Quote:
Originally Posted by busterbrown
Couple of thoughts:
Are you looking to maintain or recharge? A 200W solar panel seems excessive as a storage "maintainer" solution.
Anything not bolted down (or secured up on the roof) has MORE incentive to grow legs and walk away. Are you okay with that at your storage lot?
They have plug and play (built in solar controller) battery "maintainer" units that are relatively cheap and can do what you're asking. Just as an example, Battery Tender has 5, 10, and 15 watt panel kits available. This is the 15 watt kit:
https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tende.../dp/B004Q820TQ |
Shows my solar ignorance. I thought that 100w or 200w was a very low output, but the less than 20w will probably do me very well.
Yes, just like my Harley's Battery Tender, once full it's used to maintain, not to charge a battery.
I'm moving to a new parking spot on the other side of the lot and I need to see which way's south. Then I can figure out what I should do. I don't think theft is going to be an issue in this lot.
I like the idea of a self-contained unit that doesn't need a controller, just a clip it and set it up in the sun.
Do solar panels absorb energy from the batteries when it's dark out? Or are there diodes in the circuit to keep them from drawing on the batteries?
Thanks for the information, I'll do some looking online now.