solar battery maintainers

[kevinr]

First of all, the 1.8w maintainers are for sale at Lowe's for $10.50. You might have to talk to an associate for an hour or so like I did, in order to get them to dig one up, but I managed to get two of them. Probably best to check lowes.com first to see if the store near you has them in stock, then if they say they don't have it, (the easy answer for lazy employees) you can press them.<br /><br />They are great for what they were made for, but can we use them for something other than their intended purpose?&nbsp; I'd like to hook them up to my deep cell battery for charging, but I'm not sure it will work or even how to connect them. I'm guessing they should be connected in parallel, but will they provide enough power to charge my 12v deep cycle battery safely? How long will it take for 2 1.8W solar panels to charge a 27DCM? Will using 4 panels half that time, etc? For almost just $5/watt, I can afford several.<br /><br />Also, I've heard that charging your deep cycle battery with your alternator isn't such a good idea because it will charge it too quickly. Is that true?<br /><br />I've also heard deep cycle batteries shouldn't be drained more than half way. If this is true, how do you tell when it's at half?<br /><br />Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.<br /><br />Kevin<br /><br />

 

[sl1966]

Also, I've heard that charging your deep cycle battery with your alternator isn't such a good idea because it will charge it too quickly. Is that true?

<br /><br />Kind of. It's not good for it to be overcharged repeatedly. If you're gonna use the alternator adding a switch so you can turn it on and off is a good way to go.<br /><br />

&nbsp;I've also heard deep cycle batteries shouldn't be drained more than half way. If this is true, how do you tell when it's at half?

<br /><br />You would use one of these in conjunction with an MPPT charge controler ...&nbsp; <a href="http://www.blueskyenergyinc.com/products/details/ipn_proremote/">http://www.blueskyenergyinc.com/products/details/ipn_proremote/<br /><br /></a>

 

[kevinr]

Thanks for your quick reply, SL, however, MPPT charge controlers are too expensive for me right now. Is there anything I can do with my multimeter? Do I just look for it to read 6 volts instead of 12? Sorry I'm such an electical noob. I've had that multimeter for 3 years and haven't used it once, in spite of my old boss telling me I'd need it for working on POS computers. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[sl1966]

I'm not much of an electrician myself and know less about how to use that kind of equipment. I'm sure there's a way how to but I don't know it.<br /><br /><br />Steve<br /><br />

 

[Les H]

I have one that I got ( trickle charger) a few years ago at home depot for $10. Mine sits in my windshield and is plugged into my lighter socket, keeping my starting battery topped off and negating the clock and radio memory draw. I have one of those "jump packs" that contains a 17 ah battery and a compressor with a lighter socket all in one that I could charge with it through the lighter socket. Someone else on the websites hooked 2 computer fans directly to one, when the sun is out ( and it's hot) the fans come on to ventilate his car, an idea that I plan to copy, as it is regularly over 110* in my car or van when I get done with work. Being creative with adapters, you could hook up one of the 12v socket to USB and charge a phone or iPod mine came with clips to connect directly to battery terminals, but would take about three weeks to fully charge a depleted battery IF YOU DIDN'T USE IT AT ALL during the charge process. No charge controller required.
And finally, at $5 watt, they are cheap, untill you compare to a Harbor Freight 45 w kit that includes panels, controller, wiring and a couple lights for $149 on sale w/ 20% off coupon ( google Harbor freight and print out coupon) which can do Ssooooo much more for the same money.
Hope that helps!

 

[Seraphim]

Also, I've heard that charging your deep cycle battery with your alternator isn't such a good idea because it will charge it too quickly. Is that true?

<br /><br />Curious about that, because I've had two RVs, both of which charged the house deep cycle battery every time I drove. Some type of controller in RVs that limit the charging?

 

[blars]

Alternators include a voltage regulator (sometimes eternal) that will limit how fast they can charge your battery.&nbsp; With the wiring resistance to the house battery, you can probably leave it running full time without reducing the life of your battery much.&nbsp; (do check the water level in your battery though)<br /><br />The tiny solar panels count on the battery being so much larger than the power they put in to regulate things.&nbsp; If you had enough of them in parrallel to charge your&nbsp; battery in a reasonable amount of time, you would need to worry about overcharging.

 

[kevinr]

Thanks for the info Blars. <br /> From your blog, it looks like you and I are living somewhat parallel lives. I'm a middle-aged Norwegian mutt who has also gone Viking this year due to a lay-off. I really like Unix, and even ran Ubuntu on my laptop for a year, but I know far more about Windows, which I've been supporting for over 15 years. I think maybe I'm the anti-you. heheh

 

[Wild_E]

You can use the little panels to run fans in the day time. Computer fans are 12v, just make up a plug and away you go, I have got 3 to work at the same time from one solar maintainer panel.

 

[kevinr]

Brilliant. I'll do that. Thanks!