Maplin solar panel

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Lundylad

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Looking to buy Solar panel/s to top up batteries whilst on swinging mooring.
Maplin have on offer a 60W kit for £130 at the moment.

Does anybody have any experience of these, good or bad.

Thanks for any thoughts.
 
We installed one of their 20W kits about 4 weeks ago. Does what it says on the tin.

The House batteries have not been charged by the engine since.

On Saturday when I was down on the boat, the regulator was cutting off the charge from the fully charged battery.

Long term, we will see :)

The panel is glass fronted but appears well made.

regards

Ian & Jo
 
Used a 12w one for 2 years now,keeps the engine battery fully charged, still works despite the top glass getting cracked in a gale.
I looked at these yesterday but think i'm going to plump for a semi flexible one from ebay shipped from Portsmouth, wouldn't hesitate to use a Maplin one though !
 
Lundylad said:
Looking to buy Solar panel/s to top up batteries whilst on swinging mooring.
Maplin have on offer a 60W kit for £130 at the moment.

Does anybody have any experience of these, good or bad.

Thanks for any thoughts.
Click to expand...

The PBO practical boating magazine/guide (the one off) has a few pages on solar panels. Interesting and worth the £4.50 to understand what you are buying IMHO. In fact, I would urge you to spend the £4.50 !!
 
Sorry for the very bone question, but how are you wiring the panels in? I had a Sadler 32 with both an alternator feed and shore power feed to charging the bank. My guess is that you simply wire the solar panel directly into the same point - and to make it removable, you create a plug and socket bridge for the panel to plug into?

Any guidance would be much appreciated as there have been a few feeds of late on the Maplin panels which all suggest they represent good value for those of us out on the swingers!

Many thanks
 
I bought the small panel from Maplins for £9.99 and it sticks to the inside of one of the windows. You are provided with a lead with crocodile clips or a cigar lighter adapter. It has kept my battery topped up now for 5 months.
 
dleroc said:
I bought the small panel from Maplins for £9.99 and it sticks to the inside of one of the windows. You are provided with a lead with crocodile clips or a cigar lighter adapter. It has kept my battery topped up now for 5 months.
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Seconded.

Mine's done a good job for a year or so.
 
Took a look at the panels today, excellent value but not suitable for what I need.

gigm/Lazy Kipper will download the app, thanks.

Sorry Nick but not able to help at this moment.
 
Lundylad said:
Looking to buy Solar panel/s to top up batteries whilst on swinging mooring.
Maplin have on offer a 60W kit for £130 at the moment.

Does anybody have any experience of these, good or bad.

Thanks for any thoughts.
Click to expand...

I read that you can buy panels for around £1 per watt tese days, add on a bit of wire and a controllers, and £130 should get you a 100W solar panel system.
 
Richard10002 said:
I read that you can buy panels for around £1 per watt tese days, add on a bit of wire and a controllers, and £130 should get you a 100W solar panel system.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of doing this myself, as it also gives the option to have the optimum number of cells. Many panels only have 36, this is not enough. Perhaps I can organise a group buy at a bulk discount.

FWIW, I wouldn't choose Maplin for something like this.
 
dleroc said:
I bought the small panel from Maplins for £9.99 and it sticks to the inside of one of the windows. You are provided with a lead with crocodile clips or a cigar lighter adapter. It has kept my battery topped up now for 5 months.
Click to expand...

I used one to keep a car topped up when it lay unused for months at a time unused. It did its job via the cigar lighter for about 2 years or so - it eventually went kaput, but well worth it.

I reckon it wasn't built for a bad winter up north and it just froze to death. I should have taken it off the window when there was heavy snow/ice - the sun wasn't getting to it anyway.
 
Just downloaded the PBO Essential Maintainence Guide.
£2.99 well spent and just the information I was looking for.
 
Maplin Solar Panels

Lundylad,

Have a look at the following on e-bay, before you buy from Maplins:

General: Semi-flexible solar panels
"No.1solar" is one Chinese shop selling on e-bay and depending on type of panel some are available in Europe(UK or Austria) or else direct from HongKong.

Another seller: "lssolarpower668" who has a 100W kit (inc regulator) for £132.

Regulators: 30A PWM regulator from "dtaccessory" for £15.

Just wanted to give you a heads up on these prices before you buy from Maplins!!

Alan.
 
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