Solar Power
Battery Chargers
Essentially, a solar power
battery charger is a solar cell (aka panel). Case closed, move
on! But wait...there's allot more to charging batteries than
attaching cables to a panel in the sun. A required piece of
equipment is a charge controller. This device controls the
amount of energy flowing to the battery. Power from the sun
fluctuates widely even on a seemingly clear day. Without a
controller the battery can be damaged by under current or over
current. I would recommend for simplicity sake, one that is
built into the other piece of equipment you'll likely need, an
inverter. A power inverter isn't involved in charging your
battery, rather how the electricity is taken from it and
distributed. It converts DC electricity from the battery to AC
power which is what typical homes use at the outlet and it maximizes
the output of the system. Connected devices are also protected
by fuses within the inverter. If you have a set of batteries
for your solar energy system, you probably want to have a regular AC
charger or trickle charger handy. These can be useful to top
off batteries & provide diagnostic information when your utility is
online.
There are obviously things to
consider regarding voltages, watts, amps & the like. Rather
than re-invent the wheel, I've provided some links below that
explain all the techie stuff.
Wind & Sun has an excellent page
about
deep cell batteries which are the kind used in residential solar
electric setups. (includes charging info)
Great information about charging
with solar or wind turbines (& everything batteries) can be found at
the
Battery University.
Voltaic DIY Solar Charger Kit for Laptops,
Tablets & Cell Phones - 16.8 Watt Solar Panel with V60 Universal
Laptop Battery
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