to ya.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

Don't be discouraged from solar power for charging batteries. You can buy larger panels that would do what you want to do. But you also need more space, you need a charge regulator, and of course, a lot more money. And then that panel will be the ever present target for thieves who in the process of stealing the panel, will scour the boat and carry off other valuable stuff. Aren't I a ray of sunshine this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BAYLINER185]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

Silvertip

LOL

Yea I hear ya I was just hoping I spent 76.00 wisely.....I may not have DAMN IT lol.....Ill give it a try and see what happens..

I did see higher watt pannels for a lot more $$$... I didnt want to spend a lot of money... and I kn ow you get what you pay for


Oh well live and learn....It may do enough though when the boat sits long and that may be good enough.

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

Bayliner at least you didn't start a never ending project like I did with this trolling motor modification that you may have viewed the thread on under handi cap modification for trolling motor. I can't get anything to work right .

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

Re: Solar Power Battery Charger? what do you think about this

I dont need the charger to totally recharge the batteries just to keep them close to full when the boats sits between each use at the marina.

It will be basicly be like a tricle charger wont it?

Heya Bayliner185

You'll need at least 30 watts of solar panels to keep your batteries up while it sits at the dock. That's exactly what we do and only use the boat on weekends. We have 30 watts of panels and a 7 Amp charge controller. Given average daylight and cloud conditions we get just enough to keep the batts fully charged. We use 2 deep cycle 180 amp hour rated batts for all house loads.

We have, in the past, killed all batts and the solar panels got us enough juice to start the engine in about an hours worth of daylight.