Solar trickle charger fail!
It's a 10W solar trickle charger. Found my dual battery down to 9.6V and can't operate my powered jack. Good I have my spare battery, for my kayak motor, that saved the day. My 100W Renogy so...
Forum Discussion
Is this a question or just random statement?
If not going through a controller then 1st question is, is there a diode? * If no diode then the current will go from the battery back into the solar panel at night and discharge the battery, maybe as much as it charged it during the day. Diodes are cheap and just a small one from Radioshak will suffice and yo can wire it yourself with little help from internet searches.
If no controller then you are putting the full 18-20 volts into the 12 volt battery that is normally charged around 14 volts. For 10 watts this is fine as it is such a small amt of current, but for more wattage you need to drop that voltage down to the 12-14.X volts that is safer for the batt.
I used to trickle two 12v marine batts with a 15 watt panel going directly into the batts. It worked fine for years. It was just barely enough to keep the batts topped off, but really could not do charging. It was the full 18 volts. I think I put a diode on at some point too.
* A diode is a little thing that allows current to only go one direction. The direction will be from panel to battery, not the other way (batt to panel). It is about the size of a big grain of rice and has wires on either end. Usually gray color and always with a black stripe on one end.
If not going through a controller then 1st question is, is there a diode? * If no diode then the current will go from the battery back into the solar panel at night and discharge the battery, maybe as much as it charged it during the day. Diodes are cheap and just a small one from Radioshak will suffice and yo can wire it yourself with little help from internet searches.
If no controller then you are putting the full 18-20 volts into the 12 volt battery that is normally charged around 14 volts. For 10 watts this is fine as it is such a small amt of current, but for more wattage you need to drop that voltage down to the 12-14.X volts that is safer for the batt.
I used to trickle two 12v marine batts with a 15 watt panel going directly into the batts. It worked fine for years. It was just barely enough to keep the batts topped off, but really could not do charging. It was the full 18 volts. I think I put a diode on at some point too.
* A diode is a little thing that allows current to only go one direction. The direction will be from panel to battery, not the other way (batt to panel). It is about the size of a big grain of rice and has wires on either end. Usually gray color and always with a black stripe on one end.
