Solar panels?

[budman67]

At the automotive store,they have those solar panels you
plug into your power point/cigarette lighter. These are to
maintain your car battery, I was thinking of getting two
for my Freightliner and get the two into one to maintain
my batteries.

Would it cause a problem putting the two together, I am
not running the truck much right now?

Thanks

 

[papakb]

There aren't any reasons for you not to use solar panel(s) on your vehicles to keep the batteries charged but one thing you need to be aware of that most people forget is that the panels sold cheaply at auto parts stores and online don't come with charge regulators. They're often more expensive than the panels themselves unless your talking big solar arrays. The charge regulator will keep the output of the panels from cooking your batteries by regulating the charge current as they approach full charge. Without them the panels just keep pumping power into the batteries and that'll eventually boil off the electrolyte and kill the batteries.

You can wire the panels in series to get higher voltages or in parallel for higher currents. Both characteristics are important for a healthy system.

Kurt
KG6KMJ

 

[budman67]

These are the ones I am looking at, I am not very good with electrical.
It states it has protection
Link, take the space out of the tt.

ht tp://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/Green/EnergyConservation/RenewableEnergy/PRD~0112001P/Blue+Planet+1.8W+Solar+Battery+Maintainer.jsp?locale=en

Thanks

 

[Ghost00TJ]

As long as the set up has a charge controller to regulate the battery level and not overcharge or cook your batteries. We have this on our truck camper I had to install a controller. Before adding it the solar panel cooked a battery because the dealer had it straight to the battery the controller monitors input and only chargers when needed and not destroy the batteries.

 

[firefox]

I would go with Solargizer. Mostly they handle the sulphate problem, but I think they may have some that actually top off the charge.
Bruce

 

[budman67]

Thanks guys,I'll look the controller end of things.

 

[srodocker]

I also wondered about those cig lighter plug in panels

 

[tennmogger]

That panel is only 1.8W and that would be the best it could do (knowing how marketing people work ratings). That's only 150 millamps. Any vehicle sized battery could take that charge daily for the few hours the sun was optimum, with no damage at all. No doubt that's why the specs say the panel has "built in overcharge" protection. The "discharge" protection spec means it has a diode in series, biased to prevent the battery from discharging back through the panel at night. IMHO you could hook up that little panel directly with no concern for overcharging.

Bob
WB4ETT

 

[emr]

What truck are you talking about , I know the FMTVs have power points one can plug a 12 volt item into, But not sure if that would handle a 24 volt charge, I know one can put a 12 volt on one bat and not the others when no other charge is available, and it will trickle into other batts, Interested how you are going to get this to work.

 

[budman67]

The truck I have,is a 1988 Freightliner. I own the truck as an owner operator.

 

[firefox]

I suggest that you go to http://www.pulsetech.net/ first and read about all
the different stuff they have. The military has been using this stuff for ages.
I have had a solargizer hooked up to my 24 volt system in my CUCV for at
least 10 years and I hardly ever have to swap out batteries. Do a search on
steelsoldiers for solargizers. I think this will make much better use of your
money than any cheap chinese knockoff.
Bruce
PS: I am not in any way connected to pulsetech.
All the solargizers I bought were off other MV enthusiasts.

 

[budman67]

I am not sure, this one looks good, but said nothing about a controller?
I need one for four large batteries.

http://www.pulsetech.net/SP5-SolarPulse-12V-Solar-Charger-Maintainer-5Watt-7298.aspx#

 

[markmontana]

The controller is in the little black box in the photo. I like them. Have them on most of my trucks.

 

[budman67]

Cool.thanks

 

[firefox]

That looks like the right one for you, but you never said if it was a 12 or 24 volt
rig. There are different configurations for different battery layouts. For example
on my CUCV I have a 24 volt solargizer, which provides 4 battery leads. 2 for each battery (+ & -). Make sure you get the right settup for your truck.
Bruce

 

[budman67]

Most commercial trucks are 12 volt, this one is 12 volt. But I'll get
one of these for my MLV when I get it.

 

[papakb]

Bruce,

The only problem with Solargizers is that they're not battery chargers. There's a difference between chargers and maintainers. PulseTech makes some fine products, among them are their solargizers. A nice find on eBay was a PulseTech combination maintainer and 12 volt source. I picked one up for $38 and it'll give me all the 12v power I need in the truck. Here's a link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pulse-Tech-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item35bc54b219&vxp=mtr

Budsman,

A lot of the solar panels available online do have "protection" but it's only a reverse polarity diode and they're made to protect the panel and not the battery. A charge controller is the only thing that will limit the current to keep the batteries from getting cooked.