Solar Charger for Bike Battery

Does anyone have any experience with a solar charger like this? Some times my bike will sit for a week or so during the summer (I know, I need to ride it more) and I wondered if I hooked one of these up to the battery, would it keep it fully charged up, ready to go? I have a two prong connection that I use for my electric vest and thought I could hook the solar charger up through that. Would the constant charge to the battery be harmful in the long run? Opinions and experiences wanted please. These thing often go on sale for 1/2 price.

* see 3rd post for a photo of the panel (thanks)

 

setting for a week or even two shouldn't hurt your battery at all
although it might work fine if something should go wrong with it, it may drain your battery or worse, put a 1 amp fuse in your charger connection

 

Ranger
Your link did not work but I asume you are talking about the smaller one of these.



It is fine to conect to the battery and forget. It will not charge the battery but will supply enough current just to keep the batt live over long periods and will not "cook" the battery.

The larger one I use needs a conditioner conected between the pannel and the battery becouse that one will charge a batt from flat and would "cook" the battery if left on for too long

As Polock say it is advisable to have a fuse fitted and I would assume their is one already fitted between the vest plug and the battery (best check if not shure)

 

I'd just like to add one thing... Some solar panels do not have a reverse protection diode built in, which causes it to discharge the battery overnight or in low light conditions. Good thing to check for.

Solar panels are a lot of fun. We are running 2 web cams (soon to be 3) on a bald eagles' nest in the middle of nowhere and powering the cams and the wireless radio gear with solar... We're using a Sunwize "Steca" charge controller and a pair of marine 12V batteries for ballast... This rig has survived since '06, when we first set it up at another nest (except for the batteries... those got replaced once).

 

The small panel looks just like the one I tried to link. The vest connection does have a fuse. The panel I'm looking at has discharge and overcharge protection. I have one solar panel on the roof of the shed already, powering an interior light. If I see one of these small panels for sale I think I'll be scooping one up. We all know how XJ's like to have a fully charged battery and I think this would be cheap insurance to make sure the battery is ready to go. Cheaper than a battery tender and I won't have to worry about an extension cord.

 

rangerg

please give a link to the solar charger you are talking about. i am lloking for something like that.

 

some vw's came with them... may show up in the junk yard

 

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/naviga ... &pCatg=665

I hope this link works. The first link i used was for the Canadian Tire store. This is the same solar panel. Canadian Tire shows them for $29.95 and I've seen then on sale for 1/2 price.

 

Looks good though the price is a bit much $38.24 (£26.39)
I got mine for £9.00 ($13.03) Wait till you can get it for half price again

 

For my fellow Canucks. Canadian Tire has these solar chargers on sale for $7.99. I went and grabbed one this morning.

 

Thanks for the heads up, Ranger. I'm gonna pick one up too.

I used to use a small panel like this on my boat in the summer. It had an automatic bilge pump and it seemed to keep things good to go when I couldn't get to the lake as often as I would like.

To ensure that this thread stays on an XJ theme, my boat was older than my Maxim...

 

i picked up 2 of these before the winter for mine and the wifes bikes, and i like it

the one down fall is that the plug from the battery cable to the panel leaves the positive terminal exposed.

found this out when i unplugged it and it touched the frame. the line is fused but the plug should be changed if you are going to bolt on the permanent jack.

otherwise it works perfect

 

Thanks for the input. I have the plug tucked between the tank and seat because I use it for my electric vest as well. I have an extra plug connector that I'm going to cut off and use as a cover. I'll just cut the wires off, cover the ends with silicone and it should be good.

 

I grabbed a rain cheque for the 7.99 one at Canadian Tire, but never went back for it. After someone on the xj mailing list said it hadn't worked for him I got thinking...my trickle charger that plugs into the wall operates at 1-2 amps to maintain the battery. The 1 watt solar charger, operating at 14VDC, would put out a measley 0.07A, and only in full sun. Doesn't seem worth it to me.