Solar Battery Maintainer Selection ??
I have a vehicle that sits unused… outside… in the high desert in Nevada… in all weather conditions... for 350 days every year. Then I use it for daily two weeks and it goes back to the outdoor storag...
Forum Discussion
BFL13 wrote:
Other ideas might include disconnecting the battery so no vampire loads, and you can much reduce self-discharge by having an AGM battery
Due to contractual requirements with the storage facility, disconnecting the battery is not an option :( but switching to an AGM battery certainly is. Thanks!
Golden_HVAC wrote:Thanks Fred! Looks like I may need to find a higher wattage panel. As I mentioned, the panel will be mounted outside on the roof (flat, not tilted). Elevation is 5000ft.
10 - 15 watts is more likely needed to keep the battery full, and overcome all the other discharges of the system. *snip* So figure that a 15W panel will only put out about 10W if inside the windshield.
This is an older vehicle, and as a result it has very few electronic devices that require constant battery power (e.g. no alarm, no power door locks, no gps, no airbags, etc). The clock in the dash is actually an analog one (remember those?) and I may be able to pull the fuse for the circuit it is in.
-Mark
