Solar trickle chargers

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Doug B

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Does anyone have experience/recommendations for solar powered trickle chargers?

All I'm looking to do is charge a car battery which in turn will power a couple of 12V lights in my sheds down the allotment.

Also is there any possible problems with over charging a battery from a solar powered charger?

Cheers
 
Try a yachting chandlers, most boats moored away from a marina need something similar so there are plenty of options.
 
a decent solar panel and regulator will protect the battery anything less than 50W will be totally useless in the winter and I assume LED lights
 
Around 10W and you won't need a regulator. Over that then you will. If you're just looking to keep a car topped up then 10w will be fine. If you're looking to charge a battery from flat then you probably need 100w - obviously depends on the size of your battery.


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All as above, plus get the best battery you can (if you don't have it already).

On a different tangent do you have any redundant li ion tool battery's you could use to power something? Keep one in a charger at home and stick it in your pocket when you go down the allotment.

My in laws retired to Spain and had their place built, no mains electric for 6 years! They had a couple of gennys to run stuff from but night/bed time light was provided by solar garden lights - used to carry them round and use them as torches :D
 
we use leisure batteries as used in caravans for electric Fencers for livestock control as against normal car batteries, we do this on the advice of our battery supplier. we have a spare battery charged using a conventional charger and rotate the batteries.
There are solar units available but we cannot justify the expense for our purpose.
I like the idea of a ships chandler or maybe caravan suppliers .
I have also looked at agricultural electric fencing suppliers and have come across a stand alone unit at £299.
Max output 30w
Voltage12
there are cheaper options but lower output, which are electric fencers but you do not have to use the livestock fencing unit.
Russell
 
For solar trickle charging stick with lead acid batteries for a trouble-free system, or be prepared to spend a lot replacing batteries.

NiCds don't like trickle charging (with DC) as it encourages dendrite formation;

Lithium Ion batteries have a high energy density but short lifespan (and they are dangerous if not charge-managed properly). Unless you know what you are doing, stay well away - they can explode or catch fire if charged or used inappropriately,

Car batteries are designed to deliver short bursts of high current (starting) with immediate recharge - they don't like applications with a long continuous energy drain between recharges, even if that drain is small. Lead-acid "leisure" batteries are built differently. They cope better with deep discharge too (it damages car batteries). Both sorts eventually chemically 'wear out', but leisure batteries last far longer, and a good lead acid design will sit for years at full charge without harm (as seen in emergency lighting, alarm systems, telephone exchanged and standby generator sets).

As a general rule, lead acid should be kept very close to full charge. If it's a battery you will rely on, make sure it can be serviced. By that I mean that you can refill with distilled water as necessary. You don't want a sealed one.

If you are using unregulated ('dumb') charging, you also need to keep the battery in a well ventilated place. When fully charged, further charge voltage causes 'gassing' -- you electrolyse the water in the battery, breaking it down into hydrogen and oxygen. It's an explosive mixture. Commonly the hydrogen simply escapes (it's a lot lighter than air and H2 is the smallest molecule so it passes though many materials), but an oxygen-rich atmosphere is also dangerous.

Electrolysing the water is the reason why you need to top-up with distilled water occasionally, to replace what's been lost. Intelligent chargers can minimise this, but it's probably impossible to eliminate it.

Hope that helps.

E.
 
Avoid the Halfords solar chargers.
I bought some for two of my toys and they were completely useless.
 
Sealed only means you can't replace the water in it.

All lead acid batteries hydrolyse and emit hydrogen + oxygen. The "maintenance free" ones just have a mechanical design that allows the sulphates to fall down out of the way (to the bottom of the cells). They may also have a bit more acid in them.
 
Eric The Viking":2l6pwm67 said:
Sealed only means you can't replace the water in it.

All lead acid batteries hydrolyse and emit hydrogen + oxygen. The "maintenance free" ones just have a mechanical design that allows the sulphates to fall down out of the way (to the bottom of the cells). They may also have a bit more acid in them.

That's not strictly true, EETV, for sealed batteries. When a battery is charged it creates gasses that re-combine into solution.

Some very good articles on this website
http://www.zbattery.com/Overcharging-SLA-Batteries
 
RogerS":36g6pmn6 said:
Eric The Viking":36g6pmn6 said:
Sealed only means you can't replace the water in it.

All lead acid batteries hydrolyse and emit hydrogen + oxygen. The "maintenance free" ones just have a mechanical design that allows the sulphates to fall down out of the way (to the bottom of the cells). They may also have a bit more acid in them.

That's not strictly true, EETV, for sealed batteries. When a battery is charged it creates gasses that re-combine into solution.

Some very good articles on this website
http://www.zbattery.com/Overcharging-SLA-Batteries

Sorry - I was thinking of the "maintenance-free" lead acid car-sized batteries (because of the application), and didn't make myself clear. As those articles say the completely sealed jobbies are a different can of, er, acid, but they are usually designed to only be trickle charged and are relatively low capacity.
 

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