I use a John Deere Gator and also a Honda ATV for hauling firewood out of the woodlot. I usually keep one of them at the woodlot. I need something to keep up the battery; no power out there. Scuze the pun, the woods are full of no-name (Chinese?) solar trickle chargers. I have no idea which, if any, are good. Anyone got an opinion on a cheaper one being okay or sticking with a better brand and what is that brand? Schumacher is, like, $62 and Walmart Ozark Trail is $34 and the budget ones are less than that. If the past predicts the future, there will be periods of weeks at a time I do not go out there. Having full sun would be a problem unless I make a clearing! Should I assume that bigger (size of the solar panel) is better when it comes to gathering sunlight in the woods for maintaining a battery? Any experience on this?
A larger panel is not needed for shade, a larger panel will just give more output for larger batteries...and as a battery maintainer, you actually only need a very small amount of power. Just make sure that you get one that has "float" mode, it stops charging when the battery voltage is over say, 15v, otherwise you slowly cook your battery.
Vet the charger carefully before you buy. Most in the cheaper range are not waterproof! They will say something like: "Place on the dashboard of your car or boat away from any rain or moisture only. Do not expose to the elements."
Have one on our farm truck from HF. Years and years old and still going strong. Do have it on the dash. Dad put one of them up on his roof over his pontoon lift and plugged in his trolling motor. Neighbors all thought it a joke, couple years later, everyone had them on their piers and boats. It lasted over 5 years in Florida while mom and dad had their pontoon. This is what they sell now and is relevant to what dad had and I still have. https://www.harborfreight.com/15-watt-solar-battery-maintainer-64251.html
Do you know if this has: This would be great for my old truck, at the moment I have an extension cord running through my wing window to the trickle charger on my dash. And I can't get it unplugged when it's cold.
I didn’t used to use my 4 wheeler but every couple years and got tired of buying a battery every time I got the urge to use it. So, several years ago I bought a two pack of cheap solar chargers from Menards ($24.99 for 2 IIRC). Sold one to my boss and put the other on my 4 wheeler which I use more frequently now but it still might sit for a couple months without use. Haven’t had a battery problem since. I also don’t pay much attention to where it gets parked as far as shade. I think as long as it gets a little sun it seems to work well for me and my situation.
I have two of these units and they work well.One keeps the lawn tractor battery in CT topped off and the other splits duty between the quad and the sleds up north. No issues over the last few years. In CT, I leave the battery in the tractor year round and it fires up each spring. In VT, I alternate between the quad and sleds based on season; no issues.
If your cig lighter receptacle is live when ignition is off. Most modern vehicles its not, which I find irritating.
I never knew, or even thought about, that you could charge your battery "in reverse" through the cig plug...
I never thought about it until I read your post I can use one of these instead of a battery tender that has to be plugged into an ac outlet
We have a trailer at work with a genny on board...the whole rig can be parked in one place with truck flashers on/engine off for quite some time occasionally...to keep the truck battery up, the trailer is wired with a battery charger (running off a genny powered 120v receptacle) that back feeds the truck through the tail light circuit.
Exactly. Our sheds aren’t wired for electricity, so these are very helpful for keeping batteries topped off. In VT, I have some lights that are LEDs; battery powered and charged with solar panels. Makes working in the shed a lot easier when you have light.
