Solar trickle chargers

kwikbreaks

Has anybody any practical experience with these for keeping a boat (or other) battery charged up during the normal boating season. The battery is a standard car type and is mostly only used to start the diesel engine. There would be no load from any boat electrics as a cut-out switch is used.

I'm wondering if one rated at 10w is up to the job. I need an answer from somebody who has actually tried one - I can do the fag packet calculations OK myself although any info on battery self discharge or average actual delivery performance of solar cells would probably improve my own guesswork on those.

S0litaire

10w sounds ok for trickle charging. (keeping the battery topped up,) but will take a few days to fully charge a low/flat battery.

If the battery is only used for starting the motor then 10w should be fine.

kwikbreaks

I think it should be adequate myself but I'd like to hear from somebody who uses one before buying one.