Solar battery charger

chrisblack

Just picked up one of these from Maplin in Cork - http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=223251&C=Newsletter&U=08P09_Camping €14....

Tried it at the weekend and worked great for keeping me topped up at a no EHU site...

Chris

*Kol*

Hi Chris,
I see it comes with a cigarrete lighter plug. Does that mean if you are using it on a car that you just plug it into the cigarette lighter socket?
Thx.

chrisblack

Yep as far as i know - plug into cig socket for engine battery, or crocodile clip to battery... only thing missing on it is an led to let you know it's working - i took mine back in and they tested it just to make sure...

Oh and i just noticed the offer ends tomorrow.

Chris

peasant

2.4 W and 137 milliamp ...is that even enough to override the natural battery wastage ...never mind charge the thing?

I'm a bit doubtful there

*Kol*

peasant wrote: »

2.4 W and 137 milliamp ...is that even enough to override the natural battery wastage ...never mind charge the thing?

I'm a bit doubtful there

They have a slighly bigger one on the site too. I might get one for my car. I haven't driven it in ages and the battery keeps dying with the alarm on.

chrisblack

It seemed to work, with a light left on overnight battery voltage had dropped to just under 10 volts (50 amh battery)- I put the charger on in the morning (bright sun i must admit) and by 3 pm in the afternoon it was registering just over 12v.

Chris

peasant

Hah ...you're lying !

(There was no such ting as "bright sun" in Ireland for the whole of August )

seriously though ...after a slow discharge like the light on over night, the battery could just recover all by itself, especially if it was a bit warm outside and those built in gauges aren't exactly scientific instruments either, the meter usually goes down as soon as you switch something on and then recovers soon after switching off.

Then again ...for 14 Euro it's probably worth a try

JamesM

I think that you would be lucky if it kept a fully charged battery at that level - if nothing was drawn from it.
Jim.

Also it's not waterproof !

*Kol*

JamesM wrote: »

I think that you would be lucky if it kept a fully charged battery at that level - if nothing was drawn from it.
Jim.

Also it's not waterproof !

I think its more suitable for a car thats parked up just to keep the battery from draining away. It should be keft on the inside of the window by the looks of things.

derry

peasant wrote: »

2.4 W and 137 milliamp ...is that even enough to override the natural battery wastage ...never mind charge the thing?

I'm a bit doubtful there

I will go with you on that

one square meter of solar sun power in the tropics give you 1000 watts mid day
her in Ireland best case 300 watts and if its cloudy 200 watts per square meter

Effiency for solar panels of say ~10% makes that ~25 watts for a large one sguare meter panel or 2.5 amps at midday in Ireland on semi cloudy day

The day lasts in August say 10 hours with average power output at say 0.6 amps or ~80 watts( average is from high 2.5 amps to low zero amps at dawn and dusk )

Nothing at night so thats 40 watts average a day or 0.3 amps per hour devided over all the day and night

The smallest cheapest E10 euro electric trickle charger from Aldi Lidl will give 0.6 amps per hour 24 amps a day and barely keep a small car 40 amp battery going in top up

The bigger E25 euro electric trickle charger from Aldi Lidl will give 3 amps per hour 24 amps a day and barely keep a typical camper 100 amp battery going in if you demand a few lights at night time from the camper

So this micky mouse thing which is probably 1/10 of a square meter is going to be at best 0.06 amps per hour 24 hours a day

It would not even probably keep a small motor bike battery of 10 AMP s alive never mind a typical camper battery of 100 amps

good gimmick for maybe keeping you mobile phone topped up but not a camper even in the tropics

For 14 euros you can get several 2 euro emergency battery power packs for mobile phones and be more sure to have power for your mobile phone than this gadjet

Big expensive solar panels used every day often take ten years to pay back in the Irish climate

Used on Irish camper vans for holidays would be the most expensive power ever invented in this planet

A good petrol generator ~1000 watts at ~1000 euro would be cheaper than solar power even with petrol factored in

Cheapo crapo generators from Aldi or Lidl of about 400 euros will also be cheaper but forget spare parts when they break down so only useful for the occasional camper weekender

Shows you how little the dip sticks in Maplins know but that part of the course that goes with minium wage UK outfits

I very rarely buy anything in Maplins as I nearly always find the same cheaper
somewhere else in Dublin for less costs

But I sopose in Cork there isn't so many outlets so they get stiffed there more often

If you took Maplins to the small claims court they would probably find in your favour that the teck description of this product is so close to a dirty big lie that you should be refunded and receive damages for being made to look stupid on the boards


In the yaughting circles which use these a lot in good climates they figure on 60 watts will barely keep a average 0.5 amp load GPS and a 40 amp battery going

15 watts would struggle to keep the 40 amp battery topped up without any load on it

Thats from good climates

In Ireland yaughts usually opt for wind power and get 3 amps (~40 watts ) 24 hours a day day on windy days

The cheapest solultion is every few hours turn on the engine and recharge the batteries for 20 minutes but jam gas pedal to do 150RPM as the alternators charges often doesn't charge below 1000 RPM

It will take all summer of weekend camping to use 14 euro of fuel on tick over

Derry