Solar Charger project

[mitchone423]

It's cold weather (relatively speaking) time here in NC and I need to start thinking about keeping the battery charged in my 77 Series 3. I've been hooking it up to a battery charger this past few winters with varying results. Usually a circuit tripped or I tripped over the extension cord making it disconnect.

I generally drive it once a week to the grocery to keep the fluids moving and break something else to work on. It does get used, unless the battery is totally dead, that happens too often.

I recently upgraded my power on my camper which has left me with a Bogart engineering SC-2030 solar charger. I'd like to mount a single 100w solar panel on the roof rack and into the solar charger and then into the vehicle battery. There's only one battery in the rover.

Has anyone explored a similar setup? I already have all the solar parts in a box doing absolutely nothing, just have to purchase a cheap 100w solar panel.

Thanks,

Mitch

[Paul D]

Has anyone explored a similar setup? I already have all the solar parts in a box doing absolutely nothing, just have to purchase a cheap 100w solar panel.

I have something like you describe on the boat, a 100 watt panel wired through a controller to the house bank of 4- 6 volt deep cycle batteries. The solar panel is flipped up and aimed at the sun as much as possible while at anchor. At best under ideal conditions it might produce 5 amps for a few hours a day. That set-up keeps a surface charge on the house bank but doesn't keep up with loads like the refrigeration. On sunny days it will allow us to stay out at anchor for another day or two without firing up the engine to recharge.

[64osby]

I know you have most of the parts for solar. If it were my money I would spend it on a nice smart trickle charger. Maintains the battery without over charging. My $.05

[RustCollector]

May I suggest that you check the age of your battery first. It sounds like you are on top of this kind of thing, but I just ran an electrical problem in my daily driver down to the battery needing replacement. It was ten years old (!) which was the reason for its bad performance. I didn't notice earlier because GM put the battery under the rear seat, where I never look.

I run my 88 about as much as you do in the winter. My battery is 5 years old and starts right up on all but the coldest days. It lives in an unheated garage, which may not be a fair comparison to your truck.

[mitchone423]

I appreciate all the comments.

I already have a trickle charger that works brilliantly while it's plugged in, and that's my main problem, keeping it plugged in. I do have all the needed parts besides solar panel and maybe more than a few hours in getting the cable runs right. The only thing I don't like is having a solar panel on the roof rack, I think I'll get over it in time. The battery is a brand new one as of last winter for obvious reasons, I've been successful in running that down a few times since replacing it.

After I'm done I'll post a few comments on here if anyone else has all the same spare solar parts, maybe I'll try to get my ham radio permanently installed.

Thanks and Happy Holidays,

Mitch