Help with soldering iron and solar panel please

The 5 Watt panel will maintain the charge without a regulator, assuming the batteries are charged, which they should be and disconnected from any items drawing charge from them.

Maîneÿ . . .

We have a little 300mah solar panel that we hook up to a 40ah d/c battery that runs our 12v water pump when camped on the Murray river...sits on top of the box that houses the pump and battery , needs no regulator...keeps the battery charged..cost about $80...it is about a foot square or so in a frame and I just cannot recall the name of it ...got it from Battery World...cheers

Lyndon,

Just the one question, otherwise I 100% agree with Mainey. Are the 2 batteries connected in parallel (i.e. joined positive to positive and negative to negative)?? If so, yes, as Mainey says, it is as simple as connecting a small (eg 5W) panel to either of them, no regulator required.

If the batteries are in series though (negative of one connected to positive of the other), then you have a 24 volt system. You would either need 2 small 12 volt panels, also connected in series, or need to connect the one 12 volt panel to each (not both) of the batteries in turn.

Very likely to be in parallel, but suggest check before committing.

Cheers
John

I've tried 3 different brands of gas irons and still cant recommend any, dangerous in engine bays, under dashes or boat bilges, you have to be very careful of your surroundings because of the open flame .
I use soldering irons everyday with work and the gas irons are high maintenance and fiddly, igniter fails and they block up. I use a 300 watt, 80 watt, 40 watt and 25 watt 240 volt electric irons, and they last for years. 40 or 80 watt will do just about anything in a handyman situation. I use a small inverter, "12volt to 240 volt" in my work vehicle and my 80 watt iron would run for 3 hours 5 days a week and never needs anything but a clean. 12 volt irons are good for small work . Jaycar can help with any of these options, hope this helps.

Col.

I got sick of Gas Irons failing, so now I use a 12 volt Iron.

There is one, and only one noticable charge when you buy one of those 5w solar panels. That is the one that happens at the cash register when you buy it.

They are as good as useless when connecting to 70AH plus of batteries. Under normal conditions it will take about 8 months to charge 100AH - if it ever gets there at all and if every load is disconnected. They are really only of any use for low current LED light applications and small batteries. ( keeping in mind that you only get about 3w of usable power at 12v), that's about 180mA in blinding sun.

I love Jaycar, but it is not the place to buy solar panels. If that is what you need, go for 10 - 40w ones on ebay for similar prices to Jaycar's 5w ones. They are all chinese units ( inc Jaycar).

I have also had a few gas soldering irons, agree with most of the comments, go for a 12v one.

Hi Lyndon,

What actually do you want to solder?

i use gas soldering irons all the time , i used to use scope irons ,got sick of changing tips etc all the time , i use the iroda 180 and iroda150 they have removable refillable cartridges, use only a good quality gas ie weller to refill.my iroda 180 is now 3yrs old and has not failed to ignite,(have replaced the tip twice and the main jet)