Solar Chargers

Wolf81101

Registered Member
City
Liverpool
Courtesy of the US Army I find myself in northern NY with my 170CC which I bought with dreams of going back to the west coast of Florida to chase redfish and trout (I am a true florida boy). A lot of my fellow officers and I spend many hours on lake oneida in syracuse or the St Lawrence River/Lake Ontario just enjoying beer and skiing (park my boat and ski behind his speedboat) and looking at the scenery (AKA Yankee Woman).

To get to the point I don't want to add a second battery and was think of buying one of the Solar chargers from west marine. Would it provide enough power during a 12 hour day to run my stereo without draining my battery and leaving me stuck and trying to hand/pull crank my Yamaha four strok 60 hp (really doesn't impress the women)? Anyone have any luck/experience with one of these chargers? Also, I was thinking of moving my battery to under the console to move a little weight from the rear to the front to assist in keeping the nose down? Every little bit helps I would think.

I searched old posts and couldn't find anything on solar chargers.

Thanks
 
I have not seen any solar chargers that will charge a battery while you are using it. Most of the ones I've seen are just good enough to keep a battery charged while its not in use. When I had my 170CC I got a battery with a good amount of CCA's but it also had some reserve capacity.I never ran out of power for my stereo and my fishfinder,etc. I had a 60HP 4 stroke Yamaha on my boat also.It did not take a lot of juice to start it. You could add a second battery under the console for your electronics.
 
Depending on cost, cheeper solar chargers generally only put out an amp or two with full sunlight. However, the more you spend, the bigger your panel will be; hence more amps.

The simple formula is watts/volts equals amps. So, if you have a 50 watt panel (assume 12.5 volts), the panel would supply about 4 amps per hour in direct sun.
 
I have a battery operated boat lift and use one of these to charge it:

Amazon.com: Sunforce 50022 5-Watt Solar Battery Trickle Charger: Patio, Lawn & Garden

Have had it in operation about 10 months and it has held up better than any other - outside 24/7 and still looking good. After a weekend of using the lift, the battery is still showing 13.10 volts. If you are going to try it, I recommend starting with this one. I have yet to disconnect the battery to charge it in the garage.
 
Wolf,

Another thought. Keep in mind that batteries have a tough time in the cold so to give it a fair shake, you might want to reserve your opinion until it gets a little warmer in the tundra. :) Maybe August! Another word of advice - layers! :)

Thanks for your service to our country.
 
Yeah, we never had to worry about "Wintertization" growing up in Florida. I just put the boat in the garage and the charger on the battery for the winter. I am going to look at the charger you mentioned and maybe mount a pair outside the garage in the spring for the bike and boat. The goof thing about winter up here is that it forces you to stop fishing for a while and you get to focus on mods to the boat.
 
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