Re: Battery Maintenence Question


"Bob Giddings" <bobg@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:93m6e25iktb8mne43qn0oc9cguaudnqtp1@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 09:39:11 -0700, "Sorobon" <Sorobon@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

If you are dry camping where there is lots of sun a 120 watt solar panel
will make a big difference. You can run your generator to do the bulk
charging and then let your solar panel take over, I know lots of people
that
never or rarely run their generators, including myself. you will probably
need around 360 watts of solar panels to do that. but 120 watt panel in
the
Southwest will make a big difference.

"David The Hamster Malone" <malone@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1155744699.468539.154100@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

mkirs...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Go to Harbor Freight or your local auto parts store. Buy a "float
charger" or "battery maintenance system." At the end of the season,
pull the battery, take it home, and put the float charger on it. The
float charger will automatically keep the battery topped off until you
need it.

Thanks, Mkirs. If you say it twice it must be true...

You would need one heck of a solar panel to keep the battery charged
for dry camping. I don't think you'd have enough if you covered your
entire roof with solar panels.

A 120W solar panel wouldn't charge up the battery sufficiently during
the day to allow you to run lights and furnace at night?

David "The Hamster" Malone



Not in Canada. Maybe in Arizona. You'd need full sun all day to
do that.

Lessee, amps=watts/Volts, so the most you are getting out of 120
W panels is 120/12 or 10 watts. That's if the sun is overhead
all day and the panels are sparkly clean and 100% efficient. What
you will get in Canada is maybe 4 or 5 hours of grey indirect
light once a week, between snowstorms. Brrrrr. You figure it
out.

And has anyone told you how expensive those things are? You're
gonna knock a hole in a thousand dollar bill.

Just take the dang battery home with you, and use the grid. Or
unhook the battery and experiment. We'd all like to hear how it
comes out in the spring.

Bob


http://www.arcatapet.net/bobgiddings


You need sun the more the better. We tried to see how much difference it
made to have clean panels --- it must make some difference but we could not
measure it, if one cloud passes by its easy to measure that. Yes-- solar
panel are expensive, but they are quiet, don't take gas, no oil changes, and
when the sun shines they always start.


.

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