Solar charger worked GREAT! $110 for parts on Amazon

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Jayjoans
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Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 7:12 pm

Solar charger worked GREAT! $110 for parts on Amazon

#1 Post by Jayjoans » Sat Jul 29, 2017 9:20 pm

Just got back from a week at a lakehouse with the family. I have a dedicated Optima battery for the sound system, which consists of 10 speakers and a huge subwoofer. The guy I bought it from put it in and it sounds very nice, but the last time my wife and I were at the lake the battery went dead after a 5 hours or so of running the stereo. Since that time I've always kept all my batteries on a Battery Tender when not in use, but I was concerned about using the stereo for a week without ever being able to charge it up.

I purchased a flexible solar panel that puts out 50w of power, a Battery Tender designed for solar panels, and a 12.5' Battery Tender extension cable. Everything cost me about $110.

At the end of the day I'd bungy the flexible panel up so it was hanging off the bimini frame facing east for morning sun. When I plugged it in, the Tender controller read "charging". In the late morning when we'd get down to the boat it'd read "charged". Never had an issue with the battery and had more than a few ask me about the setup. I've got Battery Tender leads on the stereo battery, the main engine battery and a spare, and I can hook the cable from the solar to controller to whichever one I think needs it, and at home they each get their own Tender in the boathouse.

Pretty stoked this worked so easily.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072B ... UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q ... UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002D ... UTF8&psc=1

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