Anyone need a solar trickle charger

[tommyt654]

Lowes is apparently clearancing them out or at the least lowering the price,Since I got the small inflatable river boat I ordered a couple to maintain the batterys while I'm onboard fishing(seems like a good idea) and reasonable prices, check it out if needed, http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?...65-11338-50022 , slickdeals link , http://slickdeals.net/f/4832016-Lowe...1-8w-6-59-YMMV

[tommyt654]

I wound up getting 2 of these instead, http://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-50022.../dp/B0006JO0TC @ $18 a piece instead of the other 2 and they pm'd the store in Canton,Ga at the store in Acworth,Ga., Now I'm going to build a box to mount both the batteries inside as well as both solar panels to act as chargers to hopefully have unlimited trolling power on the lakes and streams

[LCHIEN]

max output of 360 milliamps (5W at 12V) will probably do you little good while fishing if you use this on a trolling motor. Won't anywhere keep up with usage unless you are doing very little use of the trolling motor. A trolling motor will pull 15-25 Amps running, depending upon thrust.
if you are trolling continuously the solar panel will put back less than 1% of usage to the battery, if you use it for positioning 10% of the time you will still opnly be adding 1/10th of the power back to the battery.

Really for keeping a battery topped off while in storage. 360mA is much more than the leakage rate of most large lead acid batteries, which should be around single digit milliamps, I would guess.

[pelligrini]

I was thinking the same thing, they wouldn't provide enough to keep up with a drain of the motor.

You should be able to get unlimited cell phone use while out fishing, provided you get a signal and have a big plan.

[tommyt654]

2 batterys fully charged and 2 solars cells charging , You forget I'm fishing,not trolling the lake fishing,just trolling from 1 spot to another. I know its not going to keep the trolling motor runnin by itself,(duh)but it will slow the rate of dissapation over the period of time I'm spending sitting still fishin when the motor will not be in operation, therefore charging the batterys. I'll be running 2 batterys one running the other being charged and I'll be fine as both will not become drained completely and I have oars to boot, How you can come to your deduction without knowing my battery amperage is unknown as also is the draw amperage of the motor, but the Minn Kota series 30 is close to what I'll have and this will do just fine as I will rarely be using the higher speed which draws the most amperage. Remember I'm fishing not waterskiing.Overall I agree and plan to ensure that where ever I go I have enough battery power if necessary, but this thing rows like a racing canoe, very light on the water with little drag, a really nice combination. I also realize most testing on these motors was done either in a tank or on a boat with a higher drag coefficient than mine, Heres what Minn Kota says about the motor.
SPEED AMPS THRUST
1 8 4

2 10 6

3 14 10

4 20 15

5 30 30


I'll prolly average around12-15 lbs of thrust on smooth water running in the 3rd motor speed on average for maybe 10 minutes at a time at best big lake with lots of places to put in, the rivers easy put in at one place drift to another and hitch back to the put in, hardly use the batterys on those kinds of trips,but nice to have if needed. Thanks for the heads up, but I have it under control, main thing is these are very good chargers at a very good price and sunlights free

[pelligrini]

If my figurin' is right (which I'm not sure), you'll need to let a solar charger run almost 6.5hrs to make up for a 10 minute run at speed 3 (14 amps). I guess it would be 3.25 hrs for two chargers.

I thought the motor pulled a lot more amps.

[leehljp]

I put a smaller unit than that in my 95 Ford Ranger in 2004 and the battery is still going strong. I added one to my 12V lawn tractor last fall when the battery started getting weak. It was purchased in 2005. This year, it has been going strong.

These solar chargers are great for batteries that set up often without use or for long periods of time.

[tommyt654]

Well considering how dang hot its been lately my time on the water will be from 6 a.m. to about 10 a.m. tops, maybe 2 days a week otherwise they sit getting charged. Hopefully if anyone needs a solar charger like this they can take advantage of the clearance. In the meantime I hope to post a few fish pics

[LCHIEN]

If my figurin' is right (which I'm not sure), you'll need to let a solar charger run almost 6.5hrs to make up for a 10 minute run at speed 3 (14 amps). I guess it would be 3.25 hrs for two chargers.

I thought the motor pulled a lot more amps.

I agree with this calculation. 6.5 Hours trickle charge (with the sun directly overhead, no shade or cloud cover, longer if you are not at the equator at noon) to replace 10 minutes running time at speed 3, 14 amps. If you are in the contintental US in the spring at before 10 AM or after 2 PM in the afternoon, and you have the panel lying flat pointed straight up, then it will probably take about twice as long on a clear day.

Since he's only running off one battery, it doesn't halve the time.

Just saying, these panels are for keeping the charge topped off if you fully charge the battery and then leave the boat parked for a week or two or three and use it only on Saturday.

[cabinetman]

I put a smaller unit than that in my 95 Ford Ranger in 2004 and the battery is still going strong. I added one to my 12V lawn tractor last fall when the battery started getting weak. It was purchased in 2005. This year, it has been going strong.

These solar chargers are great for batteries that set up often without use or for long periods of time.

I used them when I had a few motorcycles at a time. I don't know the size of the solar one my neighbor has, but it keeps up his battery on an RV.

.

[pelligrini]

Since he's only running off one battery, it doesn't halve the time.

Wouldn't hooking up both panels to a single battery provide twice the delivered amperage for the charge resulting in halving the charge time? The chargers would need to be hooked up parallel and not in a series.

[LCHIEN]

Wouldn't hooking up both panels to a single battery provide twice the delivered amperage for the charge resulting in halving the charge time? The chargers would need to be hooked up parallel and not in a series.

yes, i suppose that's true. the solar panels usually have a diode in series to protect the load and also would serve to protect each panel if two were in parallel and had slightly different voltages. Still 6.5 hours with perfect conditions would be 13 hours with less than perfect (time of day, latitude and season and overcasting) conditions would still be 6.5 hours with two panels in parallel to replace 10 minutes use.