Solar battery charger

[sternal]

Hello all !

Been a while since I've posted on here and not been using the van much as I've had a slipped disc finally on the mend taken almost a year of hospitals and numerous treatments.

Anyway enough of me what's the general consensus on solar battery chargers the type that plug into cigarette lighter.

Cost ?
Do they work ?

Many thanks in advance

[kevtherev]

No.
Not at all.

[Mocki]

Save your money , they are pointless and prob use more power lighting their own power indicator than they give out
Anything less than 100w is a waste of money imho

[sternal]

I'll save my £££

cheers

[California Dreamin]

As a means of keeping the batteries charged 'WHILST' camping, forget it, however, as a piece of equipment to 'save' batteries during winter storage, then yes they work.

Technically, the smaller plug-in solar panels produce so little power that they have little effect on charge state....however the bigger 5 watt plus panels ARE useful to 'condition & maintain' over long lay-up periods but don't bother with anything smaller.
As a camping charger, there might be an argument for buying one of the 'larger' open out type 'brief case' style charges but anything approaching useful starts at 50 watts and if you go down this avenue you might as well go the whole hog and fit something bigger (100 - 120 watts) on the roof.

Martin

[sternal]

I should have stated in 1st post

Its for winter standing in the drive.

cheers

[CovKid]

Minimimum of a 100 watt then. My panels were fitted for the same reason. Obviously in winter, sunlight is seriously reduced so I upped to 200 watts as a sort of redundancy approach but 100 watt should cover you - you should at least get 1 amp from it - in Summer 5 amps. Cheapest kit about £130 now - just make sure the controller is included or you'll have to add that on to the cost. Less than 100 watts you might as well not bother unless you get out there every morning to remove the ice/frost.

[California Dreamin]

Really Ralph

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECO-WORTHY-Epo ... rger+-+12v" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maintenance/top-up .. this looks ideal shoved in a south facing window.

Martin

[Da dan]

Save your money and get a descent panle. I agree, under 100w not worth the money. Buy a curry instead then plug the energy realised!!!!
I have a 140w slim line panle stuck on the roof. £300 for everything but it works really well and money not wasted. Had a few of the plug in ones but waste of money. They are only good if you don't use the radio or don't use anything else. Good luck though.


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[California Dreamin]

Those £15 ciggy lighter plugin panels are either 1.4 or 2.4 watts ... pretty useless but do keep some activity in the battery...whilst I agree whole heartedly that you need 80 watts plus for a USEFUL charge whilst camping, I disagree with the opinion that a smaller panel has no use at all.
Sternal just wants to keep his batteries topped up and active when his van is not in use and a 20 watt panel would do just that..(as long as there are no discharge issues from alarms and stereo's)

I do agree that if he can afford to go the full hog, then a 100 watt solid panel, charge controller, some twin core wire, waterproof connections and inline fuse holders can all be picked up for under £135.00.

Martin

[CovKid]

Martin, we're talking winter. 20 watts useable in Summer, in Winter, er barely. It'll trickle charge if free of ice/frost but going bigger will circumvent that to a large extent.

[mr_nunn]

Over the winter I've been using one of the smaller panels (6W I think) - just laid outside in the Westy luggage recess on the roof. My experience has been that this has kept the battery lively during weeks of non-use - I try to drive the van once every 1-2 weeks over winter but previously the battery would struggle a bit with a 2 week break in use, whereas this winter with the panel it's been absolutely fine.

So my view is that yes they can be useful purely for keeping the starter battery topped up during non-use.

Having said that, I have just invested in a 100W flexible panel because I want to start using solar to keep my leisure battery topped up during hook-up free camping, and as others have said, small panels would be useless for this purpose.

[shrig1969]

I agree with the above statement.

Someone gave me a small solar charger ( unsure of wattage). I leave it on the dash and it works for me. Connect it up straight after a run and it holds the voltage in the battery.
I did fit an isolation switch some time back to prevent any possible parasitic drain and would imagine this helps too.

[nordberg]

I would say isolate your batteries. Less chance of it being stolen if you remove the isolator key also. Not answered the question about solar charger, but the isolator works for me.

[Ralf85]

Sorry to hear about your back - I know the problem. Anyway in the absence of a solar panel and in the interest of togetherness, get the missus to lug the battery indoors and charge it up occasionally.