Solar charger for TM battery

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chazrull

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Was thinking of ordering one of these to keep my small TM battery topped off while fishing (it's available with clips as well as a plug). It has generally good reviews.

Has anyone here used one for this purpose?

https://www.basspro.com/12Volt-Solar-Battery-Charger/product/5196/
 

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I'd say there are 2 problems with doing this. First one is that although I couldn't find the manufacturers rated amp output, I can't imagine it being enough to make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. I did see in the "outdoor answers" about this item that 2 users responded to a question about it's output. One claimed 300ma, the other said he was getting 1.5amp (I have doubts about this claim). Even if you wanted to be optimistic about it and say the output is 1.5 amp, that's the output of a float/maintenance charger and not enough to try to charge a deep cycle with. The other "potential" problem, would be if you forgot to disconnect this from your battery and it stayed on for a prolonged time. Once the battery was at full charge, it would have the same affect as leaving a trickle charger on without the benefit of a maintenance/float control circuit. And that could harm your battery. But that's just my opinion so if you decide to try this, let us know how it works out for you.
 
A 15 watt solar panel produces around 1.25 amps.
Theroy...15W / 12V = 1.25 amps
Your battery charger at home,on trickle charge puts out more.
It's important to get the battery back to life quicky,I like to use around 10% rule.
If my battery is 150aH,a 15amp charger works well...
 
I see those solar chargers mounted to boat lifts being used as trickle chargers. Do yourself a favor and buy a second battery and wire the batteries in parallel or, when you need a new battery get one with a lot of reserve capacity. You won't have to worry about running out of juice.
 
x2 what 2sac said, if you just get a 2nd battery and run them in parallel you should have plenty of juice to fish, and if you run out, you've been out there too long.
 

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