Solar powered battery charger ?

[Roger Chatterton]

What I'm after, if one exists, is a way of trickle charging the battery over the winter, 'cos my lock-up doesn't have mains power, and no way of getting any either. Plan is to top-up the battery say once a month, via the socket on my 1150 Adv.
So, what I wondered, - would it be possible to run a solar charger? -the roof of the lock-up is not overlooked, and could in theory angle solar panel to get maximum rays ! Would there even be enough sun to run a charger in the winter (East Anglian winter that is ?)

Anyone any ideas-I think wind-power is out of the question !!!!

 

[cookie]

don't bother. you shouldn't need one as long as the charging system is working normally.

if it's not, then fix it

 

[Roger Chatterton]

Hi Cookie,
Yes, I agree, but bike might not be getting a whole lot of regular use over the winter - and seeing as the bikes need a solid 12 volts to even start-up,(ABS etc) then a little trickle charge would help ? I have a pretty new BMW gel battery fitted. It's also that the battery is a bit of a pain to remove, compared to my old RS airhead, so would like to leave it in-situ if poss.
How long do you reckon a well charged gel battery will maintin its charge for, in an unheated garage ?

 

[Shep]

Solar panels work almost as well hour by hour on a sunny winter day as a sunny summer day, its just the winter days are shorter.

I just connect my panels directly accros the battery, but i have a constant drain on mine (a fridge) so there is little chance of overcharging

I would guess there is somebody selling small panels for exatly this job with some kind of charge limiter on it.

I've have two 60watt panels and with direct sunlight on them at 90deg they can produce 9-10 amps

Best advice though is to get out and ride it more in the winter

Shep

 

[Roger Chatterton]

Best advice though is to get out and ride it more in the winter

Thanks Shep,-the way this fecking summer has been , the winter can only be better -but you're quite right-that's what heated grips are for I guess !

Is your collie solar powered by any chance ????

 

[Shep]

Best advice though is to get out and ride it more in the winter


Is your collie solar powered by any chance ????

Nope she's water powered, an Aqua-Beardie, she will run and run and run as long as she can get wet to recharge her fuel cells

Shep

 

[cookie]

Hi Cookie,
Yes, I agree, but bike might not be getting a whole lot of regular use over the winter - and seeing as the bikes need a solid 12 volts to even start-up,(ABS etc) then a little trickle charge would help ? I have a pretty new BMW gel battery fitted. It's also that the battery is a bit of a pain to remove, compared to my old RS airhead, so would like to leave it in-situ if poss.
How long do you reckon a well charged gel battery will maintin its charge for, in an unheated garage ?

left my 1150 for 3 months once, it just started

i'm fairly sure your bike's never been on a trickle charger regularly before. getting a charger in your garage just sounds like a load of hassle to me. if it's flat one morning, jump it. ABS will not initialise if the voltage dips below 10v, but a simple restart 100m up the road usually cures that.

as you can probably tell, i am unconvinced of the merit of keeping a battery on charge all the time

 

[jimbo]

Does it have an alarm - they are unsually are the problem for long periods in my experience. Tiny driain, but over many weeks....

 

[alimey4u2]

Do the maths, Watts= Volts X Amps to ensure you have ample capacity & ensure it has a blocking diode to prevent discharge in zero light conditions....

 

[NeverRodeBefore]

This is what you want, I had a small one from Demon Tweeks (I think?) but it wasn't up to the job over winter, this one has done fine and only requires daylight as opposed to direct sun.

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/p...h/transformers-inverters-phase-converters-sol

 

[John Armstrong]

I used a a solar charger that's about 8" x 8" when I had a garage without power. But, I connected the solar charger to a 12v car battery with the bike battery in parallel. So the charger was never going to overcharge the bikes battery and the cars battery helped maintain the bikes when the sun was in.

This would also work on the 1200GS as it would keep the canbus open

 

[anthonybrown]

solar charger

Try m+p.com they have bike solar chargers for 30pounds ive got one on my 1200 and have no problems but remember it only keeps a battery topped up its not for charging up batteries

 

[Bub]

Maplins do various sizes of solar panels.....not sure of price, but I recon as competative as any.

 

[Roger Chatterton]

Thanks for all the info -looks like I'm not the only person thinking of Solar charging. I did have a quick look in Maplins today, and they do have a couple of possible trickle chargers. Does it make any difference if it's a Gel battery ? Do they have specific requirements for trickle charging, eg minimum or maximum current/time period etc ?
The Maplin ones said "lead acid" type -any difference ?

Also saw a suitable light for the lock-up, -also solar-it keeps a lithium battery/s charged, and light runs of those.

 

[Major Gadget]

Solar Panels

I have 2 Solar panels on the roof of my garage connected to my GS. I have a Datatool alarm which drains the battery, and has flattened it once. I bought the panels from Maplin, and also a Regulator which stops the panels from overcharging. After the initial expense there are no costs, and my Gel Battery is always fully charged,.

 

[boundless]

The one you want...

What every well-dressed RTW bike will be wearing come September?

<iframe frameborder="1"height="700"scrolling="auto"src="http://www.batterymart.com/p-batteryminder-12v-5w-solar-battery-charger.html"width="800"></iframe>

 

[The Slow Granger]

cheap and cheerful?

You should be able to get one for around £12 on flea bay. Got one for my camper during winter lay up and I am currently (sorry) using on the electric fence for trickle charging. Its very small - about 12'' x 5'' so output is gong to be tiny (but this may just cover terminal loss.) Electronic Mandy does the biz.

Can't really say yet if it will do what i want but it does have appropriate regulators etc to prevent overcharge and polarity reversing.

I'd love to know how to test it but dont have a meter. If anyone can do this in the Sarf i'll post the results as it seems a few are interested in these.

It has long leads (too much vdrop perhaps?) which would go on a roof and is cheap enough not to worry too much about.

If it works I'll be getting a couple of others for a variety of big boys tonka toys that lay dormant for long periods.