Solar charging question
Posted:
Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:22 amby drcurran
Tried to do a search on this, but no luck. Hope someone can help. I saw Northern Tool has a 1.8 watt solar charger for 12v battery charging (camping , ATV, RVing, whatever). If you use 12v for CT lights, and mayb a small fan, will 1.8 watt rechage the battery pretty quickly? Thanks for any quidance on this issue.
Dan
Posted:
Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:31 amby madjack
...nope, that is actually considered a "maintainer" and not an actual charger...it is designed to keep a sitting battery topped off...consider this, if you used 10amp hours, it would take 5-10 hours to recharge at near max efficiency(which rarely happens)...add up your theoretical usage...amp draw times hours used and divide by the amp output of charger...keep in mind, if a cheapy solar panel reaches 50+% of peak efficiency in hard sunlight, it is doing pretty good..................
madjack
Thank you!
Posted:
Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:56 amby drcurran
Hey MadJack - Thanks! I sort of figured is was one of those "too good to be true" situations or "you get what you pay for". I'd be better off just letting my truck charge the battery each day. Thanks again!
Dan
Posted:
Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:50 amby madjack
...actually did the math wrong...thinking amps not watts...using the correct numbers, it would take 66.66 hours to replace that 10 amp hour usage...this is a unit, you would hook to a boat, RV, car in long term storage to maintain the battery..................
madjack