douglasheld
New Member
Thanks Sam, That would work to run the camera, but it would still be a concern how that battery would get charged. If the deep-cycle battery were purely charged from solar, then I'd agree that is a pretty good solution.
Can I use a battery isolator to top up my car battery?
- Thread starter douglasheld
- Start date
I'd go 12vDC/12vDC charger like Victron Orion when the car is turned on , and also a small solar panel
Also have you thought about a solar/battery security camera ? Motion detection , they've got a few months battery life even without the solar
Last edited:
douglasheld
New Member
I'm going to try two of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CCR64564
2 x 10W (rated) panels, 360mm x 240mm, each with an integrated MPPT charge controller. I'll wire these in parallel to the existing 12V AGM battery. Those will cover 73% of the usable space, and I won't have to buy an additional PWM controller.
2 x 10W (rated) panels, 360mm x 240mm, each with an integrated MPPT charge controller. I'll wire these in parallel to the existing 12V AGM battery. Those will cover 73% of the usable space, and I won't have to buy an additional PWM controller.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Assuming the windshield kills 50% of the available energy, if those stay in sun continuously from sunrise to sunset, you might get enough juice to run the cam for 11hr.
I'm going to repeat that you need to use a 12V charger and fully charge that battery ASAP. You may discover that the battery is damaged, and it doesn't matter what solution you come up with, it just can't hold anywhere near it's 60Ah rating.
What about a portable battery and a selector switch, i.e., you run off the portable and when its voltage gets low, you switch to the car's AGM and take the portable inside and charge it?
Could power the cam for 28 hours.
I'm going to repeat that you need to use a 12V charger and fully charge that battery ASAP. You may discover that the battery is damaged, and it doesn't matter what solution you come up with, it just can't hold anywhere near it's 60Ah rating.
What about a portable battery and a selector switch, i.e., you run off the portable and when its voltage gets low, you switch to the car's AGM and take the portable inside and charge it?
Could power the cam for 28 hours.
Vigo
Solar Addict
I'm gonna make a left field suggestion..
Hook something to the traction battery!
Like this: https://www.amazon.com/Inverter-Off-Grid-Charger-DC55-450V-Lead-Acid/dp/B0C537C875/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3K2ZHRVQ7C4ZG&keywords=12v+solar+inverter+charger&qid=1700153622&sprefix=12v+solar+inverter+charge,aps,98&sr=8-4&th=1
I own one of those, and a prior version. They have 450v mppts which will accept DC directly from your traction battery. If you hook it up in such a way that it only receives battery power to the PV input when the car is in 'Ready', it will add 80 amps to your 'dc-dc charging' capability. That, with the possible addition of a larger 12v battery or additional 12v in parallel, should make you able to recover much more energy during your 40min/wk driving time.
A cheaper version of this idea would be to buy one or more of these and hook your traction battery to their AC inputs. They have a rectifier section first that turns 240vac into ~370vdc or so, so putting your traction battery through this rectifier section would give you 'diode losses' but would still power the unit. Since you wouldn't have the full 300+vdc available from your traction battery it would 'derate' the output to an unknown extent so i might buy two.
You are welcome for this 'silly' ideas.
Hook something to the traction battery!
Like this: https://www.amazon.com/Inverter-Off-Grid-Charger-DC55-450V-Lead-Acid/dp/B0C537C875/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3K2ZHRVQ7C4ZG&keywords=12v+solar+inverter+charger&qid=1700153622&sprefix=12v+solar+inverter+charge,aps,98&sr=8-4&th=1
I own one of those, and a prior version. They have 450v mppts which will accept DC directly from your traction battery. If you hook it up in such a way that it only receives battery power to the PV input when the car is in 'Ready', it will add 80 amps to your 'dc-dc charging' capability. That, with the possible addition of a larger 12v battery or additional 12v in parallel, should make you able to recover much more energy during your 40min/wk driving time.
A cheaper version of this idea would be to buy one or more of these and hook your traction battery to their AC inputs. They have a rectifier section first that turns 240vac into ~370vdc or so, so putting your traction battery through this rectifier section would give you 'diode losses' but would still power the unit. Since you wouldn't have the full 300+vdc available from your traction battery it would 'derate' the output to an unknown extent so i might buy two.
You are welcome for this 'silly' ideas.
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