Cheap Maplin solar trickle charger

J

JIM_TEAL

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I got one of these, 1.5 watt for a tenner. They are sold for cars caravans primarily. They look sealed and water/weather proof. Any one know if they are and could be mounted in the open or is it a case of under the glass hatch?
Jim J
 
I picked up two of them in the recent 'sale' with the idea that they would be enough to keep the batteries maintained while on the mooring. They are weatherproof, but only provide 100mA charge in full sunlight. However, this decreases to 20mA if any shadow or dust gets on them (the blue LED still blinks happily).

So they do a bit, but I think they are marginal even for maintaining a charged battery.

Mine are fine in the cockpit- until the shadow of the backstay gets to them.
 
Have you attached a voltmeter to it ? I did with mine and was quite bemused to see 24 Volts registered ( yes, it says 12V on the packaging ). /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Not sure what to do with it now. At the moment it sits on deck as a kind of seagull lavatory and I have left it connected, on the insane principal that 24V at not-a-lot of amps is probably OK.
 
I got two last October. They survived the winter in my cockpit whilst I was out of the water. They kept my batteries from going flat for the six months. Back on the pontoon in April both batteries where about 80% (12.4 V). A quick overnight charge from the shore power then back to the mooring for the new season.
Much easier than taking them home to be "trickled" in the garage for the winter.
 
Hey Bobgosling that voltage you measured is crrect although normally 18 or 20 volts. That is the voltage with no load. Solar panels are inherently unregulated so they give 24v no load but that voltage happily falls to that of the battery as current flows.
It has the characteristic that current will flow into the battery as the voltage rises so it ensures max current at all stages of battery charge.
Now if you have a small battery or a large solar panel then you need a regulator to avert overcharge. But that is never going to happen with your panel unless you try to charge the tiniest of SLA batteries.

So leave it as is. it will be working fine. As to how much current and charge it gives you is a variable but it must be of some use. olewill
 
[ QUOTE ]
Have you attached a voltmeter to it ? I did with mine and was quite bemused to see 24 Volts registered ( yes, it says 12V on the packaging ). /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Not sure what to do with it now. At the moment it sits on deck as a kind of seagull lavatory and I have left it connected, on the insane principal that 24V at not-a-lot of amps is probably OK.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not a lecky .... but I got similar result from mine ... but then again I got same from various chargers / power plugs for mobiles etc. which I believe when uncontrolled as in nothing connected false readings are obtained.
The back-emf .... now someone will blow me away for using that expression !! .... brings it to 14v as required.... and anyway as I understand it - it's the wattage that is more important !

I had 2 of the trickle chargers ... as long as batterys were already full charged they helped to extend the time before needing charge. But they never topped up or sorted part discharged batterys. On my car that used to stand a lot in UK - it barely met the security system needs.

I always considered parelleling them to up the wattage, but then one cracked it's crystals from being outside in the weather ...
 
Ours survived on the outside of the tarpaulin covering the boat all winter and kept the battery fully charged. Make sure you put a dip in the wire connecting it to the battery so any water drips off the wire and doesn't run down onto your battery terminal.

Not sure if it would be any good for recharging the battery if you'd used much out of it though.
 
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