Solar powered 12v adaptor

[TravellingChick]

Hi

For some reason the 12v crocodile clip system I have (2nd one now) doesn't seem to draw enough power off my battery (main or leisure) to power my sat nav or charge my phone.

I've heard that you can get a solar panel which will do the job but am not sure how they work or which size to get. I had a google and there's talk of suitable for certain battery sizes etc. Also there appears to be crocodile clips involved and I guess that's to run to your main battery - is this to power the solar panel or to charge your battery from the solar panel?

Any advice or guidance gratefully received!

Sarah

[BOXY]

Either of your batteries will have more than enough power to charge a phone or satnav. The van's battery can supply the 80-200 amps needed to start the van, my satnav charger draws 1 amp and my phone even lower. What sort of chargers are you using? Some of the multi - universal chargers not only step down the voltage from the van's 12v to the normal 5v for small electronic gadgets, but they reduce the current output as well. If you're using the manufacturer's cigarette style chargers check the fuses aren't blown. What is on the other end of the cable your crocodile clips are attached to?
A solar panel will charge up a phone or satnav as long as it's connected to the right charger. I've got a folding, flexible one I used when travelling and that can keep a phone topped up on a few hours sunshine a day.

[pocolow]

Not sure what you mean Sarah, Usually phone/sat navs recharge of the plug in cigarette lighter fitting. The solar panels usually are used to top up what ever battery they are attached to(via crocodile clips). Unless you are trying to charge your phone/ directly via an adapter? The problem I see is that the charge would be variable depending on sunlight and this would be insufficient to charge your phone ect. A picture of your set up might help.

Mark

[ghost123uk]

Hi

For some reason the 12v crocodile clip system I have (2nd one now) doesn't seem to draw enough power off my battery (main or leisure) to power my sat nav or charge my phone.

Any advice or guidance gratefully received!

Sarah

Yes, tell us more detail re this " 12v crocodile clip system " ?

As has been said, these devices use tiny amounts of power too charge themselves up, it is very unlikely that the issue is anything to do with crocodile clips, more to do with what type of charger you are using for the phone and for the sat nav (note the phone and sat nav will almost certainly use different charges from each other).

[TravellingChick]

Thanks guys - I'll put some links up when I'm online at home tonight to give you an idea of what I mean.

Sarah

[TravellingChick]

Okay - so this is what I have and it's my second pair. The first pair worked okay for a good while then began to get VERY hot and poor charge. So I got a new set and the amount of charge coming thru is not enough to juice the sat nav:

http://www.sunshinesolar.co.uk/khxc/gbu ... GCROC.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My satnav is a navigon which comes supplied with it's own 12v charger, the iPhone charger is a Griffin one.

So now I've hunted around again and it looks like the solar panels go into the battery with crocodile clips and there's a cigarette lighter adaptor (male) which, of course, isn't what I need!

I really don't get why I can't get a decent charge off the unit I have tho..........

[ghost123uk]

Okay - so this is what I have and it's my second pair. The first pair worked okay for a good while then began to get VERY hot and poor charge.

There must be something very wrong if those got hot charging a sat nav or a phone (etc)
They are rated at 10 amps and that is enough to charge 10 or more sat navs or phones at the same time !

I wonder if you ever put the red and black clips on the wrong way round on the battery ?
That would cause the leads to get hot (as there would be an electrical short circuit through the first semiconductor in the charger) and this would also burn out the chargers

If you have done that (even for a brief moment) the burnt out chargers would be the cause of them not charging the devices up now.

[TravellingChick]

It's possible that I did that on my first set.

I'm almost 100% sure I've not done it on this set. Also the satnav is new and the phone charger is new as well - forgot to pack it on a trip last year.

It's the female 12v adaptor part which got REALLY hot.

I agree tho - there really shouldn't be any reason why these things don't work'

[ghost123uk]

Re putting the leads on the wrong way around on the battery,

It's possible that I did that on my first set.

I'm almost 100% sure I've not done it on this set.

Ummm, it is a very likely explanation though, and the only one I can come up with (30 years as an electronics engineer)

[TravellingChick]

The second set aren't getting hot - they're just not working. They never have really - could be faulty I suppose.

Hence I'm looking for something else to power the sat nav - I guess I could get a cig lighter fitted into the dash but I'd rather not. I used to have a 3in1 power start from maplins but that was faulty and had to be returned - they refused to replace it.

I'm unlucky in the eletrickery dept I reckon lol.

Thanks tho
Sarah

[ghost123uk]

The second set aren't getting hot - they're just not working. They never have really - could be faulty I suppose.

They are very unlikely to be faulty as there is nothing to go faulty really, it's just 2 clips, 2 wires and a ciggy type socket. It is much more likely that the chargers themselves are damaged by connecting the clips the wrong way round. You can check the clips & socket very easily with a simple multi-meter or even just a 12 volt bulb on a bit of wire.

[TravellingChick]

In time honoured tradition I just went and checked everything again and it's all working fine!!

Sat nav powered up immediately as did the phone charger!

Weird!! I can only think the croc clips weren't making a good connection.

Thanks for everyone's advice.

Sarah