Hey all,
Kind of a generic topic here but when gas shot up back in 2008, I went out and got a focus as my daily driver and now my beloved truck sits for days on end before I drive it. I usually try to drive it every 5-10 days. My question is, has anyone ever used one of those dash solar panels as a trickle charger for your battery in a similar case. They are rated at 1.5 - 2 watts, so I wonder if they work or not.

Thanks for your opinion ... I know I could have posted in other forums but a) it is related to my 1999 truck and b) you guys have helped me with this truck for years now. I feel like we're family!

Thanks,
Mike G

 

why not look into a battery tender? one can be had from Walmart for about $22.00, and that's got to be cheaper than a "green" charger.

 

I don't doubt it would work, but if you start/drive the truck every week and a half or so, the solar charger won't be connected long enough to really do any good ( unless maybe you have a really slow battery drain issue somewhere, it might counter that a little).

Dave

 

I bought an escort about a year ago as my daily driver and I have had times where I don't start my truck for a month or more. I have never had any issues with a low battery when I go to use the truck.

I think if you have a good battery, it should be fine for that period of time.

 

Back when we had the plane,I bought a "trickle charger" and timer from Wal-Mart.
The trickle charger was rated at about 1.5 amps.This just maintained the charge while she was sittin in the hangar sometimes for weeks at a time.The timer turned it on for about 8 hours per day.
Both were cheap.

 

I have a couple of the solar chargers.
They are ok for slowing down the eventual dead battery.
If you are conscientious about the starting and running the truck it should be enough.
If there is a lot of drain due to keep alive circuits it may not be able to keep up.
If you have access to a amp meter check the current draw while the truck sits.
I just placed two of my vehicles on trickle / maintenance chargers.

 

Thanks for all the input. My truck sits out in the driveway and running an ext. cord out to it doesn't seem that good of an idea ... specially if we fire up the snow blower and forget about the cord. It gets pretty cold here in MI and I can tell that the battery has lost some charge after a really cold snap. Haven't had any "no-starts" but I wouldn't mind putting some charge back into the battery.

Mike G

 

oh - didn't think about extension cords.... we don't have snow blowers down here, so I never think abou them either.

 

To actually do any good you need to get a solar charger with more watts, 1.5 to 2 is nothing. Typically the cost of a usable size unit becomes the issue. But after saying that a small unit wont hurt anything and if it makes you feel better go for it.

 

The more I think about it, I doubt that it will do any good. If, for example, if I have a 600 cranking amp battery (not sure what's under the hood and it's too cold to check) I would have to loose 200-300 ca's (or more) before it had trouble starting. W=VA so this equates to around 3000 watts lost. putting this back into the battery at 1.5 watts is still a big negative. Even if I'm wrong ... at least I've talked myself out of spending $30 for something that I probably don't really need.

Mike G

 

Just some probably useless info, but, once in a while I install metal gates for customers, and one company I like, GTO, has a nifty solar panel for remote gate operations. It's more than adequate for maintaining the 12v on board battery, even if the gate is used 8-10 times a day ( and it's a high amp draw motor).

Dave

P.S.- Can be seen at Tractor Supply, usually in stock.

 

The point is to offset the drain from keep alive circuits.
You start with a fully charged battery and provide enough power to maintain the status quo.
A charge controller may be necessary; Coast Electronics Supply Inc CMP1205 5A 12V Solar Charge Controller