Solar Trickle Charger?

[gerstlauer]

Hi there,

Can anyone recommend me a small 5-10w trickle charger to sit on the dashboard in my Citroen Relay (110ah battery).

All of the ones I can find on Amazon are just panels, and don't seem to have much in the way of overcharge protection. Many thanks.

 

[dunnah01]

You won't need over charge protection until you get to the bigger panels so a 10w panel straight to the battery will be fine ( especially in the UK)

 

[gerstlauer]

I'm reading that a lot, and I understand it is a small current, but say I've just done a huge drive, my battery is full, and I'm in a sunny country... Surely putting an unregulated supply in wouldn't be a good thing? I'm not sure?

 

[dunnah01]

I'm reading that a lot, and I understand it is a small current, but say I've just done a huge drive, my battery is full, and I'm in a sunny country... Surely putting an unregulated supply in wouldn't be a good thing? I'm not sure?

You will struggle to see more than 0.5amp under ideal conditions so at worst your battery will see a very slight increase in temp which will cool down to ambient at the first sign of a cloud.

 

[tonyidle]

The natural self-discharge of the battery will take care of the charge from a very small solar panel.

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[Jev88]

I have been told nunmerous times get at least 20watt as top up charger - it wont't charge but "maintains". Plus a controller over 20watt is really cheap anyway for an angine battery.

 

[TerryL]

I ued to use a couple of suitcase style solar panels to keep the batteries topped up, one for the engine and another for the hab battery. As I could get them facing the sun for the hours around mid-day they produced around 1 amp each which was enough to keep the batteries from fully discharging although they always needed a boost when I could get round to starting up. These days I use a roof-mounted solar panel and a battery master and have never needed anything else.

Just a note - if you intend using the dash sockets to plug the chargers into remember that on most they're ignition controlled so you'll have to do a little jiggery pokery with the wiring.

 

[Richard n Ann]

My unregulated 5w solar panel did this after several days sunshine..

14.7v all day ? now I know it's only a small current, especially when in the windscreen, but it can't be doing the battery any good. I've unplugged it now.

The thing is if you get a regulator for a tiny panel, the panel may use more power than the solar produces in winter. I would look at maybe a 40w panel and a regulator with low power consumption, it usually specifies it in the description. ?

 

[Richard n Ann]

the panel may use more power than the solar produces in winter.

Just re-read My post above. I meant in winter the regulator can use more power than the solar panel produces.