On 4/20/05 15:28, "bueses" <bueses@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:

> 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?
> 
> 
The normal trickle charger puts out 1 to 2 amps.  That is 12 to 24 watts of
power.  Way more than those little solar panels put out.  Those things were
only intended to fight the drain down of things like the clocks and other
small drains like radio and cd player memory when parked for long periods of
time like in sales lots and import lots.  Which is stated on many of the
small under 10 watt panels "compensates for small steady battery drains" is
on one of my harborfreight panels.
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jimt
Planned insanity is best.
Remember that sanity is optional.
http://www.tactical-bus.info (tech info)
http://www.westydriver.com