Hi,

Before leaving for Europe last fall I bought a 1.8W solar panel trickle
charger and put it on my '82 Westy inside the windshield and facing
straight southward.

http://www.canadiantire.com/browse/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474396672503&bmUID=1174953995011&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443275941&assortment=primary&fromSearch=true
*
Product #*11-1880-2

Fast forward 5 months. I'm back in Canada for a month in March (digging
though
2 boxes of accumulated mail etc...)

To my disappointment the battery on the '82 Westy is almost completely
discharged. Trying to find a reason I measured the output of the charger
at two times: 1pm under full Alberta sun: 40mA,  at 4pm 10mA.
That makes only 480mW and 120mW. Far from the advertized 1.8W.

Has anyone else tried to buy these chargers? Is the Watt rating pure
nonsense in general? Or is it worthwhile to bring it back and try another
one?

Martin