A friend called last night enquiring about a solar powered battery charger for a boat, rv, etc. Has anyone ever used one & do they work? I don't know anything about them and thought I would ask around here. I would think it would be more for maintaining a battery. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I also posted this in the General Equipment Discussion, but thought I would ask the All Knowing OT. Come on guys, help my friend Charlie out. I am trying to recruit him to join the TFF also.

Get a good trickle charger and be done with it, just my

they will keep a battery from going dead on long term storage, about all they are good for.

Just put a disconnect switch in if you're worried about it going dead. Disconnect before you leave.

He has a trickle charger. I have told him to put in a disconnect switch. His level of thinking is that a solar charger will maintain his battery while he fishes. I told him not a good idea to have a battery charging while using it. If you met Charlie, you would understand. He is the type when he gets an idea in his head, there is not much can change his mind until he see's it.

Thank y'all for your suggestions.

Same as what you would use on a 12v gate opener. Sure they work, just get one sized to do what you want.

They work on my deer feeder batteries wonderfully.

You sorta charge a car battery while you use it, not really, but sort of. The car mostly runs off the alternator, since the electronics draw from the source with highest potential.

A panel powerful enough to keep a Trolling Motor battery charged while using it, would have to be bigger than the entire boat.

You can charge a battery while using it. No issue there at all. That's a fairly good idea actually

I would think a couple 45w panels could make a charge, not sure who’d want to deal with those blinding them all day though. Home boy could buy a small inverter generator cheaper or just buy some big lithium’s and don’t worry about having an issue to begin with.

Assuming he is thinking of adding a 1' x 1' or maybe a 1' x 2' panel similar to what is on a road sign? The amount of charge he gets from that would power the TM for maybe an extra 10 - 15 minutes a day max.

Those panels are designed for low wattage use, not for a high thrust motor with regular use throughout the day.

Yep, they're designed to keep a charged battery with minimal load at full charge or close to it.

I have one on my boat to keep the Livescope/HDS Live battery charged up. I don't know how much it helps because I use a 31 series AGM but have never had an issue.

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