Solar trickle chargers

[Piwoslaw]

I bought a 1.5 watt (@17.5V) solar car battery trickle charger, got it today. Couldn't be too soon, as recently the car isn't used for 1-3 weeks at a time. I wonder how much it'll help with 7 hours of overcast daylight during the winter months?
I looked through the instruction manual and it stated

WARNING!
You must disconnect the charger from your cigarette lighter or battery when starting you engine or driving. Electrical surges from the car engine when starting and running may damage your charger.

Question to those of you, who have a solar charger: Do you disconnect your charger (manually or through a relay), or is it hardwired to the battery?
Are the said surges really enough to fry the solar panel, even if it has a protecting diode?

[cfg83]

Hello -

Here is what I have :

Originally Posted by cfg83

oldtech1 -

I have a "marine style" flexible solar panel :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/49870-post25.html - Post #25
http://ecomodder.com/forum/50044-post35.html - Post #35

For $20, I got this to go between the panel and car battery (via the cigarette lighter outlet) :

Sunforce Products 60012 7 amp Charge Controller : Hechinger


Because of the low amps of the solar panel I have been assured that it isn't needed for my solar panel :

http://ecomodder.com/forum/49137-post19.html - Post #19


However, I have murdered many a battery in my day, and I like to see the "charging light", so I am happy with the setup.

...

Here is what the solar panel looks like on my dash :



I did it because I already had the solar panel lying around. I can't say how much it helps. My theory is that it is insurance to keep the battery healthy.

CarloSW2

[JacobAziza]

I have a 5w panel which I just attached to my dash on a hinge so when I am parked and facing the right way I can tilt it directly into the sun.

Its nice insurance since I took out my alternator altogether - if ever I run too low on battery and am too far from an outlet (I have an onboard 120v charger which I plug in at home) I can let it sit a while and get it started again.

[busypaws]

I have a small 5 watt panel on the dash plugged directly into battery through a 5 amp fuse. I haven't done the alternator delete yet but I do have a alternator field off switch. This just lets the alternator free wheel without generating any current. My truck sits at least 3 days a week at the airport. I haven't done any testing to know if it saves or not. I heard the rule of thumb is anything over 5 watts needs a charge controller to keep from overcharging the battery. I hope one day to get 20-30 watt panel and a deep cycle battery and delete the alternator.

[JacobAziza]

I did the field off switch first, and found it was off almost all the time, so eventually I just took the whole thing out.
I did have to change to deepcycle after leaving the headlights on once (also rewired headlights to go on with ignition only).

Where would you put a 20 watt panel?

[frank_]

Originally Posted by JacobAziza

Where would you put a 20 watt panel?

mine,s in the roof
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post109949