Reddit reviews Sunforce 50022 5-Watt Solar Battery Trickle Charger
We found 7 Reddit comments about Sunforce 50022 5-Watt Solar Battery Trickle Charger. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Features sturdy and durable aluminum frame with amorphous solar cells ; Includes 12V DC plug, battery clamps and mounting hardware for easy installationCompletely weatherproof for added durabilityAmorphous solar panel works in all daylight conditions; even on cloudy daysBuilt-in overcharge/discharge protectionMaintains and trickle charges 12 Volt batteries for your car, boat, RV, electric fence, deer feeder and more
I have a different idea for you. A guy I work with has a 2007 that had the same issue, but he simply did not have the money for a new one. He was stranded at work, again, when we were talking about it. His battery was in terrible shape; he put it on the charger every night to be able to get to work.
I thought about getting him an extension cord, but he was 200' from the closest outlet, so I told him that if he tried one of these solar trickle chargers, I would buy it from him if it did not work. He has managed to get to and from work for over a month in this North Dakota weather with no issues. I just plugs it in when he parks.
I got two PM's about the battery/inverter rig so here is what I told others and a bit more.
I seem destened to live in areas with crappy power so when I moved to my new apartment and again found that the power here flickered like a candle in the wind I hit up CL and found a nice big APC backup PSU that had no batterys for $50($600 new), also on CL I found a set of two Exide sealed Gel cell marine Deep cycle batteries for $50 each($200/ea new). The system has run for 3 years now flawlessly, the computer will run for 7 hours on backup power.
When the hurricane hit I knew I could use the batteries to charge stuff with my inverter but they weigh like 80lbs so I wasn't about to drag them down to my car to charge them so after talking to a neighbor who is a boat guy I hit up a marine supply place down the road and picked up the biggest(that I could afford) solar charger, it was about $120, the next step up was over $300. I didn't think 20w would totally make up for energy drain so my computer use was very limited but I was able to keep my cell and ipod charged for the duration. I just hung the solar charger off my balcony(its a 2'x2' square of 4 1' square PV cells) and left the batteries where they were out in my storage closet on the balcony and ran an extension cord outside to it, the inverter runs on demand so I never had to mess with it. The inverter is a 1500w unit that I got from HomeDepot about 8 years ago to run some power tools at a camp site, it is way over kill for the use but given that I already had it oh well. If you just want to run a TV or computer you could get away with half or less wattage, heck a 500w unit would be fine for most non power tool or appliance uses and can be had for under $50 from radioshack.
The solar panel looks like 4 of these in a collapsable frame, the writing on it is all Chinese...
http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/projects/micro-wind-turbine/
I'm always wary of someone promising me a thing without technical specs, or hooking up a multimeter to the output under either ideal (wind tunnel) or real life conditions. But in the most ideal method, to generate the stated 5w of power, that thing's spinning at ~10hz, and I'm not seeing it spin at ~10hz. While the closest solar panels are around ~1ft x ~1ft for the same max wattage. https://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-50022-Battery-Trickle-Charger/dp/B0006JO0TC
I'm also curious if it going to be anything more than an interesting concept, I expect that in october there's going to be a delay or a problem, and the next "new release" date will be sometime middle next year.
So color me skeptical.
Something like this...
Get a solar trickle charger that sits on the dash and trickle charges the car while it sits. something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-50022-Battery-Trickle-Charger/dp/B0006JO0TC More watts is better than less..
You may want to look into something like this then.
I recently installed a 5wt solar trickle to maintain my Aliner battery.
Imgur Too early to tell how well it works.
https://www.amazon.com/Sunforce-50022-Battery-Trickle-Charger/dp/B0006JO0TC