battery care

[Geoff.W]

I still think you need to invest serious money, to get serious amps. The one thing we must include in this thread is the environmentally sound, this method of energy replacement is, as opposed to generators. Noise pollution, air pollution, extra wieght carried, fire hazard carrying two vollatile fuels on board (GAS, PETROL) At the end of the day, with a solar panel, once you take away the initial purchase outlay your energy recieved is free.

Although I generaly agree with your statements, the fact that rarely seems to be factored in is the environmental cost of the manufacturing process, unfortunatly solar panels require more energy to make than they will ever produce in thier normal expected life span, and as such thier CO2 output per KWHr is very poor, so in reallity not very environmentaly friendly at all. I do agree that at point of use they do have the advantages that you state.

From the above I may have given the impression that I am an anti environmentalist I can assure you the reverse is true. However having a practical, engineering background I do try to look at the big picture. One conclussion I have reached is that groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are probably inadvertantly responsible for more pollution than anyone else by taking a blinkered approach that has ultimitly lead to either the wrong decisions being taken, or the right measures for the long term benifit not being put in place.

 

[Deleted member 3011]

Panels sold as battery minders have less cells in series so the output is deliberately low so as to avoid overcharging the battery. Normally 15 Watts or less

"Proper" Panels, the ones over say 20 Watt, are higher voltage and need a solar regulator as well if they are going to be connected for any length of time.

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"unfortunatly solar panels require more energy to make than they will ever produce in thier normal expected life span,"

May have been true in the early stages of development but no longer anywhere near true. Last figures I saw was something around 2 years energy payback (not economic payback which is much longer) depending where you install them and considering they are guaranteed for 25 years, the energy payback period is quite reasonable.
A petrol generator on the other hand has a hugely negative payback (obviously since the combustion to electricity process is way under 100% efficient without even considering the cost of manufacturing the generator). Other methods, such as using mains hookups or charging your battery while driving, suffer from exactly the same green deficits as the generator simply because they use a non-renewable energy source to produce the electricity..