> Well, I use them for the 84 Westy and for my 25 foot Catalina sail boat and
> they work just fine for each ... In fact, I'm thinking of mounting a larger
> solar panel on the Westy roof so that I can keep both batteries charged ...
> I use mine on occasion as a mobile amateur radio station, so continuous
> charging is important.
>
>> In Jan 04 my wife bought a 2004 beetle convertible and the sales guy thru
>> one of these in for me for my 1983.5 Westy for free.
>>........
>> Granted this is not a very scientific test, but to me these chargers are
>> completely worthless even if you get it for free.
..............

I won 1 of these vw solor panels at a bus show & hook it up to my 84 Westy
when camping.  I also have never had any problems w/ my battery while
camping but figure, what the heck.  It does say on the panel to not start
the vehicle w/ the panel hooked up to the lighter. May be that was part of
the problem?

I also have never been able to tell if the panel charged the battery or not.
How can you tell?

Tom Buese- solar is good, except if the van is in the garage?