Solar Battery Charger... ?

[Dave___in___CT]

Hi...


What's your experience and opinion using a solar battery charger to maintain a tractor's battery strength/condition ?

Brands ? Models ? Size ? Cost ? Effectiveness ? Heat, cold, weather affects ?

I'm looking into a solar charger/maintainer as a solution to maintain the 12 volt battery strength/condition on my compact utility tractor when it will be left for 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 weeks without running it... There's no electric power nearby...

Here's one that seems pretty good... VDC Electronic's BatteryMINDer Solar Maintenance/Charger 12 Volt 5 watt... model SC005


Retailer...


Street price is ~$100...


Thanks...

Dave...

 

[Soundguy]

I keep a solar battery charger on my 12v 1954 Ford NAA, 12v 1966 IH cub, and my 12v 1997 NH 1920... have been for a few months now.

I got 'cheapy' ones from harbor freight tools.. they were 19.99, but on sale for 9.99... they claim charge at 125 ma, in direct sunlight, with a no=load voltage near 20v.

Mine have been working great. I only get to drive my tractors on the weekend.. and then.. usually only one.. as i have 5 tractors.. etc.. so usually it is well.. 5 weeks between running each one.. I used the NAA, and the cub this weekend. Normall the ammeter shows a good charge after starting, to make up for the used power.. but after charging in the sun for a few weeks, it started up fast.. and ammeter didn't show anything more than ignition draw till I use dthe lights.. etc. Same with cub.. zoomed to life very quickly.

I've been contemplating getting 6v chargers for my 8n and JD 'B'.. as they are still 6v... Tsc has both 6v and 12v chargers for something like 29.99 / 39.99... can't justify that price yett though, as I do have electric and a booster/charger in the barn if I need it.

Soundguy

 

[Boxman]

I've got an ICP Global Pro 115 solar panel connected to an ICP Global 7 amp charge controller that I use to maintain the battery on my Jeep. I only use the Jeep occasionally and the clock, stereo, car alarm etc. is a fairly heavy constant draw so a charge maintainer of some sort is a neccessity if I'm not going to drive it for about 2 weeks. I've found that the solar charger is only really useful for about 9 months out of the year, the other 3 months are too cloudy and the days are too short for it to keep up with the rate of discharge. I use one of the permanent mount 120v plug in style charge maintainers for the dark cloudy months.

As for installation:
I made a saw horse type wooden stand to mount the panel and have it facing due south. The saw horse sits outside the Cover-it shelter that I use for Jeep storage. I ran the two wires from the solar panel to a cheap Radio Shack 12v DC meter and then from the meter to the 7 amp charge controller. I wired a standard flat four male trailer harness plug to the two wires that connect from the charge controller to the battery in the Jeep. I then wired a standard flat four female trailer plug directly to the battery, be sure that you keep your polarity correct or the magic smoke might be released from something. I also wired a male flat four connector to the battery leads for the 120v charge controll unit. The trailer connects give me a simple sturdy quick connect system.

I bought the solar stuff from Cabela's web site, just do a search on "solar panels". The approximate cost for the setup I have is about $150.00

I'll post pics some time this weekend, it's the only time I'm home while there's daylight this time of year.

boxman

 

[Soundguy]

Yikes.. that must be some draw... I use lots of battery/solar fence chargers.. and they claim to work for something like 20 days of dark / overcast conditions.. and these are 4 and 6v units... Even cheapy harbor freight 12v chargers can kick out 125ma....that's an 1/8 of an amp..if your draw is that high on your jeep.. that is phenominal..... might want to check that..

Soundguy

 

[KubotaBling]

any pictures of guages and setup? I wanted to make a volt/amp adapter to hook in line with some of my chargers and see what is actualy going on. thanks

 

[5030]

I have a siemens 50 watt solar panel on the roof of my Lance truck camper with a 7 amp charge controller built below the sink.

It keeps my group 31 deep cycle charged when the camper is idle as well as in the woods.

The panel is completely weatherproof. They aren't cheap, however. About $500.00.

 

[Boxman]

Re: Pics

This is the panel and saw horse stand.

 

[Boxman]

Re: Pics

This is the charge controller and meter.

 

[Boxman]

Re: Pics

This is a close up of the meter.

 

[Boxman]

Re: Pics

This is my winter time charger, it's one of the permanent mount 120v plug in units that I've mounted on a piece of plywood instead of on the fenderwell as the manufacturer intends.