Solar battery chargers

[nerten]

This has probably been covered before,but I'm new to pontoons and boating in general. I was told that a solar charger could run a trolling motor and keep the battery charged between outings on the boat. Any help you experts can provide would be very helpful. It seems like this would be a great way to be sure to have a fully charged battery for each outing as it's a long walk from the dock to the cabin to charge the battery. Thanks again for any info.

 

[Lyle29464]

Re: Solar battery chargers

You might be able to maintain a charged battery. To charge a battery you would need a huge one. google the output and compare that to a battery charger.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Solar battery chargers

I had just a 5 watt solar charger for my sailboat and it seemed to keep the battery charged well. I do not think that you could run a trolling motor 'on-demand' with the charger, but a 10 or 20 watt charger could replenish the battery(ies) fairly well between outings and trolling.

 

[muskiemike12]

Re: Solar battery chargers

It depends on how much you drain the battery. If you bring it down to around 50%, then a couple of days with a 10 watt panel will bring it back up.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Solar battery chargers

Lets run those numbers a bit. Using a 40A draw (50 - 55# motor) would suck 40A from a battery in one hour at its highest setting. A 5 WATT panel outputs .39A in full sunlight. A 10 WATT panel outputs .78A in full sunlight. At those rates of charge the 5W panel would take 102 hours of full sunlight to replace that current. a 10W panel would take 51 hours and in both cases the battery would not likely be fully charged due to the taper effect as the battery reaches full charge. Since the sun doesn't shine 24 hours a day (at least where I live) you can quickly determine that this is not an efficient way to do this. A solar panel big enough to charge a battery with any speed would need to be as big as your boat. And unless you have a panel that can acutally deliver 40 AMPS (not WATTS) you cannot drive a troller directly. You don't have to lug the battery to the cabin. Why not run a heavy duty extension cord to the dock.