Solar Battery Chargers

[johnennis]

I will be docking my 2120 at a facility with no power. Anyone have any experience with solar chargers? Just want to keep them topped off while it sits. Any recommendations as to make, watts or other features?

 

[goinsfishin]

I installed one in December. Went with this model http://www.21st-century-goods.com/page/ ... BATTSAVSE6 . Also got the regulator unit. So far it brought both batteries up to full charge and has kept them there. Mounted the unit on the forward center of the cabin. One selling point is the 10 year warranty.
I'll see how it holds up under real-world conditions when I launch in a couple weeks.

 

[Porkchunker]

Make sure the regulator completely disconnects the panel from the batteries when the batteries are charged. A fully digital 3-stage charger will completely disconnect when the battery is fully charged, then, about once a minute will come on to check the battery and then disconnect again.

If it operates like a "trickle charger" then over time your batteries will deteriorate.

Dave

aka

 

[Jersey Jim]

It won't deteriorate them if regulated to "Float" charge at the float-voltage safe for your battery's particular chemistry. If a charger Mfgr's approach to regulation is frequent connection/disconnection, that's just one method, albeit archaic, to insuring that a safe voltage is not exceeded. I've continually float-charged expensive 400 AH Trojan batteries in my motorhome, 24/7 for 10 years. I also keep my boat's dual batteries on a tender 12 months out of the year. I would recommend though, that once you are positive the battery is fully charged and the voltage is no longer climbing, determine that the charger's regulator is holding at a safe level for your chemistry. This may be 13.8 volts, or something different. I don't have them all commited to memory. Just check the battery voltage with a digital meter with the charger connected after a long charge. Also, since barely any current will be flowing through the batteries to maintain float-charge, there will be extremely little bubbling if any, in the case of a wet-cell. Therefore I would adjust the water level before and after you put her to sleep for months. Chances are they will only need a squirt.

Jim

 

[johnennis]

I installed one in December. Went with this model http://www.21st-century-goods.com/page/ ... BATTSAVSE6 . Also got the regulator unit. So far it brought both batteries up to full charge and has kept them there. Mounted the unit on the forward center of the cabin. One selling point is the 10 year warranty.
I'll see how it holds up under real-world conditions when I launch in a couple weeks.

How do you charge both batteries, split the pos and neg leads?

 

[Jersey Jim]

When the boat sits in the driveway, I just clip the tender onto one of the batteries and combine them with the "1-2-both" battery-switch to connect them in parallel. I make sure all switches are off at the helm, but could just isolate with the main breaker in the battery compartment. I'm sure there is a more permanent solution that keeps the batteries isolated while charging and not combined but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I Am interested in the solar charger though because this spring I'll be using a wet slip. I like the independence from shore power, plus while on the hook I'll be putting some back into the batteries. Will probably go with two of them, one wired to each battery for true isolation. It might be a good idea though to have a small switch be able to route both panels to just one battery. This would facilitate faster charging of just one of the batteries out on the water, possibly the only one that can take a charge. Just good to have the flexibility.

Jim

 

[johnennis]

Thanks everyone. Great information. I'm heading towards one or two 15W panels wired directly to the batteries, with the panels mounted on the roof on either side of the Radar.

 

[stix217]

does anyone have updates on using one of the Sunsei products? I'm considering getting one but a lot of the reviews at West Marine say the unit isn't waterproof, and the manufacturer specifically states it's not wp.

thanks for any help.