Solar charger

[gazm]

Hi all
does anyone have any recommendations for a solution that would allow me to keep my car on trickle charge via a solar panel.

Many thanks

[Taffy66]

We have an electric security gate run off a solar panel at the end of our long drive. The solar panel trickle charges a 12V battery within a secure cabinet and releases enough juice to operate the gate even in the depths of winter. Speak to Solar Gates System who are brilliant and will advice you on the best course of action.
https://www.solargatesystems.co.uk/

Mike is the guy you want to speak to. Just mention me as i only spoke to him beginning of the week. Very helpful and knowledgeable guy on all thinks solar.

[gazm]

thanks - i'll give them a shout this week!

[daver777]

search Amazon for
Solar Car Battery Trickle Charger, 12V 1.8W Solar Battery Charger Car

they are about 20 quid i think!

[Taffy66]

daver777 said:

search Amazon for
Solar Car Battery Trickle Charger, 12V 1.8W Solar Battery Charger Car

they are about 20 quid i think!

Even better

[Griffith4ever]

Car inside or outside garage?

Outside, this kind of thing will do on the dash

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECO-WORTHY-Maintainer-Con...

Inside? Do it properly:

Stick something like this outside:

https://midsummerenergy.co.uk/buy/12V-solar-panels...

ANything from 30-50 watts.

Inside your garage

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EPEVER-Controller-Negativ...

A £10 PWM job will work too.

I connect the Epever to a magcode power connector, and have the other half fitted to the front of my car.

[gazm]

Thanks
I have a McLaren 720 parked in an underground car park with access to light (about 3 metres away)
I guess this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECO-WORTHY-Maintainer-Con...

With something that connects into the lighter connection in the hood would work

[gazm]

Sorry I meant this
https://midsummerenergy.co.uk/buy/12V-solar-panels...

[Griffith4ever]

Indeed - but you absolutely must have a solar regulator with a 50w panel.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EPEVER-Controller-Negativ...

I sell 100's of the above and never had an issue.

These also work fine too:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Controller-Intelligent-Re...

But I'd go for the Epever with an expensive car. I have had ONE cheap PWM charger make a battery explode in 10 years of selling solar.

This is the kind of thing you want to plug into the "BATT" terminals of the Epever MPPT regulator.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dongge-cigarette-universa...

Prob need to extend it.

This assumes your cig socket in the trunk is always live (with ignition off).

The Epever, btw, will charge and then maintain your battery - just like a plug in charger does. A bulk charge followed by a trickle / maintenance charge.,

[gazm]

Griffith4ever said:

Indeed - but you absolutely must have a solar regulator with a 50w panel.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EPEVER-Controller-Negativ...

I sell 100's of the above and never had an issue.

These also work fine too:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Controller-Intelligent-Re...

But I'd go for the Epever with an expensive car. I have had ONE cheap PWM charger make a battery explode in 10 years of selling solar.

This is the kind of thing you want to plug into the "BATT" terminals of the Epever MPPT regulator.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dongge-cigarette-universa...

Prob need to extend it.

This assumes your cig socket in the trunk is always live (with ignition off).

The Epever, btw, will charge and then maintain your battery - just like a plug in charger does. A bulk charge followed by a trickle / maintenance charge.,

thanks for your input Griffith4ever. as a bit of a dummy do you mind listing the bits i need to make it work (panel through to plugging it into the cig socket) thanks a lot!

[Chrisatronic]

Griffith4ever said:

Indeed - but you absolutely must have a solar regulator with a 50w panel.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EPEVER-Controller-Negativ...

I sell 100's of the above and never had an issue.

These also work fine too:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Controller-Intelligent-Re...

But I'd go for the Epever with an expensive car. I have had ONE cheap PWM charger make a battery explode in 10 years of selling solar.

This is the kind of thing you want to plug into the "BATT" terminals of the Epever MPPT regulator.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dongge-cigarette-universa...

Prob need to extend it.

This assumes your cig socket in the trunk is always live (with ignition off).

The Epever, btw, will charge and then maintain your battery - just like a plug in charger does. A bulk charge followed by a trickle / maintenance charge.,

This looks very interesting. Have you actually used this setup in practice with a car lithium battery? Just wondering if all the voltage/current settings to charge one would be the same as the big boy solar pv storage batteries these are presumably aimed at?

Would also love a full breakdown for this setup as I can't get power to my driveway.

Solar PV Panel -> EPEVER in Lithium Mode -> BATT terminals -> Cigarrete lighter socket, simple as that? Tempting.

[Griffith4ever]

It's all above really.

40W panel - Midsummer are great to deal with but any framed 40w or 50w panel is more than enough. LInked above.

MPPT charger (regulator)

https://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/mppt/XTRA1206N...

Bimble also do panels - they have a 20w which is enough in the summer, and should be enough in the winter to keep up wioth a tracker. 50w is overkill but won't do any harm at all as the MPPT regulator will control it.

You'll want to extend the panel cables. Below will give you 5m when cut in half.

https://www.bimblesolar.com/mc4-cable-10m

One of those, cut in half, will give you two plugs (one male, one female), for the panel, and two bare ends, to strip and put into the MPPT. Personally, I cut the MC4 connectors off the panel and solder in a 2mm squ twin auto cable length - but if you don't solder etc the cable above will do what you want.

For the car:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/KUNCAN-12-24v-Cigarette-L...

Cut off the socket end, bare the wires, and connect to the BATT terminals on the MPPT unit.

I'd put one of these inline between the live wire (red) on the above cigar lead, and the MPPT unit.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gebildet-Waterproof-Holde...

You can buy them individually on ebay for a £1 or so.

Use a red 10am blade fuse.

[Griffith4ever]

Chrisatronic said:

This looks very interesting. Have you actually used this setup in practice with a car lithium battery? Just wondering if all the voltage/current settings to charge one would be the same as the big boy solar pv storage batteries these are presumably aimed at?

Would also love a full breakdown for this setup as I can't get power to my driveway.

Solar PV Panel -> EPEVER in Lithium Mode -> BATT terminals -> Cigarrete lighter socket, simple as that? Tempting.

These aren't aimed at "big boy stuff" The Epever range is aimed at camper vans really (and street lights, hence the built in timers). The one I've linked maxes out at 10 amps. They doo beefier models but you dont' need them. Your 50w panel will produce 2.5-3 amps max.

They claim to support Lithium but whenever I have a customer with a lithium battery I steer them in this direction

https://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/mppt/victron-s...

It reall is as simple as :

For charging a car:
Solar panel ----> Solar regulator (MPPT unit) ----> Cigar adapter ----> cig socket --->Battery

Or, for you: as you suggested - for providing a 12v socket:
Solar PV Panel ---> EPEVER in Lithium Mode -> BATT terminals -> Cigarette lighter socket

Do bear in mind this relies on the cig socket in your car being always on. This is no use if it goes off when the ignition is off. That's when you need to look at other methods of connecting to your battery. I use a Magcode connector hidden in the grille of my R8.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 10th November 11:41

[Chrisatronic]

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. TYVM.

[Griffith4ever]

Chrisatronic said:

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. TYVM.

YOu are most welcome!

[CocoUK]

Afternoon Griffith4ever,

You may be my saviour! I've recently had a change of garage, now without power supply.

Can you recommend a solar charger setup for;

Garage (cable feed accessible to outside light)
'99 Porsche 911 (cig socket NOT live when ignition off)
Battery in frunk (cable feed accessible with lid closed/locked)
CTEK MXS 5.0 (installed in frunk, attached to battery using ring/eyelet connectors)

Would be great to still use the charger but open to affordable solutions.

Thank you for your time,
Coco

[Griffith4ever]

Your Ctek will become redundant for now as you have no mains. No harm in leaving it there though.

The solar regulator you use will do exactly the same job as the Ctek. Basically, with the solar regulator (also known as a solar charger) you run the solar panel cable to the "PV" terminals, and then the "BATT" terminals are your battery charger (your solar Ctek, so to speak)

Just get the gear as I listed above in another post.

With a frunk (I have an R8 so know frunks well :-) ) you have two choices really.

Put a connector of your choice on the battery - and put the other end of that connector on a cable that goes to your solar regulator - to the BATT terminals. Then shut the cable in the bonnet. Loads of choices of connectors. Something like this to the battery:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393717680726

Then something like this to the solar regulator:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304151354766

Or, as I have done, and a lot of people do, use a Magcode connector. LIke this:

https://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/product/victron...

Make sure you get both halves wherever you order from. You'll find people selling them with connectors of all sorts of types already fitted too:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324505771289

The MagCode connector is magnetic, so the battery half is only live when connected to it's other half, and if you drive off, it'll pull off rather than break cables.

You mount the non-magnetic part on the car exterior somewhere, and the other part you connect a cable to which runs back to the solar regulator. If you search MagCode and your car model you'll find loads of people on the web who've installed one and posted loads of pics.

This is mine on my R8 - I cut a hole and mounted it on a small plastic cover that covers the towing eye.





I should add complete garage solar charging kits to my website but TBH there would not be enough margin in them for the hassle, or if I did, I'd get lots of "I can buy all the bits for "x" price" from people :-)

Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 1st December 18:36

[CocoUK]

Thank you very much for the reply, if i'm understanding this right, for my requirement;


Solar panel 50W (+mount) >>> MC4 cable (+5m length) >>> Solar regulator (/REGULATOR OPTIONS) >>> Cable (/DISCONNECT OPTIONS) >>> Cable O-Ring >>> Battery


/REGULATOR OPTIONS
EPEVER or Y&H

/DISCONNECT OPTIONS
Quick disconnect or Magcode



Really appreciate the help, will start pulling this together and update.

Just to add, i'm currently swatting up on early R8 V8 ownership, it's a car i've always had an interest, must be one of the best used buys.
How have you found storage for a weekend away?

[Griffith4ever]

CocoUK said:

Thank you very much for the reply, if i'm understanding this right, for my requirement;


Solar panel 50W (+mount) >>> MC4 cable (+5m length) >>> Solar regulator (/REGULATOR OPTIONS) >>> Cable (/DISCONNECT OPTIONS) >>> Cable O-Ring >>> Battery


/REGULATOR OPTIONS
EPEVER or Y&H

/DISCONNECT OPTIONS
Quick disconnect or Magcode



Really appreciate the help, will start pulling this together and update.

Just to add, i'm currently swatting up on early R8 V8 ownership, it's a car i've always had an interest, must be one of the best used buys.
How have you found storage for a weekend away?

Absolutely Correct. Just make sure there is a fuse between the solar regulator and the car, definitely on the car side - so by the battery. 5 or 10 amp would do.

R8 - storage - LMAO :-) in the V10 there is just the Frunk. It's big enough for one regular cabin bag. TBF - I can get 12 bottles of wine, plus other shopping in there. Long weekend would be fine - we'd barely fill a cabin bag, and then there is room spare on top. I also store a Lithium jump starter in there.

It was an absolute bargain in my eyes. 10 years old, immaculate (some minor stone chips I had corrected), 20k miles, FSH, spyder V10 Rtronic, £45k. It felt like a lot when I spent it, but it doesn't now :-)

Edited by Griffith4ever on Monday 6th December 13:40