Solar powered trickle chargers

[muzikill]

Looks like a good thing for those with garages & no power or bikes under cover.

£30 on ebay ....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=Oxford+Solariser+12V+Solar+Battery+Op timiser&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0&_nkw=Oxford+Solariser&_sacat=0

Same thing £13 maplin.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/solar-powered-12v-2.4w-battery-trickle-charger-223251

Back to ebay £10

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solar-Powered-12V-Battery-Trickle-Charger-Boats-Cars-/200730401640?pt=UK_Gadgets&hash=item2ebc76db68

[rictus01]

had one for some time already

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/p206x206/578430_10151112291934135_1160439515_n.jpg

[Pricey12]

Looks intriguing. Are they any good, i.e comparable to an Optimate, etc?

[rictus01]

much depends on the rating of the unit, those little ones are normally 1.5w / 125mamp.

I got my unit to test about a year ago, it's a 5w / 350mAmp one, I purposely fitted a battery passed it's usable limit (as in it needed charging every few days), the unit helped hold a charge in the battery for week of non use and the bike started fine, I also flattened the battery on a test and (although batteries will recover a certain amount given time anyway); it started it in 2.5 hours.

so they work, it's not as good as a mains charger, but useful in the right circumstances.

Cheers Mark.

[Pricey12]

Hmmm, could be worth considering then. I'm looking at getting electric to my bike shed but may not be practical. Good to know there is an alternative.

[Nobbylad]

My bike had been off the road since late October, stood outside throughout the winter. Battery was fine last week when I started her up. Took a bit of starting in the end, however battery held up fine for the 6 or 7 goes it took to get going. Hadn't used a top up charger or anything.

[Pete7]

Hmmm, could be worth considering then. I'm looking at getting electric to my bike shed but may not be practical. Good to know there is an alternative.

We have a 125 watts of solar on the boat charging 2 x 100 amp hour batteries. We can see 7.5 amps during a mid day summer so a good solar panel with a couple of batteries is certainly now a good alternative for a shed if you have a south facing roof. You need a PWM regulator between panels and batteries if the amps generated is more than 10% of the batteries total capacity or you risk boiling them dry.

From this set up we can run a slow cooker for 5 hours or a Dremel etc via a 12v > 240v converter. A bigger converter would run a mains power drill but I have a 12v Dewalt portable for that and yes it is charged up by solar. We can survive easily for a week on board without running the engine to charge the batteries during the summer. However, during the depths of the winter the amps can drop to 1.5 AH.

I do like solar, after the initial outlay its energy for nothing and solar panels on e bay are now less than 75p per watt, that's a 3rd of the price a couple of years ago because the Chinese have flooded the market to drive the Germans out of business.

Pete