Cheap solar chargers

[tmcgee]

VW ships its cars to the US with solar panels to keep the batteries topped off. The dealers are selling them off on ebay for relatively short money. I picked up three of them for $30 each, shipped.

They come with a voltage regulator and a connector for the OBD II port, but the connector is only populated with two pins. Clip it off and use alligator clips or other connectors and you have an easy way to keep the bike charged over the winter.

[Rainier_Tom]

I bought 2 of these a couple of years ago (from ebay also). My plan was to adapt one so I could charge my cell phone while on a multi-day kayak trip down the Columbia river. Suffice to say, the solar panels are extremely weak as far as power output is concerned. Under optimal sunny conditions the output was barely enough to light the LED on the phone charger. I removed the LED from the charger. Given 10 hours of direct sunlight it will perform a charge on the cell phone but not a full charge. Given that most folks park their bike in a garage, and the extended run of wire from the solar panel to the bike, I would think there would be enough voltage drop to make the attempt not even worth while. YMMV

[Big O]

VW ships its cars to the US with solar panels to keep the batteries topped off. The dealers are selling them off on ebay for relatively short money. I picked up three of them for $30 each, shipped.

They come with a voltage regulator and a connector for the OBD II port, but the connector is only populated with two pins. Clip it off and use alligator clips or other connectors and you have an easy way to keep the bike charged over the winter.

You can get one from Harbor Freight for 15 bucks. I got mine for less than that when it was on sale. No modification necessary because it plugs into your cigarette lighter (unless your cigarette lighter is on switched power). Here's the link: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44768. I use it on my 1 ton truck and it works great.

[Jimding]

Just how much amperage that puts out in noon-day sun. Here at 41 degrees north I kinda doubt your gonna get 100 mA, at the best of times. Inside your windshield, almost certainly less. I suppose if you're trying to live off the grid, worth a try. But Harbor Freight sells their battery tenders for about $6 on sale, you don't have to run wiring to a sunny location (30 feet in my case) and I suspect the effect on your power bill is darn near invisible. Kinda suck if you have a run of cloudy weather, and it ends up killing your battery.

[KZDon]

There's a similar one that goes on sale at Canadian Tire once in a while for about $10. In bright sun it puts about about half an amp, and stuck in my east facing garage door window, it's more than enough to keep my bike battery up over the winter.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=253437430 3523050&bmUID=1234238317777&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443306631&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true

[tmcgee]

Just how much amperage that puts out in noon-day sun. Here at 41 degrees north I kinda doubt your gonna get 100 mA, at the best of times.

I'm at 42.186495 degrees. If the sun ever comes out again, I plan to put some meters on it and will post the results. My guess is that it's about 5 watts, and that's optimistic, but based on the size of another solar panel I've played with.