Solar Charging Question.

Submitted: Wednesday, Feb 09, 2005 at 16:47
ThreadID: 20281 Views:3163 Replies:11 FollowUps:50
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Ok, there's been a quite a bit of discussion about batteries, charging and solar latley but I've had an idea and want to know if it's worth bothering with.

SO TO ALL BATTERY EXPERTS:

BACKGROUND
My Auxillary battery (which runs all accessories, internal lights, cooler etc) is an 85amp//hr Wet Cell. It obviously doesn't get a full charge of the vehicle's alternator but get's pretty close.

About once a month or before a trip I give it a good charge with an 8amp 240v charger which seems to bring it voltage up nicley for about a week, then it drops again obviously struggling with the alternators charge.

QUESTION
If I were to permantally install a solar panel on the roof connected via a solar 3 stage regulator, what would be the minimum size panel I would need to fully charge the battery. I'm not interested in trying to charge the battery only via sola, I'm not interested in trying to stop the battery going flat under load.
All I want is the solar to be able to finish the job the alternator has started but can't complete fully. That is give the battery the extra 5% or 10% charge it's not getting from the alternator.

And no I can't afford an 80w pannel.

I was thinking of a 6w or 10w style panel, would it have the guts to charge it?
The car is currently parked outside even at home so it would get plenty of sunlight.
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