Solar Panel Specs
Charging a battery with a solar panel?
I have a boat with an automatic bilge pump, and I want to hook up my battery ( 12 volt deep cycle marine) to a solar panel so that it maintains its charge when the bilge pump kicks on, the bilge pump will only kick on when it rains. I want to know what minimum specs the solar panel should have to maintain my batteries charge. The bilge pump will likely only run for an hour or two a week at most. Thanks in advance for the help.
Hi Conrad
Assuming your bilge pump draws about 2.6 amps, I’d suggest using a solar panel with an output of 5 to 5.5 watts. (They’re on sale here in Canada a few times a year for about $50)
These provide 0.3 amps/hour which will easily maintain your battery charge and will not require a charger limiter.
Hope this helps.
My first DIY solar panel
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Watt’s Up RC Watt Meter & Power Analyzer WU100 Version 2 — SALE! $54.00 # Specifications: # Voltage 0-60 V, resolution 0.01 V. That’s a 14 cell series li-poly pack! # Current 0-100 A peak, 50 A continuous, resolution 0.01 A # Charge 0-65 Ah, resolution 0.001 Ah. That’s ~32 Amps for two hours! # Power 0-6500 W, resolution 0.1 W. That’s ~8.7 Horsepower! # Energy 0-6500 Wh, resolution 0.1 Wh. # Operates from 4.0-60 V, 0 V with optional receiver battery pack # 16 x 2 STN… |