PV Gap

Joanne Said:

How fast will a 12 volt solar battery charger recharge my 12 volt boat battery?

We Answered:

They put out such a small charge I don't think it ever will charge a dead battery, solar chargers are more like battery maintainers. It will take some time to charge a low battery.

Kimberly Said:

Solar battery and charger for laptop?

We Answered:

It will be tough to find a solar panel that will produce enough power to effectively keep the laptop running.

Most laptops draw about 70 watts or so; some less, some more. The smallest solar panel that can produce that much power that you are going to find is going to be about 36" x 48".

So you are going to have to find a smaller unit, and in turn it is not going to produce as much power.

What this means to you is that you will not be able to simply plug the solar panel in and expect it to run the laptop. You are going to have to let it sit and charge for a few hours just to build up enough of a charge to have the computer on for 10-15 minutes.

You would be best to speak to someone who has experience in the peace corp to get an idea about what your best options are.

Kent Said:

12v Solar battery maintainter/ charger?

We Answered:

try this addy www.realgoods.com they should have what you are looking for and other info solar related.

Eva Said:

best solar battery charger?

We Answered:

You really do need to contact a solar dealer either local or on the Internet.

How many amp hours does the battery hold? Is it 12 volt or ???

You should use a min of 5% rate of charge on a battery. No more then 10% rate of charge. So if you have a 100 amp hour battery you would want to put 5 amps in to it at minimum and 10 amps at max.

10 amps would be better on a 100 AH 12 volt battery. So 12 volts times 10 amps is 120 watts in solar power. Now with a charge controller invloved you will loose about 20% of the charge between the recharge losses and heat and the controller.
This means you will end up with 100 watts in input power from the solar panel from the 120 watt panel. 100 watts divided by 12 volts is 8.33 amps input. Meaning you get about an 8.3% rate of charge which would be in the middle and just right.

I went in a circle explaining that so I hope I did not confuse you.