# Solar battery charger and batteries



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

I have one of those small solar battery chargers and I been using it. It takes all day on a sunny day or maybe two days to get a really good charge. And I needed to remove the batteries when they weren't be charged. It seemed like the charger would take back the juice from the batteries if you left them in overnight. And the cheap rechargeable batteries didn't do neer as well as A good name brand did. 
So with a good rechargeable battery and two days of charging your good to go. 
But still in a pinch it would be better than no charger at all. Anyone else use a solar charger?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solar-11-in...158144&hash=item48723250ef:g:9K0AAOSwxX1Zwd7F


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## khaotic (Jan 16, 2017)

I use one of these with this kind of solar panel it takes a few hours but works well for me.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

I have one like yours, budgetprepp, and it works okay but it's slow.

I prefer this little folding panel from GoalZero. It's 7 watts, and charges an 18650 lithium ion cell in about 4 hours. You can charge a power bank with it, then use the bank to charge your phone or whatever. Or you can charge GoalZero's proprietary cell holder, which also functions as a flashlight. Pretty cool.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Around home I use the Solar panel to run the inverter and plug the normal charger into that to charge them faster. Of course even that is a some what slow process.


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## Stockton (Jun 21, 2017)

https://www.costco.com/Coleman-100W-Solar-Panel-With-7AMP-Charge-Controller-.product.100349972.html

Got one of these a few weeks ago. Well I ordered it a few weeks ago
and it just came on Monday. I didn't have time Monday so hopefully
I can test it out this weekend. I expect good battery charge as the 
weather is sunny and the panel looks quite solid. Not quite portable
though.

They were on sale at 119. It cost me $132 with taxes.


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## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

sideKahr said:


> I have one like yours, budgetprepp, and it works okay but it's slow.
> 
> I prefer this little folding panel from GoalZero. It's 7 watts, and charges an 18650 lithium ion cell in about 4 hours. You can charge a power bank with it, then use the bank to charge your phone or whatever. Or you can charge GoalZero's proprietary cell holder, which also functions as a flashlight. Pretty cool.
> 
> View attachment 56242


that's nice looking set up


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

budgetprepp-n said:


> that's nice looking set up


Sam's Club.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

what sideKahr has is a faster and more versatile set up but costs more. It can usually charge anything from a laptop to a cell phone or radio.


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## edprof (Aug 13, 2016)

Not too long ago I bought a 200 watt solar outfit with two 100 watt panels, a 400 watt charge controller, 30 feet of cable for each panel, and appropriate cabling for all of that plus to my battery. Battery is a garden-variety Walmart 12 volt deep cycle marine battery. Except for the battery, this was a package deal from Harbor Freight. This charges my battery really well. It does it pretty fast on a sunny day.


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