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Features
- Charges 12-volt batteries and creates 1.8 watts of energy
- Works with automobile, motorcycle, tractor, boat batteries and more
- Made of durable ABS plastic and amorphous solar cells
- For indoor use--solar panel is not waterproof
- Built-in blocking diode to prevent reverse discharge
Top Reviews
Backwardsby J. Silvers (1 out of 5 stars)
February 21, 2018
The wiring is backwards when using it with the connections that come with most battery tenders. You have to use the connections they supply or else they will be hooked up backwards.
As you can see in the photos the connector on the left is from a very popular trickle charger that I used while the battery was out of the vehicle.
The connector on the right is the one that comes from the solar panel and used the terminal clamps that came with it.
If I were to plug the solar panel connector right into the harness I used while trickle charging then it would be hooked up backwards.
I hope the photos help.
Did not work at all
by Romby (1 out of 5 stars)
June 14, 2018
Purchased the Sunforce 50012 1.8-Watt Solar Battery Maintainer for my pontoon boat. I placed it in full sun to get fully charged and installed it directly to my battery. During the day my on board digital voltmeter dropped a bit so I decided to check out the solar panel for myself. I disconnected the maintainer from my battery, placed it in full sun and connected it to my multimeter. The results were that it was not working at all besides the fact that the blue light continue to blink. Maybe I got a bad panel or something, but I will not waste my money on anther one.
Performance was fine, but not durability.
by KTR (2 out of 5 stars)
November 13, 2014
Besides the reversed polarity design flaw which a few reviewers mentioned, it performed quite well until it suddenly stopped working after about 8-9 months. It kept my car's battery alive parked outside through the brutal polar vortex winter of 2013. I did not start the 1.8L 4 cylinder engine for 4 months straight (not even once), yet when I turned the key, it started like a champ. I was impressed and pleased. Granted, I had a good Energizer battery which was less than 2 years old. Still, considering how cold that winter was, it was impressive.
All was good, until I saw the blue LED lamp not blinking one day. Took my multi-meter out and confirmed that it was dead. If the product lasted for 5 years or more, I would gladly have given 5 starts. But any product lasting less than a year, in my view, does not deserve good ratings.
Works like a dream
by Mike (5 out of 5 stars)
June 18, 2017
I have used one of these for the last 6 years, to keep my garden tractor battery topped off. If I would guess the average life of a garden tractor battery is about 2 -3 years tops. After I set this solar panel up my battery has lasted over 5 years. After each winter I would always have to drag my charger out to the shed and charge the battery, but with the solar charger that is not necessary anymore. The panel does not need direct sunlight to work just light! I would also recommend purchasing the regulator, as this will keep the panel from discharging/over-charging the battery. I purchased this as a gift for someone in my family having the same issues with batteries.
Like the suction cups too.
by Amazon Customer (5 out of 5 stars)
January 16, 2019
I used this smaller solar panel to check our larger solar panel angles with. I put a meter on the ends and lifted toward the sun while watching the meter to see where the best lean angle was for charging, that is how sensitive it was. All I could get was 1.76v from it which is within what they listed it to do. It was amazing to see how much the angles matter and since it is winter now the sun angle is very low and the better you get the angle the more power you are making. It was well packed and seems to be made out of real glass, will be using it to keep my motorcycles and car batteries charged.
A decent product. Worth the money.
by JJ (4 out of 5 stars)
August 18, 2014
It works OK, but not even close to 125mA. Under 90deg illumination in full california sun without a single cloud in the sky - I get 70mA. Wouldn't get my car battery past 13.05V. Still - it's better than nothing. I'm often gone for a few weeks (travelling on business) and I park my car in the street - cannot hook it up to a battery tender. This little thingy kinda does the trick. I would buy a little bigger one if I knew that this one doesn't give that much power.
FYI: 70mA is achievable when it is outside the car, pointer directly towards the sun. In reality it has to stay inside the car and then you get ~55mA max (the windshield absorbs most of the UV and reflects quite a bit of Vis). Take into account that the sun is moving and you are not in the car to keep rotating the panel to face it directly... overall you don't get that much charge. But it's kinda enough to do the trick.
On another note - black is not a good color (if you can call black a color). The frame gets really hot and the cable softens up a lot in the direct sun... But it keeps working, so I guess it's alright...
no more blue light.
by Brian Westerman (3 out of 5 stars)
August 24, 2019
They changed the maintainer so that the little blue light (which told you it was working or not) has been removed. I really mis that as it's really (without testing it on a multimeter) that you can tell that it is actually still working. I have owned several of these, and they are great, but without the light you are just taking a big chance on if it's working. I'm not willing to find out after a month that it failed when the car won't start.
Poor solar cell connections.
by Emrol Ed (1 out of 5 stars)
December 24, 2018
Unit stopped working after 8 month. Took off the back panel and found that the negative connection was not contacting the solar cell connection. Appears that original solder did not bond and fresh solder would also not bond. I used a small piece of packing foam and the back cover presses on the solder blob. It is working now. Not sure if the foam will hold up. Might need to rig up a small spring instead.
It didn't work...at all.
by NixBoox (1 out of 5 stars)
June 6, 2019
It didn't work, it didn't even pretend like it was going to work, it was very disappointing. It is impractical to have it outside the car to charge the battery and it only works inside the car if you have one of the older cars that still has a cigar lighter that stays powered even when the car is off. But it can't get enough light inside the the car to generate power!
Nice solar chargers
by Robert Blank,Top Contributor: Camping (4 out of 5 stars)
November 12, 2016
So far so good. These come with 2 connector types so you can clip or permanently mount them to your battery. The suction cups are holding up so far too. They do come with an extra pair just in case. One of my cars I have an alarm and it drains the battery down over a one month period of time. Since I have got these chargers I have also started driving the car every other week or so. So if by buying these, I am driving a car which should be driven anyway then this is still money well spent. I did check the output on a mild fall day and they put out what they were rated for so I am very pleased with that.
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Details were last updated on Sep 19, 2024 06:11 +08.
