Club 80-90 Forums

I will be going to Glastonbury for the first time this summer with my Devon Moonraker. This means that it will be stationary for five days. I only ever use lighting (two strips) and the cd/radio but even then am not sure that the leisure battery will cope with that period of time.
Does anyone using these solar powered chargers think that the charger would keep pace with usage for five days.
I see that they tend to have cig lighter and battery terminal connections. Which would be the best to use? Sorry if this sounds a bit basic but I tend to leave anything under the bonnet to the garage.

Andy i have an Optimate battery optimiser. I had my bike battery on constant charge for two years and when i put it back together it started first time. It was also a V twin which eats batteries.

grumpyoldgit wrote:I will be going to Glastonbury for the first time this summer with my Devon Moonraker. This means that it will be stationary for five days. I only ever use lighting (two strips) and the cd/radio but even then am not sure that the leisure battery will cope with that period of time.
Does anyone using these solar powered chargers think that the charger would keep pace with usage for five days.
I see that they tend to have cig lighter and battery terminal connections. Which would be the best to use? Sorry if this sounds a bit basic but I tend to leave anything under the bonnet to the garage.

For that lenght of time i would get a cheap genny £50 and a battery charger then you can chagre it up good??
I have a solar panel on the roof of my van and that works great!

The rules for festivals are quite tight and I am sure there is a no generator rule for Glastonbury.

I am quite taken with the idea of these solar panels.
My total consumption would be a couple of fluorescent tubes - 8w and, I think, 12w, plus a CD/Radio, so I am assuming that a panel would be able to keep the battery power up for several days,
The solar panels on Ebay are described in different ways such as Watts, volts, Milli amps etc etc so make direct comparison difficult. They also come in a variety of sizes.
I am assuming that I am really just interested in Watts, so that a 1.8w is better than 1.5w.
Any comments would be appreciated.

I have a 2 x 100Ah leisure battery and a 45W solar panel ( about 2 foot square from Maplin ) attached to the roof of my bus ( nicely tucked on the lower back portion of the high top ) This ends in battery clips so I can charge the leisure battery while standing in a field in Somerset ( I will be at Glastonbury too... ) This is mainly for lights and the 12V compressor fridge which needs about 2amps per hour. So roughly a single 100Ah battery will last me 100/2 hours = 50 hours =say 2 days - without any recharge. Practically the fridge isnt running at 2Amps constantly - more like 1- 1.5 - and I reckon the solar panel ( depending on weather !!! ) will give me about another days worth of power over the 5 days - so with the 2 batteries I am hoping to make it through. I would guess a decent leisure battery will cope no worries with your lights and CD for nightime use no problem -of course it depends on the capacity and state of the battery too. Adding the solar panel will nicely keep it topped up while you are out and about in the daytime - plus I figure its the summer solstice - so max sunlight time - and minimal night power requirements - so its all working in our favour..

Thanks Octave. Useful information. The 45w units look rather expensive and I don't need to power a fridge so I think I will go for the cheap and chearful for now. Prices seem to be coming down so I may get a bargain!

Forgot to mention the solar 13w briefcase panel from Maplin - it says £49 online but I got one in store for £29 - its for a madcap greenhouse project I am doing - the panel runs an old leisure battery very well with 12v lights and 12v pump - so prob more than enough for your lights and CD

grumpyoldgit wrote:The rules for festivals are quite tight and I am sure there is a no generator rule for Glastonbury.

I am quite taken with the idea of these solar panels.
My total consumption would be a couple of fluorescent tubes - 8w and, I think, 12w, plus a CD/Radio, so I am assuming that a panel would be able to keep the battery power up for several days,
The solar panels on Ebay are described in different ways such as Watts, volts, Milli amps etc etc so make direct comparison difficult. They also come in a variety of sizes.
I am assuming that I am really just interested in Watts, so that a 1.8w is better than 1.5w.
Any comments would be appreciated.

You need to work out how much energy you will take out of the battery e.g.

3 hrs per night 8W light = 24W
2hrs per day stereo/CD (eg 15W) =30W

Total per Day = 54W divide this by 12 (your battery voltage) = 4.5amps (naff all really!)

Over 5 days this is 22.5 amps ( a 70 amp/hr battery will still have a fair bit of life in it .......it had 70 but you used 22.5)

Which solar panel? well, its only sunny for a part of the day and chances are it will be UK festival weather (cloudy and peeing down!) but a 10W panel on a sunny day for 8 hours will put back in approx 0.5 of an amp every hour (total of 40Watts and thats being optomistic) unless you are prepared to point it directly at the sun all day (or when it pops out!) in which case you will get more energy but miss all the acts. There you go, problem solved......not really ...you might also need a solar regulator to stop your battery from overcharging should you want to use it as a permanent energy source. A 10W Solar panel is a good starting point for it to be considered 'useful' IMO.

lhd wrote:

I was thinking about replacing the charger in my LT Florida with a Sterling, as the factory-fitted one makes a loud buzzing noise when powered up. I'm also not sure if it's up to scratch to charge the 2 80Ah leisure batteries I've put in, and it doesn't charge the starter battery.

Are you sure it doesn't charge the starter battery because it should do. They do Buzz a little but not really noticeable maybe it's on the way out.
T'onions charges both his 110ah batteries.

Yep - on the LT Florida, I don't think it does charge the starter battery. Different to the T3 Westfalias, where the factory charger definitely charges both the leisure and the starter. I'm just installing a Sterling charger in my T3 Club Joker now... it's pretty much a straight swap for the Westfalia black box, and fits very well in the same space.

Ive been trickle charging my starter battery (12V 62 Ah 510 A (EN)) for a almost a week now, on and off.

But the metre is not going above that. Is that normal or should it go all the way to 0?

I would hope it reaches zero..
How old is the battery?

11/2004 I reckon from one of the stickers.

It's shagged...

Battery Life..
Battery manufacturers define the end-of-life of a battery when it can no longer hold a proper charge (for example, a cell has shorted) or when the available battery capacity is 80% or less than what the battery was rated for. The life of Lead Acid batteries is usually limited by several factors:

* Cycle Life
is a measure of how many charge and discharge cycles a battery can take before its lead-plate grids/plates are expected to collapse and short out. The greater the average depth-of-discharge, the shorter the cycle life.
* Age
also affects batteries as the chemistry inside them attacks the lead plates. The healthier the "living conditions" of the batteries, the longer they will serve you. Lead-Acid batteries like to be kept at a full charge in a cool place. Only buy recently manufactured batteries, so learn to decipher the date code stamped on every battery... (inquire w/manufacturer). The longer the battery has sat in a store, the less time it will serve you! Since lead-acid batteries will not freeze if fully charged, you can store them in the cold during winter to maximize their life.
*Plate Thickness helps -
the thicker the plates, the more abuse, charge and discharge cycles they can take. Thicker plates will also survive any equalization treatments for sulphation better. The heavier the battery for a given group size, the thicker the plates are, so you can use weight as one guide to buying lead-acid batteries.