Solar battery charger

[iggyw1]

Hey guys,

I am thinking about buying a used solar battery charger for my boat battery. (Only $20). It is for my starting battery and I also have the Evinrude electric shift (selectric) 40 H.P. With no or low battery power, I would have no gears due to no electric for the electro magnets. I don't know how low I can go on the volts before I lose my gears.

The solar charger is a 10/2 Amp charger. (10 amp & a 2 amp switch on it for 6 or 12 volt batteries). It has the clamps that would hook up directly to the battery. While I am out fishing for an entire day, I can see on my fish finder currently that the battery power goes down from 12.2 volts to about 11.9 to 12.0 by the end of an eight hr day. I thought if I hook up this solar charger while I am out on the lake, it would keep the battery charged fully to 12.2 (I charge it at home in my garage right now before I take it out every time). My generator on the motor is not working or the voltage regulator is shot, so a "temporary fix" is to hook up the solar charger. Good or bad idea??? Anyone have any experience with these solar chargers?
Thanks for a reply.

 

[matt167]

Re: Solar battery charger

Unless I'm mistaken, the Electric shift Johnnyrudes are in fwd gear with no power. On a bright sunny day, those chargers don't work too bad, but being that you are drawing off the main battery with electronics going. Your 1-2A output will be absorbed by the electronics.

The Solenoids in the lower unit, will probably work with as little as 10V, but keep in mind, the lower the battery, the hotter they will get.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Solar battery charger

I had a 68 , 85 hp and it was in neutral with no power. It would perhaps be a lot simpler to see what the charging system problem is, I would bet its the bridge rectifier, a 10.00 part at radio shack.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Solar battery charger

fix the motor. The solar chargers just put out a trickle, not enough to do much good. You shouldn't have to charge a battery every use, and OB's running don't really recharge low batteries that well.

 

[skyking897]

Re: Solar battery charger

We use a small solar charger on our RV to keep the batteries charged up when we dry camp (no services like hydro or water) and it works quite well. Once we winterize the camper I remove the charger and put it on the dash of the wife's convertible and plug it into the cigarette lighter to keep its battery charged over the winter and it works great there also.

 

[JB]

Re: Solar battery charger

Fix the charging system in the outboard. Solar power is a pipe dream except for long term maintenance of charge.

Your battery should read 12.6v when fully charged. You may have a weak cell or an inaccurate voltmeter.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Solar battery charger

If you will post the year and model of the motor I should have a electrical drawing for it, I still have the book on my old 68 85 HP and it covered a lot of years and hp motors. More than likely all it has on the charging system is a stator winding that rarely ever goes bad and a rectifier that is known to go bad. I replaced the one on mine with one from radio shack.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Solar battery charger

I'm guessing that solsr panel is a 10/2 WATT unit and not a 10/2 AMP unit. Big difference. 2 watts is virtually useless and 10 watts is not much better. 10 watts is less than one amp at 12.6 volts.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Solar battery charger

The solar charger is a 10/2 Amp charger. (10 amp & a 2 amp switch on it for 6 or 12 volt batteries). It has the clamps that would hook up directly to the battery.

No such animal, AFAIK. Sounds more like a low-end plug-in 120V model.

 

[iggyw1]

Re: Solar battery charger

If you will post the year and model of the motor I should have a electrical drawing for it, I still have the book on my old 68 85 HP and it covered a lot of years and hp motors. More than likely all it has on the charging system is a stator winding that rarely ever goes bad and a rectifier that is known to go bad. I replaced the one on mine with one from radio shack.

Thnaks. I do have a wirirng diagram for my motor in the boat which is in storage for the winter and covered with a tarp. I will check it out in the spring time. I will try to get the charging sysytem repaired at that time. Thanks again.

 

[iggyw1]

Re: Solar battery charger

No such animal, AFAIK. Sounds more like a low-end plug-in 120V model.

Yes, it does sound like a low end plug-in 120v. charger, and it even looks like a low-end plug-in 120v. charger, but according to the manufacturer label & info on their web site, it is a SOLAR charger, (does not have a plug on it), 10/2 AMP, dual range battery charger made for use on motor cycle, marine and RV batteries. The model # for the one I purchased on Craigslist is # 1010 made by the clore manufacturing company. Why would they say it is 10 amp when/if it is only 10 watt? They have one that states it is 10/2 AMP and even has a 55 amp motor starting capability on it, and it is SOLAR POWERED.

I appreciate your input, and you may be correct about there is no such animal, however, they (Clore) are definately doing some false advertising on their products at the Clore battery manufacturing company then if the unit is not a 10/2 AMP solar charger. How can they get away with this kind of stuff in this day and age??? If it is as they claim, that is a pretty good charger, wouldn't you say?

 

[matt167]

Re: Solar battery charger

"Solar" is a brand of Clore Automotive battery chargers. There website mentions nothing of solar power, and this PDF manual shows an extension cord http://www.cloreautomotive.com/uploaded_files/sku/405_842-257-001-A HR-1.pdf

Clore Automotive

 

[iggyw1]

Re: Solar battery charger

"Solar" is a brand of Clore Automotive battery chargers. There website mentions nothing of solar power, and this PDF manual shows an extension cord http://www.cloreautomotive.com/uploaded_files/sku/405_842-257-001-A HR-1.pdf

Clore Automotive

Well I guess I just bought me a battery charger that I need to plug in then (which I already have). For the price I paid, I'll take it 'cuz the one I have takes a lot of work to get it out and hook it up then pit it away as it is a commercial one on a cart with wheels. If SOLAR is just the model of one of the clore battery chargers, that is very misleading for us novices then. By the way, I appreciate the link you sent so I can see a picture of the power cord in the manual, but that is a completely differant model number of the one that I posted and the one I bought does not look anything like the one in the manual. Also, I do not see anywhere in the manual that says "SOLAR" battery charger. It says automatic charger, nothing about it being a solar model. Thanks for the info though. I will work on my generator next spring.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Solar battery charger

The lesson here, and for anyone considering a true SOLAR PANEL battery charger is to look at the specifications. Pay attention to the panel dimensions. If the panel is about 18 inches square it is impossible to get 10 amps, or even 2 amps out of it. AMPERAGE is the critical measure of the value of a any charger -- solar or plug in. Most solar panels of the size just mentioned are in the 7.5 WATT range. 7.5 watts will not light the tail light bulb on your trailer. A solar panel large enough to actually fully charge a battery in a short period of time would need to be bigger than most boats. Yes, a 15 watt charger (little over 1 amp) can charge a battery but it will take many days to do so. Since the sun is not available at night, you can factor that into the time. If you don't know what a solar panel looks like when compared to a plug in battery charger, then some education on your part is needed.

 

[iggyw1]

Re: Solar battery charger

The lesson here, and for anyone considering a true SOLAR PANEL battery charger is to look at the specifications. Pay attention to the panel dimensions. If the panel is about 18 inches square it is impossible to get 10 amps, or even 2 amps out of it. AMPERAGE is the critical measure of the value of a any charger -- solar or plug in. Most solar panels of the size just mentioned are in the 7.5 WATT range. 7.5 watts will not light the tail light bulb on your trailer. A solar panel large enough to actually fully charge a battery in a short period of time would need to be bigger than most boats. Yes, a 15 watt charger (little over 1 amp) can charge a battery but it will take many days to do so. Since the sun is not available at night, you can factor that into the time. If you don't know what a solar panel looks like when compared to a plug in battery charger, then some education on your part is needed.

Yep. I bought a regular ol' battery charger I guess, thinking it was a solar powered charger. I bought it for the low price of $20, & it will be handier for me to use than my big commercial charger I am now using for my batteries. It have one of those big things on a cart with wheels, and I put it away each time I use it too. I also have a trolling battery that I charge all of the time, so the little bench charger will come in handy use for me anyway! Basically from what I can tell then, is that the solar powered battery chargers that are available are about useless for a fishing boat. I have a generator on my motor that I will definately have to get going next spring. I'm hoping the problem is just the voltage regulator instead of the generator, and my amp meter in the dash board is not showing anything! I think a wire is broken on that. Springtime project for me (after the boat tarp comes off).

 

[NYBo]

Re: Solar battery charger

Here's the one you have:
Clore Automotive

Not a solar panel in sight. Misleading name, for sure. Please note that this is a manual charger so you have to keep a close eye on the ammeter to keep it from boiling your battery dry.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Solar battery charger

... I bought it for the low price of $20, ...

The $20 seems about right.
For the life of me, I can not see how the MSRP can be over $100 for a simple, 10 amp manual charger!