 | Home > In Car Electronics > Do I need a regulator with my solar panel ? |
 
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| dave18 Member Since: 11 Jul 2015 Location: Gorleston, Great Yarmouth Posts: 497   
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Hopefully a quick one, I work away 4 weeks at a time and the wife seldom uses the 110 so she just sits there. Ive got a tracker and possibly fitting an alarm as well so Ive got current drain.
Got my self a Solar charger the other day as used to have one on my old 90 which was brilliant. At the moment its connected to the battery by crocodile clips as I was topping the battery up as havent been used. This got me thinking, On my 90 the panel was wired through a regulator which turned its self on and off as needed. I currently dont have this. Is this something that I really should have fitted to prevent battery damage ??? If it makes a difference Ive got a CTEK mount on the dash and just ordered a Male adaptor so I can fit that to my solar panel and then that will just plug n play so to speak. http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/Comfort...8%203%2c3m |
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17th Nov 2015 8:00pm |
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| VeeTee Member Since: 06 Mar 2011 Location: Somewhere Posts: 1512 
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It depends a bit on the capacity of the panel used. If it is a small panel and lets say only is 5 Watts or so, you could skip the regulator and just fit a diode (thats keeps the panel from draining your battery at night). If the panel has more oomph, I defenitely would fit a regulator. Cheers, Vincent
1959 Polynorm 1/4 Ton Trailer, Olive Drab Green (sold) 1970 M416 Military Trailer (Camping Trailer Conversion), Epsom Green (sold) 1975 Series III 88 V6, Light Green (sadly sold) 1996 Defender 110 CSW 300 Tdi, Epsom Green (sold) 2000 Freelander 1 TD4 3-drs, Silver (sold) 2006 Freelander 1 TD4 5-drs Facelift Automatic, Tonga Green (sold) MySite |
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17th Nov 2015 9:27pm |
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| Cupboard Member Since: 21 Mar 2014 Location: Suffolk Posts: 2971 
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That will be fine left connected all the time. I'd be amazed if it didn't have a diode built in, are manufacturers really that cheapskate?
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18th Nov 2015 9:57am |
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| dave18 Member Since: 11 Jul 2015 Location: Gorleston, Great Yarmouth Posts: 497
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Cheers peeps for your replys.
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18th Nov 2015 10:43pm |
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| baldivistribe Member Since: 08 Dec 2014 Location: The mainland Posts: 18 
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If you check the solar panel specification it will tell you the maximum operating voltage. Some can be quite high.
Given the low current flow i would still be inclined to fit a regulator which usually come with the diode installed in the smarts of the regulator, which is one less thing to worry about. Some regulators have a little window which tell you amps in, voltage, total amps in, SOC etc. Cheers Steve |
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30th Nov 2015 12:29pm |
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