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Solar Battery Chargers
I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be
able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for trickle-charging vehicle batteries. My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop) batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter. Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight? Thanks in advance! -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#2
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I was looking at those in the Northern Tool & Equipment catalog and noticed
that there's also a controller avialable so you don't over charge your batteries, some of the panels say that the controller is required. -- Jim Burns III Remove "nospam" to reply |
#3
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I was looking at those in the Northern Tool & Equipment catalog and
noticed that there's also a controller avialable so you don't over charge your batteries, some of the panels say that the controller is required. The $40 version has a circuit built-in that supposedly prevents over-charging or "voltage back-flow" (or whatever you call that...). -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#4
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Solar panel can easily deliver too much voltage to your device. Whenever
power a device with a panel you always want to use a charge manager. Yes they do work but keep in mind how much sun you really are getting. Just because sunrise is at 7 and set at 6 it does not mean you have a full 11 hours of sun. Typically in the Midwest (I am at the same latitude as you Jay) you get about 4-6 hours of useful sun/day. So you need to get a panel that can charge the battery in that amount of time. There is more too if you expect to keep the device on you need to not only charge the battery but also to have enough power for the device. Scott -- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Scott F. Migaldi, K9PO MI-150972 PP-ASEL-IA Are you a PADI Instructor or DM? Then join the PADI Instructor Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PADI-Instructors/join ----------------------------------- Catch the wave! www.hamwave.com **"A long time ago being crazy meant something, nowadays everyone is crazy" -- Charles Manson** ------------------------------------- "Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:5fSYb.340846$I06.3554232@attbi_s01... I was looking at those in the Northern Tool & Equipment catalog and noticed that there's also a controller avialable so you don't over charge your batteries, some of the panels say that the controller is required. The $40 version has a circuit built-in that supposedly prevents over-charging or "voltage back-flow" (or whatever you call that...). -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#5
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Jay Honeck wrote:
I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for trickle-charging vehicle batteries. My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop) batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter. Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight? Solar panels can produce voltage, but it is current that charges the batteries. Typical charging current is 0.1 c (1/10th the rated cell capacity). If you have a 2000mA AA NiMH battery, you need a charging current of 20mA at a voltage of 1.5Vdc. Is the charger a constant current of constant voltage? It must be regulated one way or the other to prevent "overcharging" (ie- frying the battery). |
#6
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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:hLRYb.340701$I06.3552733@attbi_s01... I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for trickle-charging vehicle batteries. My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop) batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter. Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight? You know, I don't think they even bother to advertise those things here in the Puget Sound region. :-) |
#7
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Jay Honeck wrote:
I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for trickle-charging vehicle batteries. My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop) batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter. I have one of these things that I occasionally use on a spare car that we have (during periods of inactivity). I can't really tell how much of a difference it makes, but I figured it couldn't hurt. I remember running some little tests on it, after I bought it. It appears that in bright sunlight, without any load, it would put out 12 or 13 volts, but that second you put a small load across it (fairly high resistor), the voltage would droop to almost nothing. I can't remember if I tried to measure the current or not. I'd say this would be fine to leave on your motorcycle over the winter, but I wouldn't bet on it charging your cell phone, walkie-talkies, or laptop over the course of a few days. --- Jay -- __!__ Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___ http://www2.ari.net/jmasino/ ! ! ! http://www.oceancityairport.com/ http://www.oc-adolfos.com/ |
#8
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I'm from Buffalo, NY. What's a "solar charger"? And what's this
"sunlight" everybody keeps talking about? Jay Honeck wrote: I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for trickle-charging vehicle batteries. My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop) batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter. Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight? Thanks in advance! |
#9
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I'd say this would be fine to leave on
your motorcycle over the winter, but I wouldn't bet on it charging your cell phone, walkie-talkies, or laptop over the course of a few days. Well, I bought the danged thing. It claims to be able to charge my cell phone or walkie-talkie batteries in 5 hours, my lap top battery in 6 - 8 hours, and ni-cad rechargeable batteries, too. (It's got built-in slots for AA rechargeable batteries.) It's a handsome, well-made unit, with internal storage for the various cords, cost $40, and seems to have all the bases covered. It claims to have built-in circuitry to prevent over-charging, and it comes with a plethora of plugs to fit virtually any device. It even comes with the cord and cigar lighter plug so that you can keep your car battery (or, in my case, motorcycle battery) charged over the winter. It also has a built-in cigar lighter outlet, so you can plug your car cell-phone cord directly into the unit. Interestingly it claims to put out enough juice to power the cell phone unassisted. Since the battery on my newest cell phone lasts over 3 days without charging, I should be covered for most any fly-in. We'll see how it works. Thanks for all the input! -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#10
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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:hLRYb.340701$I06.3552733@attbi_s01... I see these things available locally for around $40 bucks. They claim to be able to recharge cell phones and laptops. They also say they're good for trickle-charging vehicle batteries. My thinking is that a solar charger would be great for Sun N Fun and Oshkosh -- places where my cell phone (and walkie-talkies, and laptop) batteries routinely die after a few days. It also looks like something I could use to keep my motorcycle battery charged over the winter. Anyone purchase one of these? Do they work as advertised? How long does it take to charge? Do they require direct sunlight? Thanks in advance! We'd kept one on the dash of our Pawnee at the banner tow place I worked (starter and battery, but no alternator). It sat outside all day, and really only used the battery once or twice a day. We'd still have to bring the charging cart out once every two weeks or so to charge the battery back up though. Don't know how often we'd have to without the solar panel, probibly the same :-) |
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