Posted 2015-01-26 1:12 PM (#162382) Subject: Solar battery charger
Regular
Posts: 91 Location: Waverly,Oh
Have any of you had any experience with using a Solar unit on your trailer to keep your battery[s] charged? I don't know much about them and would like some good advice about what to buy and what not to buy. All I want is a panel located on top of the trailer that will help keep one 12v battery charged.
Posted 2015-01-28 10:00 AM (#162398 - in reply to #162382) Subject: RE: Solar battery charger
Regular
Posts: 91 Location: Waverly,Oh
I did get good info/advice from a couple retailers that sell solar units. Basically, this is what I understood them to say. First, solar power would not be able to keep my battery charged if there was a medium to heavy draw on it from trailer lights, control circuits,furnace fan, ect. [which there will be on occasion]It was recommended that I replace the single 12V battery with two 6 volt batteries connected in series . Deka brand AGM golf cart batteries which have 190 amp hours of use were recommended. I was able to order them from a local NAPA store. I was told that I would need to recharge the batteries a couple hours a day when we used the 12V systems in the trailer. Supposedly the AGM golf cart batteries can be recharged many more time then the marine batteries.Although the two batteries are expensive, the cost is still much less then an inadequate solar charging system.
Posted 2015-02-05 7:55 AM (#162467 - in reply to #162382) Subject: RE: Solar battery charger
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 524 Location: Lone Oak, Tx
I have a 40w panel on top of my trailer and my batteries are never dead. I primarily use for just that, charging the batteries during the day while at rides and it does it's job well. I have also changed all the lights in the trailer to LEDs which lessens the load a bit when using the lights at night. My set up is here: http://todd.redwrench.com/solar.html
Charge controllers are a must and I would not purchase the inexpensive amorphous panels. They are very inefficient IMO not worth the inexpensive price. Purchase a noncrystalline or better yet a monocrystalline panel.
Posted 2015-02-05 11:06 AM (#162471 - in reply to #162468) Subject: RE: Solar battery charger
Regular
Posts: 91 Location: Waverly,Oh
Todd, thanks for the information. I read the web page that you referenced . I have a couple questions. One, I would need to determine the recharge rate [at 2 amp rate] . The second question, does the controller have overcharge protection built in. I am glad to hear that someone out there is using solar power to keep their batteries charged. I did buy and install the two 6 volt batteries. They weigh 68 lbs each so I installed additional supports for the battery box. Going to try them out soon.
Solar battery charger
