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Thread: Solar Trickle Chargers

  1. #1
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    Default Solar Trickle Chargers

    Looking to buy one to keep the battery for the winch on my car trailer topped off all the time.

    I see them from $12 at Harbor Freight to upwards of $70 at other places. Reviews for both cheap and expensive ones are all over the place.

    Any of y'all using one that you are pretty happy with?
    Houndsmen are born, not made

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  2. #2
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    I've killed a battery on the lake before, just fishing and swimming.

    Broke out a cheap Northern Tool solar charger and it got me out of the bind. Took a while, but nothing a few beers didn't take care of.

    Full-time use? I'd probably buy a more expensive one with advanced circuitry.

    Sent via TapaTalk on S7 Edge.
    Last edited by USMCsilver; 03-17-2017 at 03:24 PM.

  3. #3
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    I always get the second cheapest one at west marine. Not sure the amperage on it right now.

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  4. #4
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    May wind up just putting a quick connect at the back of truck and powering the winch from the truck battery,

    Probably will be the best thing to do
    Houndsmen are born, not made

    Quote Originally Posted by 2thDoc View Post
    I STAND WITH DUCK CUTTER!
    Quote Originally Posted by JABIII View Post
    I knew it wasn't real because no dogbox...

  5. #5
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    I've got one that keeps a 12 volt deep cycle charged at my camp. It has a panel about 12x24" and has the controller. It's worked very well for several years now.

    I tried a cheapo 12x4 clip on one from Harbor Freight for keeping a lawnmower charged and it killed the battery. I metered it and it was putting out much higher voltage than it was supposed to.

    I'm looking at them again too because I want to put one or two on my dock to charge the trolling motor batteries between weekends.

  6. #6
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    I had some on TP. I use one on my boat, got some alligator clamps on leads. They are self regulated and it sits on dock. No battery failures due to solar panels.

  7. #7
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    A series 24 lead-acid battery might have 80Ah of storage. With this trickle charger: https://www.westmarine.com/buy/adven...70?recordNum=6 it would take about 1230 hours of full sunlight to completely recharge the battery, with about 4 hours a day of sunlight, that's 307 days if the sun shines every day...plus the sun has almost no solar energy except from May through September...

    If you had to pay for this advice, you couldn't afford it...
    Ephesians 2 : 8-9



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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rubberhead* View Post
    A series 24 lead-acid battery might have 80Ah of storage. With this trickle charger: https://www.westmarine.com/buy/adven...70?recordNum=6 it would take about 1230 hours of full sunlight to completely recharge the battery, with about 4 hours a day of sunlight, that's 307 days if the sun shines every day...plus the sun has almost no solar energy except from May through September...

    If you had to pay for this advice, you couldn't afford it...
    thanks,
    but it wouldn't be completely recharging ( 0% to 100%) every time, merely keeping it topped off.

    and I would be buying a brand new battery to put in the toolbox of the trailer, the old one is shot.

    And no offense RH, but I wouldn't have paid for the advice because I wouldn't have asked for it, I'd have put my industrial electronics degree to use and figured it out myself.....
    Last edited by Duck cutter; 03-21-2017 at 08:07 PM.
    Houndsmen are born, not made

    Quote Originally Posted by 2thDoc View Post
    I STAND WITH DUCK CUTTER!
    Quote Originally Posted by JABIII View Post
    I knew it wasn't real because no dogbox...

  9. #9
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    My dump trailer charged the battery while hooked to the truck.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steelin' Ducks View Post
    My dump trailer charged the battery while hooked to the truck.
    my truck/trailer is wired that way as well. It just sees very little use and when it is hooked I'm usually not going far at all
    Houndsmen are born, not made

    Quote Originally Posted by 2thDoc View Post
    I STAND WITH DUCK CUTTER!
    Quote Originally Posted by JABIII View Post
    I knew it wasn't real because no dogbox...

  11. #11
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    Jul 2003
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    Moncks Corner
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    You can using something like this...

    https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...+battery+relay

    It'll charge the aux battery from the running engine but not allow the aux battery to backfeed into the car's system.
    Ephesians 2 : 8-9



    Charles Barkley: Nobody doesn't like meat.

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