Solar Trickle Charge Panel??

PleaseDear

PleaseDear

Long Time Member
Messages
10,518
Hey fella's,

I see these trailor / RV solar panel battery chargers (under $100) all over heck lately.

Anyone actually use one?

And do they work for trickle charging a dual battery set-up?

Thanks-----


Robb
 
i have a 18 watt solar charger for my 2 6 volt batteries. i believe it helps ALOT. by no means is the trailer self sufficiant(sp??) but more days before i need to charge them.
and the time of year make a difference on how well they work. in the summer it awsome, it's charging all day BUT you hardly use any battery. no furnace, longer days means less lights used etc...

but this last weekend the furnace ran ALOT, and it's shorter days, so they dont keep up as much.

still( if my levels tester is accurate, which they seem to be) i woke up sunday morning and they read 1/3 charged, by 2:00 pm they read 2/3 charged.

for 100 bucks you cant go wrong i think. i do know they add to your charge.
compared to 1000.00 a friend of mine put into his panels, his is pretty close to self sufficiant. he will leave his trailer out most of the summer and never charge his batteries.
your just not going to get the same results from the two panels. but the little one will help
 
I have a big one on mine, had it put on last year at a cost of about a grand. I had new batteries, and by the end of the fall they were shot!

Now I don't know if the panels wrecked them or not, but I've never had a set of RV batteries ruined in 3 months before. I have yet to pull it out this year, I will be taking it in for a check-up to see if something is haywire with the set-up.

Just something to ask/research before you buy..but for 100 buck, it ain't gonna hurt as bad as the 1000 I spent.
 
LAST EDITED ON Apr-26-10 AT 08:45PM (MST)[p]Uhhhhhh, nevermind reddog. If you want some help with that trickle charger problem pm me. I might be able to shed some light on your battery degredation.



ego participate in Monasteriense muleys proinde ego sum bardus (I participate on monstermuleys therefore I am stupid)
 
>LAST EDITED ON Apr-26-10
>AT 08:45?PM (MST)
>
>Uhhhhhh, nevermind reddog. If you want
>some help with that trickle
>charger problem pm me. I
>might be able to shed
>some light on your battery
>degredation.
>
>
>
>ego participate in Monasteriense muleys proinde
>ego sum bardus (I participate
>on monstermuleys therefore I am
>stupid)

Or you could just post up the helpful info you have so that everybody can benefit.
 
I deal with alot of batteries and solar panels. I use alot of them and install alot of them. Solar panels WILL ruin your batteries if you do not regulate them and the proper regulator must be installed to regulate them properly. Most regulators will let the charge go to high, especially the cheaper regulators, and will not regulate according to the temperature of the batteries, which will end life on batteries prematurly also. I finally designed my own regulator which works wonderful, I might be able to reccommend some if interested. I'm not interested in selling any on the ones I make commercially.
 
>Frontier..... Can you recommend a good
>brand of regulator?.... Terry


Terry, look in your PM box.
 
Ah--come on Frontier!

We all need some info of value!

Do the smaller 'Watt' panels need a regulator as much as the high 'Watt' panels do?

Thanks

Robb
 
1 watt seems really small doesn't it? i thought mine was a little small at 18 watts. i seen a 40 watt panel in a magazine for 200 bucks, that seemed like a good deal. my 18 watt came with a regulator that turnes it off so it cant over charge. i bought it a SCHUCKS , the auto parts store.
 
From the solar panels I've designed here are the problems noted. Cheap solar panels usually have low efficiency ratings. that means they only convert one phase of light. The higher the efficiency rating the more phases of light they can convert at the silicone level. The problem with the multiple layers of silicone is that you have to merge all of the conversion lines on the output. These are always off in phase which results in spikes in the current. These spikes are detremental to batteries. Look for a top end high frequency filtering circuit that you can hook up between your panel and the battery. Eliminate the spikes in the current and you will have one awesome solar charger. Another problem with trickle chargers is that sometimes they are not clean. Instead of pure dc power you sometimes get triangle waves coming out like in a light dimmer. Again a great high frequency filter to eliminate the high frequency noise coupled with a low pass filter based at the dc range would most likely solve any and all related problems. In addition stop by radio shack and purchas a little 12V dc regulator chip about the size of your thumb nail. Connect this in line just before your battery and it will ensure that you aren't over powering your battery. I've had several campers that burn through batteries and I've built my own cheapy little voltage regulators and had no problems after that. a little backend circuitry know how with the dc reg is neeeded but most electronics shop can help you out there. Its all straight forward easy to understand knowledge.



ego participate in Monasteriense muleys proinde ego sum bardus (I participate on monstermuleys therefore I am stupid)
 
Stinky, you should copy & paste all your post's, they would make much more sense....

horsepoop.gif


Disclaimer:
The poster does not take any responsibility for any hurt or bad feelings. Reading threads poses inherent risks. The poster would like to remind readers to make sure they have a functional sense of humor before they visit any discussion board.
 
LAST EDITED ON Apr-30-10 AT 09:11AM (MST)[p] Looks like a pretty good pasting job stinky, why don't you just do that and go to radio shack and do what you told us, so you can spread some more hog wash.

In my opinion and experience the smaller solar panels are a waste of money when used for camping. If you match a small solar panel with a particular size battery you would not need a regulator, but the charging would be so small it would be of little use for camping. I put an 80 watt panel on my trailor and it works great, I would not put anything less than a 40 watt. You better have a good regulator though or you will ruin your batteries.
 
I have a battery problem while we are on the subject that I need help with. I have replaced my magnetic transfer switch 4 times now. thats the switch that detects generator vs pole power. It seems a few weeks after I put a new one in they quit switching and that one of the emag transfers quits working. It can still detect power and throw the switch to transfer but the transfer doesnt complete. If you measure the voltage on one side of the post its 120v. on the other side its only 16v. The post aren't burned up and everything still looks new. I measured the electrostatic field with my labview/laptop setup and its strong. The transient swithcing times are in spec and everything looks brand new. I just can't figure out whats going on and the only other thing I can figure to do next is to gut it and design my own mother board on pspice and send it to boulder colorado and have them make the pcb for my camper. I don't wanna do that because the price of a single custom pcb is so high. any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


ego participate in Monasteriense muleys proinde ego sum bardus (I participate on monstermuleys therefore I am stupid)
 
Stinky I don't know why, but I feel sorry for you so here's some advice. Either put you tongue across the 120 volt post to the side of the 16 volt post, this will tell you if you have any current flowing. The other thing you can do is pee across both terminals, and this will difinitely tell you if you have enough. Hope this helps.
 
LAST EDITED ON May-05-10 AT 03:47AM (MST)[p]Well.......

I got a 2 watt solar panel here locally for $40 out the door.

I have it hooked up on my dual battery system and with just the normal alarm type lights running 24/7 it has done okay.

I just came in from checking the monitor panel and it is showing 3/4 full charge from overnight.

When I checked it last night it was showing 7/8 full charge after having the sun for like 1/2 the day.

So I am playing it by live and learn type deal.....$40 no harm no big lo$$.

thanks for your input.

Robb
 
LAST EDITED ON May-05-10 AT 09:31AM (MST)[p]2 watts will never keep up if you are intending to dry camp. I went whole hog and bought a single 80 watt panel and controller for my camper. I have a single group 24 battery. Works great but was spendy. For almost the same money you can get a Honda 2000 inverter generator.

One thing you can also do but it costs $$ is to change out your 12V 1156 bulbs for the new led's.

http://www.prudentrver.com/ledlamps.html
 
LAST EDITED ON May-10-10 AT 02:47PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON May-10-10 AT 02:46?PM (MST)

LAST EDITED ON May-10-10 AT 02:45?PM (MST)

This is what I picked up today for 169$
3 panal 45 watt with regulator , now just need to pick up a inverter.
 
Just an update of the 2 watt solar panel that has been on about a full to date month.

I have had to plug in to electricity once and that was for 24 hours as I got my fridge going for my trip in mid-May.

I have not plugged in for electricity since that date and have totally been charged batteries off the lil' 2 watt solar panel.

We have had rain, snow, below freezing temps plus sunny days and 60's temps---basically all the screwy weather.

I am content........

Robb
 
I have saved a lot of money just staying at a motel when I have to. However, when I do have to camp there are these propane lanters (coleman makes them) that work pretty good (they make heaters to). The bugs love them as well. :)
 
Hey Robb! I'm a little late on this post for sure but my father in law just picked up a solar panel, had it wired and working for under $200. A guy in Mt Pleasant did his. I also use the 2 6 volt system with a larger panel and I don't ever have to charge my batteries except in the winter time. I have used the same 2 batteries with the solar panel for 4 years now. The only time I have ever had an issue is when I neglected to clean my terminals and didn't have a really good connection. Leason learned! Anyway, if you haven't tripped the trigger yet call me and I can get you the guys number if you're interested.


It's always an adventure!!!
 
LAST EDITED ON Jun-04-10 AT 03:26AM (MST)[p]Thanks Jim for the offer!

I am pretty content right now with the performance of the lil' 2 watt solar panel and batterys charge.

I will have to go to electricity on Tuesday to fire up the fridge for 24 hours before my get-a- way to Wyo next week.

Thanks again bud,

Robb
 

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