solar battery maintainer? viable?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Aug 24 2006, 09:28 PM) [snapback]309154[/snapback]</div>

unless you do the always on mod

 

No, the model indicated will not work even if directly connected to the battery.. 1.8W is max peak output under full insolation; in real life, you don't get nearly that much output, and these thin film panels degrade as much as 60% in the first 6 months.. Basically, the gist is that such a small panel will not even offset the parasitic drain of the car itself.. A small panel will *NOT* keep your battery from going dead, but it may give you an extra day or two before it dies.. If you search the site, I've posted my calculations several times that show that you really need a minimum 5W panel size to get any usable maintenance charge..

I started out with a 5W amorphous thin-film panel and due to inefficiencies and degraded output, I swapped it with a 15W crystalline silicon panel- the crystalline panels are much more expensive, but they do not degrade much over time and they are much more efficient- the 15W crystalline panel is actually a bit *smaller* than the old 5W thin-film panel it replaced, and with 15W peak output through a charge controller directly to my battery, now my battery is topped up at all times.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(c4 @ Aug 25 2006, 11:54 AM) [snapback]309308[/snapback]</div>

Can you tell me where I can find this 15W solar panel?
And does it come with the charging controller?

--Hilore

 

There is a mod for the cigarette lighter. http://www.coastaletech.com/power_outlet_mod.htm