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Tractor Talk Discussion Forum

RV Solar panel trickle chargers .... Questions!

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Way Up Here

03-08-2006 18:33:17




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I see there is a 5.5 watt solar-powered panel trickle charger for RV batteries on sale near here and I thought I'd find out how good they are here on the forum. What exactly does 5.5 watts mean and where does this fall in terms of what's in the marketplace? How much can a guy expect out of them? Would it recharge a low battery in 1 day of good sunlight? Any other information or advice would be appreciated.

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jdemaris

03-08-2006 19:54:01




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 Re: RV Solar panel trickle chargers .... Questions in reply to Way Up Here, 03-08-2006 18:33:17  
A five watt panel probably puts out half that wattage most of time when the sun is shining, and nothing when it's cloudy. So, in reality, it's just about useless except for maintaining small batteries that sit idle. I use a 120 watt panel hooked to my camper, and on a good day it will charge around 5-6 amps at 14 volts. Cold weather and bright sun around 7-8 amps.



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TyTX

03-08-2006 19:47:00




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 Re: RV Solar panel trickle chargers .... Questions in reply to Way Up Here, 03-08-2006 18:33:17  
Solar "chargers" are meant to keep a fully charged battery from draining down due to internal leakage. They aren't meant to recharge a drained battery.

My gate opener uses a solar charger but it is infrequent in use and the battery isn't very big.



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Wiilie Mousto

03-08-2006 18:52:45




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 Re: RV Solar panel trickle chargers .... Questions in reply to Way Up Here, 03-08-2006 18:33:17  
Just roughly figgerin

It's about half an amp hour.

Figure a battery migh be 80-100 amp hours.

Might take 160-200 hours or 7- 10 days

But, and a big BUT, it may only produce 12volts at full strenth and that's probably not enough volts to really get a 12 volt battery fully charged. You really need over 13 volts to get a fully charged 12v battery to 12.6volts where it should be.



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RAB

03-08-2006 23:15:57




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 Re: RV Solar panel trickle chargers .... Questions in reply to Wiilie Mousto, 03-08-2006 18:52:45  
Don"t forget it"s dark about half of that time )unless you are near one of the poles and it is summer), and a battery is nowhere near 100% efficient even at optimum charge rate. S"pose they just do what they say - offset slow discharge, like a clock or security alarm in a car.
RAB



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