Solar Trickle Charging During Boat Storage

[Liberty28]

We're putting the boat into storage down here in Florida for 9-12 months and I'm wondering if I can use one of those little solar panels for trickle charging to keep the batteries topped up. I've got two Diehard Group 29 flooded batteries (100 amp hours each) and a flooded starting battery to keep fired up. Would a solar panel such as a SE-500 Solar Panel for Medium Boats & RVs, 500mA, 2.5Ah, 7.55 Watts work? Would I have any live batteries after 9-12 months?

Thanks for the response, Guys!!

Cheers,
Steve

[Liberty28]

Yes... that will work. Thanx for the help!!!

[raisin56]

I would think if you are trying to keep all three batteries topped you should go one large to the 22.5 watt model. The 500 mA would be alright for the two house batteries or the starting battery but not all combined.

[Liberty28]

Thanx raisin! I'm taking the starting battery out since it can least handle having a deep discharge. I bought the 500 mA charger at West Marine. WM wanted $126 plus tax for the unit whereas Defender wanted $83. I showed them the Defender ad and they let me have it at that price plus $8 shipping... $96 total!

Hate WM!! Like their price matching, however!

[captain465]

How about the battery fluid level??? Constant charging will possibly boil out the fluid.

[David M]

This is trickle charging...if its true trickle charging the amount of amp hours in and the voltage will not be high enough to boil out the electrolyte. The 7 watt option will be just fine as long as there are no loads on the batteries while the boat is in storage. Two 100 amp, 12 volt batteries plus a third smaller? start battery is not too large for a 7 watt (1/2 amp) trickle charger to keep up with the slow loss of your batteries. If you put any load on your batteries then all bets are off. You will then need a regular charger or more solar panels according to your load.