Solar Lights and Chargers

Customer question (received via email 10th May 2020):

I am looking for advice on what type, size and cost I need to install a solar system to keep a car battery topped up when the car is not in use. The panel would have to be left outside as the car lives under a cover when the power would be required.

Any advice would be helpful

Jim

Willgen Reply (Email from Bill 10th May 2020):

Hi Jim,

Many thanks for getting in touch.

You need to be looking at the Optimate range of solar chargers for your car.

The size of solar charger required depends on the drain on the battery when the car is parked (i.e alarm etc) and the...

Customer question (received via email 11th May 2020):

Please advise best trickle charger to keep my motor home vehicle 90ah battery topped up while in longterm storage. Thanks Gerry

Willgen Reply (Email from Bill 11th May 2020):

Hi Gerry,

Many thanks for getting in touch.

The size of solar charger you require depends on the parasitic load on your battery (i.e drains on the battery when the motor home is parked up - alarm etc) and how good a position you can get your solar panel in.

If the parasitic load is just an alarm, and you can get the solar panel outside, in an un-shaded South facing position I would suggest an...

Customer question (received via email 27th April 2020):

Hi,

I am looking to purchase the OptiMate 20W Solar Charger and the OptiMate OBDII to SAE Adapter for a smart fortwo.  I would like to place the solar charger on the dashboard and connect via the obd port.  Car is a 2013 plate.  If all this is OK I will order as soon as I have your reply, also how soon is delivery Thanks Arthur

Willgen Reply (Email from Bill 27th April 2020):

Hi Arthur,

Many thanks for getting in touch.

The solution you suggest will work absolutely fine to keep your car battery charged. You may want to consider purchasing suction cups as well so the...

Customer question (received via email 16th April 2020):

Hi Bill,

A bit of advice please, I have a Landrover Disco 3 running two batteries, main car battery and an Optima Yellow Top aux battery. In everyday use they are run with a split-charge system. The Optima gets little use for most of the year and most of the time does not get much chance to fully charge. I am looking to fit a Solar charging system for the Optima, What would you recommend?

The Optima is rated at 55 Ah (C20) 50 Ah (C5).

Many thanks

Mike

Willgen Reply (Email from Bill 16th April 2020):

Hi Mike,

Many thanks for getting in touch.

I would...

Customer question (received via email 12th April 2020):

Regards,
Alex

Willgen Reply (Email from Bill 14th April 2020):

Hi Alex,

Many thanks for getting in touch.

I recommend Optimate solar chargers for the vast majority of our customer's vehicle charging requirements.  Although it is possible, I wouldn't normally recommend charging 2 batteries on separate motorcycles at the same time with a single Optimate charger. It is not ideal to connect batteries of different...

An Optimate solar charger is the best way to keep your car, vehicle or leisure battery charged when not in use so that it's ready for duty when you need it.

Keeping your battery charged with an Optimate solar charger has the following advantages:

• Never be dissapointed by a flat battery again!
• Keeping your battery fully charged will extend battery life and save you the cost of premature replacement
• Optimate solar chargers have a charge controller included
• The charge controller will prevent battery overcharging, prevent battery discharge at night and increase charging efficiency
• The Optimate charge controller also gives...

If you love your motorcycle but get to use it less often than you would like, the last thing you want to find when you do get a chance is that the battery is flat and it wont start!

No Mains Power? Use Solar!

Maybe your motorbike is stored in a garage, shed or passageway with no mains power or maybe it's just on the drive. Getting power to a normal mains powered battery charger / trickle charger in these circumstances can be difficult and messy with trailed cables and the problem of weatherproofing 230V electrical equipment.

So the obvious answer is to use solar power - but what size solar charger do you need and how do you...

Up until recently here at Willgen we were putting together and selling our own 12V solar battery chargers as we didn't feel anything else on the market was good enough for us to re-sell.

That has now changed as, having tried and tested the OptiMate range of solar chargers, I am very pleased to give them a wholehearted Willgen seal of approval!

The reasons I am so impressed with the OptiMate Solar Charger range are:

• Correctly sized solar panel (smallest being 10W) - smaller solar trickle chargers are often underpowered
• Excellent quality materials and build quality
• In-line solar charge controller (regulator) that is...