I can find little on hooking up all my hooptie fleet to my 12v solar bank to keep the batteries topped off, especially during the winter. I have battery tenders now but would like to maintain them off the 12v side of the system. Any precautions or no no's to know? or can I just run jumpers off the system to the vehicles and they will float charge with the rest of the bank once charged? There has to be a way!
Trickle charging motorcycles and cars off solar system?
- Thread starter Solarmark
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PfloydBham
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I set up something like this as a "lark". It was great!!!
I bought a 30 amp PWM, "programmable" SCC and a HQST 100 w. 12v panel. I had a variety of SLA batteries for cars, motorcycles, etc. and I just set the SCC for SLA and connected the first one with alligator clips. It charged up by the end of the day. I put it on several other batteries by just hooking them up and letting the sun do it's work.
You could easily set up a panel with a south exposure, connect the SCC and attach the output to bus bars from an old breaker box. From there you can hook up all your old vehicles in parallel and the "sky is the limit".
This would probably charge every battery you have in a couple of days, ---- maybe a week. Then, they will just float at whatever you have in the profile from the SCC.
I hope this helps, DCF
I bought a 30 amp PWM, "programmable" SCC and a HQST 100 w. 12v panel. I had a variety of SLA batteries for cars, motorcycles, etc. and I just set the SCC for SLA and connected the first one with alligator clips. It charged up by the end of the day. I put it on several other batteries by just hooking them up and letting the sun do it's work.
You could easily set up a panel with a south exposure, connect the SCC and attach the output to bus bars from an old breaker box. From there you can hook up all your old vehicles in parallel and the "sky is the limit".
This would probably charge every battery you have in a couple of days, ---- maybe a week. Then, they will just float at whatever you have in the profile from the SCC.
I hope this helps, DCF
100W is a serious charger for car batteries, but decent charge controllers should have good float settings.
Be aware, SLA settings is NOT what car batteries are...
FLA is most car batteries.
Some are agm, but not storage agm, they are starting agm’s... so, they don’t always follow the agm profile.
Best to check with the battery manufacturer for charging parameters.
Will it work? Yes... left for long term, likely it will boil out the electrolyte and damage the cells.
Be aware, SLA settings is NOT what car batteries are...
FLA is most car batteries.
Some are agm, but not storage agm, they are starting agm’s... so, they don’t always follow the agm profile.
Best to check with the battery manufacturer for charging parameters.
Will it work? Yes... left for long term, likely it will boil out the electrolyte and damage the cells.
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PfloydBham
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I see what you mean. However, I have 100 watts of collection versus 100 amps. I am mostly connected to SLA and a couple of AGMs for Honda Magnas (V65s). I am more of a hobbyist, so I go out and check on all my little experiments like a newborn baby.
I am just saying that it will generally work. You just need to bend it to your own depravity.
I am just saying that it will generally work. You just need to bend it to your own depravity.
Heh... stupid autocorrect... I will fix my post...I see what you mean. However, I have 100 watts of collection versus 100 amps. I am mostly connected to SLA and a couple of AGMs for Honda Magnas (V65s). I am more of a hobbyist, so I go out and check on all my little experiments like a newborn baby.
I am just saying that it will generally work. You just need to bend it to your own depravity.
Yeah, I typed watts, and the stupid iPad changed it to amps.I see what you mean. However, I have 100 watts of collection versus 100 amps. I am mostly connected to SLA and a couple of AGMs for Honda Magnas (V65s). I am more of a hobbyist, so I go out and check on all my little experiments like a newborn baby.
I am just saying that it will generally work. You just need to bend it to your own depravity.
100W is around 10Amps, and can be too much for float amperage.