Solar cell charging while boat is stored.

[Hank Bass]

I've got a little solar cell charger I bought that is about a 1 watt output. It's supposed to be plugged in to the cigarette light or power port and supposedly it will charge the batteries based on sunlight. It's advertised as 12VDC but when I took it outside in direct sunlight it goes all the way to 19.5VDC.

My question is: Will the 19.5VDC charge hurt my battery? I know it's not much of an output at 1 watt but over an extended period of time, who knows.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Hank Bass
Friendswood, Texas

 

[wifisher]

Re: Solar cell charging while boat is stored.

The voltage will drop when a load is put on the circuit. It won't hurt the battery, but I wouldn't trust it as a charger either. It will take forever at one watt. It would be good as a "maintainer" though.

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Solar cell charging while boat is stored.

Even if this was registering 12V it's not going to charge a battery. You're getting less than a tenth of an amp out of it. You would need something like a 10 watt solar panel to provide sufficient charge.

http://www.iboats.com/Shoreline-10-Watt-Solar-Panel/dm/*******.523539020--**********.068958957--view_id.729945

http://www.boatliftanddock.com/p-199-10-watt-12v-solar-charging-kit.aspx

 

[Hank Bass]

Re: Solar cell charging while boat is stored.

Wifisher, thanks for the input. Yes, I was thinking of it as a maintainer, I would think that the battery would not discharge much if the weather cooperated and the solar cell got about 10 hours a day of light. Will try it and see. Thanks again.

 

[Hank Bass]

Re: Solar cell charging while boat is stored.

1980Coronado, thanks for the input. I was thinking of it as a maintainer which probably could work, don't you think? My battery shouldn't discharge faster than what the solar cell can put out. I'm going to try it as I know my battery is fully charged. Here's hoping. Thanks again.

Hank Bass

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Solar cell charging while boat is stored.

Does this boat have a radio?? If so the station memory and clock might draw more power than the solar panel can provide.

 

[1980Coronado]

Re: Solar cell charging while boat is stored.

Wifisher, thanks for the input. Yes, I was thinking of it as a maintainer, I would think that the battery would not discharge much if the weather cooperated and the solar cell got about 10 hours a day of light. Will try it and see. Thanks again.

Well as Silvertip says your LCD clock might draw more than that panel is putting out....if you do the math...at peak power (full sun) it's 1 watt....divide that by 12 volts and you get .08 amps....80mA.....that is a small amount of current...the battery tenders usually put out much more than that. A trickle charger would put out something like 500mA or .5 amps...

You can try it to prove it to yourself....it isn't going to do any harm.

 

[witenite0560]

Re: Solar cell charging while boat is stored.

I've been using one of the red ones you can get through Harbor Freight for a couple of years now. Output is rated at 1.5 watts. Seems to work great as a maintainer.

 

[Hank Bass]

Re: Solar cell charging while boat is stored.

Thanks for all the inputs, I went with the 5 watt solar charger, hope with all the sunlight we get my batteries will stay up.

Regards,

Hank Bass
Friendswood, TX