Solar panel

Submitted: Tuesday, Feb 07, 2006 at 14:17

ThreadID: 30521 Views:3193 Replies:5 FollowUps:0

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Capt. Wrongway

G'Day all,
I'm after some info on solar panels. I recently bought my 13 year old son a 91 Triton duel cab to run arround in on my mates farm. It only gets used when we go there, which is usually most long weekends and a few days in between. Because of this, the battery gets a hard time ... charged up from dead via my Honda gen. set, and then left to go flat untill next time. Because the farm doesnt have mains power, I'm thinking that my only option my be to connect a small solar panel to trickle charge the battery after it's been used, and the battery's fully charged.
Any ideas on type, size, output, regulator ......etc..
Any ideas would help.
Regards,
Capt.

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Reply By: Vince NSW - Tuesday, Feb 07, 2006 at 16:14

Tuesday, Feb 07, 2006 at 16:14

Super Cheep have small sola chargers for under $40. No good for charging a battery that is flat but I have used one for 3 years on the camper trailer. It helps, BUT only helps. May be worth looking at rather than forking out Big $ for a good solar panel.
Vince

AnswerID: 153639

Reply By: V8troopie - Tuesday, Feb 07, 2006 at 16:28

Tuesday, Feb 07, 2006 at 16:28

A panel from 5 to 10 Watts, connected directly to the battery (via a fuse) should do. No need for a regulator with a small panel and a car battery.
Altronics has a 5w panel on special for $79 which would do the job.
Klaus

AnswerID: 153641

Reply By: Mainey (WA) - Tuesday, Feb 07, 2006 at 20:04

Tuesday, Feb 07, 2006 at 20:04

Have a look at some of the 'flexable' solar panels at Kmart, SupaCheap etc.
If attached to the battery and to the roof (by double sided tape etc) of the car 24/7 would brobably retain full charge in a cranking battery!
Make sure the battery fully charged initially.

AnswerID: 153694