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looking to charge my 12v battery with a portable solar panel controller.

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  • looking to charge my 12v battery with a portable solar panel controller.

    Totally new to this game folks so have some patients. I would like to charge my 12v 7 to 9 amp hour battery with a solar panel. I am looking at a All Black 5W or 10W Mono-crystalline Solar Panel with 12V Solar Charge Controller from Instapark. Which of these would do the job? Can I run lights (low watt LED) and a cell phone charger off of the battery while it is being charged? This is kind of what I am looking at "The Instapark SPCC-10W offers you a quiet, clean while carbon-free alternative. The Instapark SPCC-10W includes a 10-Watt mono-crystalline solar panel with solar charge controller." any and all help would be nice. I am looking for away to charge my batteries while ice fishing. The house is more like a tent and the smaller the better both in size and weight. The draw I have so far a 7 amp battery last about 36 hours on a full charge.
    Last edited by chappyjf; 10-23-2014, 02:24 AM. Reason: more clarification on use of charger.

  • #2
    in the solar world a 10 watt panel would be insignificant, it would be best for use in a wilderness area were you couldnt carry too much gear. For a 7 amp battery I would get at minimum a 30 watt panel.

    but yes you can run lights/charge cellphone while charging, mostly charge a cellphone and very little use of the lights. But with a 10 watt panel at 1/2 amp output with full sunlight it will take several days to fully charge a 7 amp battery especially if you use it while its charging. Between the 5 watt and 10 watt panel definitely get the 10 watt panel. In my opinion you can never have too much power.

    It would be a very basic system to get your foot in the door to solar. But everyone starts small.

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    • #3
      Thanks jony101

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      • #4
        Jony101 is wrong.

        First off it depends on what type of battery you have. FLA (flooded lead acid), Sealed Lead Acid (SLA), or AGM.

        If FLA the charge rate should be between C/8 and C/12. A 10 watt panel should be in that range or right close to the fast end of the scale.

        If SLA then the charge rate should be lower. About C/15 to C/20. Your 10W panel would be bigger then the battery can handle.

        If AgM the charge rate can be higher. They Usually take a C/4 to C/12 rate. You 10watt panel would work and you could handle up to about a 20 watt.

        Whether or not it will cover your load I don't know yet. Is that 36 hours to discharge it a continuous load or is it like 8 hours a day split over 3 days? One should never discharge a battery over 20% a day. If it's a continuous load then you battery and panel will be too small. If it's split over 3 days you should be ok with a FLA or AGM battery and a 10 w panel. If it's SLA then you will need more battery.

        WWW

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        • #5
          I believe it's a SLA battery. Right now I have the battery hooked up to a motion detector switch that turns on the light string when it is tripped. The lights stay lit for about a minute and then shut off. Not sure I can switch to a bigger battery as they are for my electronics. If by bigger you mean amp hours I have a 9ah battery as well. So what is the C rating and what does it mean?

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          • #6
            Originally posted by chappyjf View Post
            I believe it's a SLA battery. Right now I have the battery hooked up to a motion detector switch that turns on the light string when it is tripped. The lights stay lit for about a minute and then shut off. Not sure I can switch to a bigger battery as they are for my electronics. If by bigger you mean amp hours I have a 9ah battery as well. So what is the C rating and what does it mean?
            The C rating is the battery amp-hour rating divided by the number of hours. So a C/12 for a 7Ah = 0.58 amps (7AH / 12hours= 0.58A) and C/8 for a 7Ah = 0.875 amps.

            That Instapark 10 watt unit has a max output of 0.57 amps. So with that 7Ah battery you will get 7AH/0.57A= 12.3 hr which is a little low for an FLA or AGM type battery.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by SunEagle View Post
              That Instapark 10 watt unit has a max output of 0.57 amps. So with that 7Ah battery you will get 7AH/0.57A= 12.3 hr which is a little low for an FLA or AGM type battery.
              True is a little bit low but acceptable. What is unknown is the daily power requirement and if it is enough to run the load without deficit.
              MSEE, PE

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              • #8
                Would you expect to see the nameplate current very often in actual use? My 4 KW worth of panels typically peak around 3.3 kW or so, and I thought smaller panels would also behave that way. If his current was reduced a similar amount, it would be around 470mA, and 7AH/.47A = 14 hours, which seems like a long time. Plus he's doing this in the winter where the lakes are frozen, so if he had 1 hour of insolation, it would take a couple of weeks to charge the battery if it had no loads on it. Does this sound right? I'm not being argumentative, I'm trying to see if any of the knowledge you guys have given me has sunk in. This sounds like the kind of case where Sunking would suggest a larger panel and AGM batteries due to low sun hours.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by sdold View Post
                  Would you expect to see the nameplate current very often in actual use? My 4 KW worth of panels typically peak around 3.3 kW or so, and I thought smaller panels would also behave that way. If his current was reduced a similar amount, it would be around 470mA, and 7AH/.47A = 14 hours, which seems like a long time. Plus he's doing this in the winter where the lakes are frozen, so if he had 1 hour of insolation, it would take a couple of weeks to charge the battery if it had no loads on it. Does this sound right? I'm not being argumentative, I'm trying to see if any of the knowledge you guys have given me has sunk in. This sounds like the kind of case where Sunking would suggest a larger panel and AGM batteries due to low sun hours.
                  No you are correct. Those small lightweight solar panels seem like a good thing but really do not provide much in the way of a good amp output. I would rather have a larger wattage panel with a smart charger controller to charge my battery.

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