Or you could get a Xantrex echo charger or blue sea ACR (auto charge relay). (for charging two batteries)
Steve Suhana, C&C 32 Toronto On Fri, Sep 27, 2013 at 12:31 PM, Eric Frank <[email protected]> wrote: > I agree with Bill on that. A proper charge regulator for solar cells will > do just that. I have a similar arrangement that has been running for 5 > years with a semi-flexible 20 watt solar panel over the forward hatch. At > first I just used one regulator, running the panel output to the two > batteries through diodes so that one battery would not charge the other. > That's a mistake, because the voltage drop on the diode is about 0.4 V, so > the charger thinks it's done before that batteries are fully charged. So > either use two one-battery regulators (I use the Morningstar ones and have > had no problems in the 5 years) or one regulator with two separate outputs, > as was mentioned earlier on this list topic. > > The panel is now down to about 0.6 Amp max in bright sunlight (used to be > about 1.4 A) - apparently the panels age. But it is still plenty to top up > the batteries when I am not aboard (pretty much only weekends). > > Eric Frank > Cat's Paw > C&C 35 Mk II > Mattapoisett, MA > > Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 11:59:06 -0400 > From: Bill Bina <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Stus-List Solar panels > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed" > > I have a single 20 watt (nominal) panel laying on top of my sliding > hatch. What it does, and does very well, is top up the charge of my > batteries during time when I am not on the boat to 100%, and hold them > there. Most people are never aware, but their batteries seldom get > charged that last 5-10% of capacity. Charging is far more complex than > just stuffing amps into the battery as fast as you can. Running the > engine for 20 minutes with batteries that are at 90% charge already, > won't do much at all. That last 5-10% requires a long slow charge to > achieve. > > Bill Bina > > > > > _______________________________________________ > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > [email protected] > >
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