Solar Car Battery Charger DIY

Solar car battery chargers are wise investments in terms of extending your vehicle's battery life. It provides free flowing current to your battery which maintains its charge although you rarely use your vehicle especially during the winter season.

A lot of people have resorted to solar-powered car battery chargers to give their batteries better mileage. With these chargers, you can sit back and relax knowing that your car will always start even with minimal use. However, many have been apprehensive about using solar chargers for car batteries as they seem to be a complex equipment. So here are some do-it-yourself projects to charge your lead-acid car battery with solar panels.

This is probably the simplest way:

You will need are a voltmeter and a solar panel. Simply connect the solar panel to your battery and monitor the ascending voltage. You have to keep it close and watch it carefully. When the voltmeter gets near 14 volts, that simply means that your battery is charged. You can now disconnect the solar panel from your battery to keep it from overcharging.

Be careful though, you can damage your battery if you charge it too fast. If this is the case, you need to get a panel that is just right your battery. You can always consult with your battery manufacturer to see how many amperes it can handle during the charging and discharging process. If you happen to have a very big panel and little battery, you need to tweak a little to get the right amps for your battery.

If this sounds more complex and tedious, you can just browse online or visit your nearest automotive store to get the newest solar chargers for car batteries. These have solar panels that are manufactured exclusively for the purpose of maintaining your vehicle's battery that have not been used in a very long time. These panels do not go over 13.5 or 14 volts so you can be assured that they will not produce too much current to damage your battery.

If you're the forgetful type, solar automobile battery chargers are perfect for you. You can just hook the solar battery chargers to your battery via the cigarette power socket and forget about it. If you hate winter seasons as they make your vehicles stall and hard to start, do yourself a favor and purchase a solar car battery charger. They are wise investments, that's a fact.

Solar Car Battery Chargers

Winter season is not really a very automotive-friendly season. Car owners have always struggled with winter as this season can render car batteries too cold to start. So as the leaves start falling, car owners often ask, will their car's battery survive the cold season of winter?

There's a simple solution to this dilemma-solar chargers for car batteries. All you need to do is to put the solar battery charger on your car's dashboard during the day or while you are at work. It charges instantly and you don't have to worry about that your car will not be able to get you home. These solar chargers for car batteries are perfect for any type of vehicles-cars, trucks, boats, RVs, 4 wheelers and even motorbikes. If the winter season is over, you can still use them with your vehicles that do not get used everyday.

Batteries produced nowadays have lead-acid content. If they are connected to your car and the engines are not run regularly, they can discharge over time. Contrary to popular belief, irregular use or short trips particularly during cold weather can drain the life of your car battery which can eventually result to failure at the most inconvenient time.

The principle behind solar car battery chargers is that they "trickle" charge, meaning low level current is fed continuously to the battery to prevent if from losing its charge. Traditional battery charging requires mains powered devices which are inconvenient and the cost for the electricity to power these devices are a bit pricey. Solar car battery chargers do not require mains power, thus providing the biggest advantage. They can be easily set up and convenient to bring anywhere.

Solar chargers for automotive batteries have solar panels installed in its face. All you need to do is rest it near a window or on top of your car's dashboard so that it can absorb as much sunlight during the day thereby, keeping your batteries charged. While some brands of solar car battery chargers directly connect to the battery while others feed power to the battery via the cigarette lighter power socket. This feature enables the solar car battery charger to do its job even while the vehicle or boat is locked.

Vehicle batteries can be very expensive thus you need to maximize their life span. They also need to work when you need them to especially in times of emergency. Thus, you need to keep your batteries charged and maintained. Solar car battery chargers are wise investments that can save you money and give you peace of mind.

The Best Auto Battery Chargers

If your generator isn't exercising as it should, you may have a dead battery. Before you toss it out, check to see if it can be recharged. There are different types of charges. The most common are a manual charger, trickle, and a pulse charger - just to name a few. And there are different types of batteries and they can affect the charge outcome.

Different Types Of Batteries

According to Wikipedia, "A battery charger is a device used to put energy into a secondary cell or rechargeable battery by forcing an electric current through it." Whether a battery takes a charge depends upon the size and the type of battery being charged. There are 3 main types:

    Lead acid
    Nickel-based NiCd
    Lithium-ion
    Air glass mat

Different Types of Chargers

Many people use an automatic charger. When you try to charge up a battery and you are using a digital charger, will it work? A digital instrument will tell you if the battery falls below the 80%. Many people say it can't be recharged if it falls that low but it is not necessarily true. Some batteries can be rejuvenated and just need a charge to start, depending upon the age of the battery.

One customer had a problem with a generator. His battery charger indicated it was dead. He was using an automatic charger but you can have problems with an automatic charger too, if you battery falls below 80%. A battery has to have a certain amount of charge for it to start charging.

You need to understand how to check batteries. Auto parts stores will tell you that your battery doesn't have enough voltage so they can't charge it. What I recommend is to keep putting low voltage back in to your battery and see if it will come back up. A trickle charger may not bring it up at all because a trickle charger needs a certain amount of voltage for it to recharge. Sometimes you have to have a manual charger in place of an automatic because an automatic has to have voltage to start it.

Problems With Battery Chargers

Charger might tell you that your battery is dead when it still could be a good battery and be fully charged. Chargers can be deceiving. Problems can occur when trying to charge you battery.

    Chargers go bad.
    Battery dropped below their 80% level.
    Dead cell

If it's a newer battery, it may come back up if it didn't kill a cell. A hydrometer is a tool that will test for a dead cell by checking the electrolytes. With sealed batteries, you can't open them to tell. If your automatic charger says it's dead, then try and put a little charge back in to it, manually and slowly. But be careful! You don't know the condition of the battery. It's dangerous. You could blow a battery apart.

Conclusion

Batteries can get complicated. Automatic chargers may not recharge your battery. You may need to use a manual charger to bring up your battery. Another opting is to bring it to an auto parts dealer and have them charge it for you. They use sophisticated equipment.

Some people are wasting money and filling up the garbage dumps with batteries because they are incorrectly charging them. Don't waste money. Make sure your batteries are completely dead before replacing them.