Solar Battery Trickle Chargers, Anybody Use Them? Options

[Big Len]

I store my car for the winter in a garage with no electricity and have disconnected the Optima battery for the winter.

Does anyone have experience with a solar trickle charger? If so, which model.

Would they work with the Optima?

Is it even necessary for 4 months of non use?

Thanks, Len

[walterolin]

I bought a West Marine charger with a controller for my shanty boat about 7 years ago, with a sealed battery. It has worked very well. Don't know the model number, boat is at Nolin lake.

I think the controller will be the key. Here is West's tutorial: http://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/DIY-...th-Solar-Panels

[r_towle]

Yup, the controller is key or it will overcharge it.
We had a solar charger on the porch for testing on a car battery and a set of Xmas lights, year round.

I had a few inline gauges to see if the claims were true, they were not.

I would suspect one with no controller,

[gandalf_025]

Anyone ever try one of these?

Volkswagen put 1 in just about every car in the early 2000's.

I bought a few on e-Bay, but never got to check them out.

I was told they were used by the Factory to keep the batteries from dying
when the cars sat, waiting to be shipped.
Some dealers left them in the cars, some didn't

[r_towle]

Anything like that with no controller is basically a charger with no off switch.
Darkness works, but from what I found the early stuff, 2000 is early, was poorly governed.
The newer ones work, but I would keep an eye on them and spend the money on one built for a car with a controller to shut off the power when the battery hits a certain level.

I had an amp gauge and a volt gauge to see what it was doing and the early controlers were just for looks, they never stopped the current from the panel to the battery.

For me, storing it in a cold barn, I would suggest you remove the battery, bring it home and put it in the basement on a nice 1-2 amp trickle charger.

Rich