Solar Trickle Charger?

[ve9aa]

What if I get a 1-200 watt panel, run it to a 100 watt controller, plug in a power strip, then, plug in 3-4 110 batteries maintainers?

would they not suck juice as available and keep the fleet charged up?

still working the best system. Help from manufacturers is non existen. I need to figure it out on my own.

thanks

Your battery maintainers (presumably) run off of 120vac.
You'll need a large-ish DC-AC inverter after your panels and then a large 12vdc battery to power the inverter. Very lossy way to create 12vdc

 

[skeets]

How far is the shed from the house? Im sorry, but unless you have no power to tie in to, then solar idea will work but it wont be cheap and think about snow and very cloudy days and in the winter there is lost of them no sun no electricity . If you are bound and determined to go solar, then check HF, yes I know people say that are junk, but read ,watch the reviews they are not as bad as some people make to be. Just MHO, but I would be digging a trench from the house to the shed .

 

[tthorkil]

Keeping a battery 'topped off' while idle would not take very much wattage assuming that your tractors charging system is operating properly - there are many fairly inexpensive solar chargers that would meet your needs - for more opinions about solar chargers maintaining batteries look here.

 

[BruceP]

There is a relatively 'new' breed of trickle-chargers which pass some kind of efficiency test. Perhaps using this type of charger would reduce the losses sufficently to allow it to work.

 

[LarryBud]

How far is the shed from the house? Im sorry, but unless you have no power to tie in to, then solar idea will work but it wont be cheap and think about snow and very cloudy days and in the winter there is lost of them no sun no electricity . If you are bound and determined to go solar, then check HF, yes I know people say that are junk, but read ,watch the reviews they are not as bad as some people make to be. Just MHO, but I would be digging a trench from the house to the shed .

The Shed is 17 miles from the house. There are closer neighbors but I don’t have power to the propert.

I can run 4 individual chargers ( I can understand this ) but I’m thinking there is a cleaner way than running all 4 lines out of the the shed to 4 different little panels.

I’m not an electrician and I’m really struggling to get my hands around what I need.

 

[D2Cat]

Larry, I have a trencher. Could we trench from Overland Park to Cleveland, Mo?

I find humor is answers where the poster doesn't know the whole story because they didn't read!

 

[GreensvilleJay]

If you have a 200w solar panel , you 'should' use a 200 watt controller. 2 reasons.
1) 100 watt controller will never allow more than 100 watts, so 1/2 the solar panel power is never used.
2) unless the 100 watt controller is properly designed, the 200 watt solar panel could destroy the controller.
Nowadays you can get a 'package', panel and controller, might be cheaper. They're all basically 'Made in China',so unknown quality and doesn't matter who sells them...A or HF, the source is the same.
Since you're in the middle of the bush, buy the biggest panel(most watts). You have a maintenance issue, you're not there to remove snow, downed branches,etc. so you need as much power as possible whenever the sun comes out. Winter(at least here in Ontario' is very hard on solar systems. Mr. Sun sleeps in late in the mornings, goes to bed early, herds of lazy clouds saunter cross the sky... so usefule solar energy is very,very low. Toss a 1/2" fo flakes on the panel....poof....near ZERO power to be found.
KISS says buy 5 identical 100 watt systems(panel/controller/maintainer) Wire 4 up,run the 4 wires through one 3/4" hole, caulk to seal. Keep 5th system ,in a box, in the shed..as spare parts ,incase one of the 4 systems fail. There's 'safety in numbers'. If 1 of the 4 systems fails, NOT a big deal. If the ONE highpower system fails, all 4 batteries could die.
Yes, you can buy a 'one-system-does-all' product but it'll cost more than 5 of the smaller ones.

 

[1badDart]

The Shed is 17 miles from the house. There are closer neighbors but I don’t have power to the propert.

I can run 4 individual chargers ( I can understand this ) but I’m thinking there is a cleaner way than running all 4 lines out of the the shed to 4 different little panels.

I’m not an electrician and I’m really struggling to get my hands around what I need.

My advice would be to call some of the companies that sell solar charger/maintainers and ask some questions to find out what would work best in your situation.

 

[raynellbastie]

You can try to run the wires underground; the most important thing is that the wires do not freeze during the cold weather, and there will be no short circuit. I think the best option is to run the wire around the building. I recommend you to use Victron inverters as a charger. I suggest you visit SBP's website to learn more about its features. I have been using this inverter for several years and have not encountered any problems. What's more, you can find all the accessories you need there.

 

[1badDart]

You can try to run the wires underground; the most important thing is that the wires do not freeze during the cold weather, and there will be no short circuit. I think the best option is to run the wire around the building.

Please explain the "freezing". My wires are exposed to the elements and I'm sure they're the same temperature as the air most of the time, and it gets cold in Kentucky too.

 

[Mowbizz]

I bought a “Battery Tender” brand name solar charger years ago for my off grid shed…it maintains the battery all winter with a mower in storage.
I also have a specialty maintainer on my basement work bench. It can handle 5 batteries at once…nifty unit! Manufactured in the UK if I recall.