solar panels

[andyfish]

How do,does anyone use a solar panel on there boat as ive seen these on ebay and wondered if they would be any good as they seem to be cheap,would it be powerfull enough to keep the battery topped up when were not there?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %26otn%3D2

andy

[andyfish]

yes jonzo its got 5 batteries,but was thinking just for the starter battery

andy

[jillR]

hi andy

maplins have the same sort of thing for the same money and also some with a bit more charging power

for a good price

i noticed a 2.4w for 14.99

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?cri ... &source=15

jill

[andyfish]

Thanks for that jill,never thought to look at maplins

they seem to sell some that could be more suitable for our boat

thanks

andy

[Guest]

Andy have a look at one of my web sites - www.ncsl.co.uk/solar.html

May help

[Gordon]

Andy,

Depends what you want them for. I use a couple of the Maplin 1.5 watt ones just to keep the batteries topped up in the winter, probably totally unnecessary if the batteries are in good nick. These deliver about 18mA into a fully charged battery on a dull day, roughly if my maths are correct about 1A/Hr a week in the winter (don't work too well at night although they do respond to Richo's flood light Hope Clive doesn't read this or he will put up the rent.) If you want do anything other than maintain full condition of your battery you will need something with an output in terms of amps not miliamps. If your batterys are not maintaining their charge with nothing drawing any current you may be better off spending your hard earned on new batts

[andyfish]

Batteries are fine, not that old really,just thought about maintaining them in the weeks that we arnt able to get down to the boat

andy

[mbird]

I've also been thinking about Solar panels. The question I have, is that with 110Ah batteries having quite a high internal resistance, would solar panels actually make any difference unless they were big enough to put out a good few amps?

[andyfish]

suppose i could set up a treadmill when moored up and get my kids to run it for an hour or two!

andy

[Palmtree]

Hi,

At one point I did think about a 30w panel. Is there any problem with leaving the panel with no load on if the battery is not connected?

Ian

[Gordon]

Andy I would have thought the Maplin ones would be ideal for what you want.