Hi
We've just bought a solar powered battery charger to keep our leisure battery topped up.
It has a 12v plug.
Is it possible to charge the battery using the 12v plug socket we have in our van for a 12v tv?
If not how do others wire them up.
Thanks.
You can do it that way but you would need to leave the power turned on which depending on the size of the charger may allow more current to be drawn than your charger can replace.
They normally come with crocodile clips which clip straight onto the battery.
You wouldnt normally connect the battery to the van with crocodile clips. They are normally connected with proper battery terminals, though there is no reason why two crocodile clips cannot be used if they will fit.
Crocodile clips to tend to jump off in transit though.
When we bought our new van last year, a 13-watt portable solar panel was included in the deal. There appears to be a dedicated lead that runs out of one of the vents in the bed-locker floor, but we have never used the panel, and possibly never will.
I've also just got a "battery maintainer" made by Ring.
Ring themselves have confirmed I can leave the battery connected to the caravan (with everything off) and I'll hard wire the connector to my battery (ditching the crock clips) and then when it's parked up in storage I can just connect the solar panel under the front bed where the end connectors for the solar panel wires go into the battery box. There's a neat quick release terminal that I'll pop through to under the bed area to allow quick connection and not have to faff with crock clips.
In my van to use the 12v cig socket id have to switch the van to on as previous poster had stated, but im not comfy with leaving it on like this with current albeit small going the 'wrong way'
If this is the 1.5 watt item I think it is then while the current going the "wrong way" won't be a problem, the very low output of the solar panel probably won't be enough to keep the battery topped up if you have anything at all switched on.
They are rated at 1.5 watts in perfect conditions. Even then they only have the potential for this power in daylight. This time of year, we only get 8 hours of daylight and even then it's not very strong, so probably not going to give more than 1 watt output if mounted pointing straight at the sun. Stick it inside the caravan, behind a tinted window and you will be lucky if it gives you half a watt of output for 8 hours.
That gives you a current output of 0.05 amps for 8 hours so will replenish your battery around around 0.4 amp hours a day.
Unfortunately, even a good battery can lose more power than this in a 24 hour period with nothing connected to it so don't be surprised if you still get a flat battery. I have one somewhere and it was a complete waste of money.
We bought the 4.8w solar panel which we were to would be ample. So far it's managed to boost our flat battery in two days even in this weather.
Thanks for your recommendations. We will wire it in I think.
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Topic: Solar powered battery charger and 12v
