700 MCA
85 Amp Hour
It’s 12 volts

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Answer by campbelp2002
The solar panels have to put out more voltage than the battery for them to charge it. You did not state what the voltage is. And they should not put out too much or it will damage the battery. You can monitor the voltage and current manually with a multimeter, but really you need a charge controller Between the panels and batteries to automatically control it. You really need to know some electric theory. At least Ohms law, V=IR. And know how to use a multimeter.

Answer by Shut r down
12-volt panels actually put out 14 to 17 volts which is necessary to charge a 12-volt battery. If you are using 12-volt panels and 12-volt batteries, the panels should NOT be in series unless the batteries are also in series and the charge controller is rated at 24 volts. Two non-similar batteries in series might not work well together.
Power (watts) = amps X volts, so an 80 watt 12-volt panel puts out 80/12=6.67 amps which should charge a battery overnight.

Answer by roderick_young
If you are sticking with the panel you have, then about all you can do to charge faster is track the sun with it, as opposed to just laying the panel at one tilt all day long.

If the battery has not charged noticeably in two days, I would get a voltmeter/ammeter and make sure that everything is working. An 80-watt panel ought to be able to put something on there in a day.

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Answer by Don K
I am not trying to sound rude. If it comes off that way sorry.

You are right, It is simple, If you know what you are doing. Your question going un-answered so long just proves that most people are just here to speak smack about solar electric. I have noticed that very few people that answer these questions have even seen a solar power system in real life. I have systems in ranches in Texas. On home boats in Washington DC on homes in Arkansas, So this is a very very easy setup to me. But most would have no idea.

Pick a battery that can handle the power drain and then just get a solar panel of the size you need to charge the size of battery you have. Then get a charge controller that will be massive enough handle the solar power you will be putting on it.

Amp hours of the battery times .05 will give you how many amps in solar panels you need if you picked your battery right compaired to the usage.

Use this number times 12 volts and you will have how many watts in solar panels you need. The charge controller is rated by amps and volts. Get a charge controller that will be able to handle the amps. Use the total amps of the solar panels times 1.25 to get the minium controller size.

Now go to a hardware store and purchase you some wires massive enough to handle the current of the system and a easy switch and box to turn the light on and off with. You will want to correctly size the fuses for the system.

Even if someone was to tell you step by step how to do it you will still have to know something about it. Or you are just shooting in the dark trying to hit the target.

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Answer by VLP
It is not possible to get electrical power generated from fan motor because it is motor not generator.
You must replace the motor with a generator of same size. But then you need electronic circuitry to stabilize the voltage as the wind does not have constant speed. With a proper circuit you can charge a battery.
(For your information some commercial wind generators use Three phase Induction motors but the theory of its operation as generator is complex.)

Answer by oeman50
You will not get any output from trying to reverse a fan to make a wind turbine. The motor in most (if not all) fans is an induced current rotor, the outer windings induce the current and magnetic field of the rotor without any direct contact. To make a motor like this to become a generator, you need to make the rotor produce its own magnetic field. This is usually done by supplying a current to the rotor with brushes or a slip ring, since you have to make electrical contact with a rotating part. Or, some generators can have permanent magnets on their rotors. It would be difficult to make any of these changes to an existing fan motor.

Answer by Sexy Homer
The first guy doesn’t know what he is speaking about, because an electric motor IS a generator.

However, you might have problems using the induction motor commonly used in most household appliances, like the second person said, since they have no permanent magnet, and can’t generate electricity without an input power source (which would push the motor against the incoming air, thus making power generation by the wind impossible). So using a fan motor as a generator probably would not work.

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Answer by Dan
Conrad, if this were me looking, I would want a panel with a 12 volt, 2amp/hour output.

You might be able to get by with less, depending on how much sunshine you get where you are, and how much your bilge pump draws.

Regards,
Dan

Answer by hot rod
You also want to have overcharge protection on the battery in case of constant full sun. What this will do is sense when there is enough charge and shut down the panel, while turning the panel back on when charge is needed.

Answer by Audio God™
Hi Conrad

Assuming your bilge pump draws about 2.6 amps, I’d recommend using a solar panel with an output of 5 to 5.5 watts. (They’re on sale here in Canada a few times a year for about $ 50)

These provide 0.3 amps/hour which will easily maintain your battery charge and will not require a charger limiter.

Hope this helps.

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Answer by Sean
rechargeable AA baterys do not realy last that long and if u dont fully discharge b4 fully charging u can shorten the amount of life the battery has even more

Answer by J S
87% of the charge is not very much. A good 12V battery will actually read 14V when charged, and stay at that level for a long time. By the time it shows 10V or so, it’s probably nearly 80% drained.

Answer by roderick_young
Two thoughts, which might or might not be right.

The panel might not be putting out as much power as you think. Most likely, the panel is just out there in one orientation, not following the sun. If it’s just basically the panel wired directly to the battery, then I suspect the charging current is actually quite small. You could verify this by connecting an ammeter in place of the battery.

My second thought is that whatever is indicating the say of charge on the battery is not at all accurate.

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Answer by Roushfan5
Why would you? Thats what the alternator is for. Unless you could generate enough power to get rid of your alternator (and I doubt you could) there would be no point.

Answer by tod m
doubtful
a regulator controls over or undercharging.

Answer by wildmanny2
Yes,but it requires a easy blocking diode to prevent the current from flowing in reverse when the panel is not producing.

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I guess I need some device I can hook the alligator clamps to that has a 115V plug on the other end I can plug the battery charger into?

Is there more to it than that?

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Answer by gintable
You need a device called an MPPT charge controller. A device that monitors the electrical characteristics of the PV module, and then regulates the output voltage to the battery bank.

MPPT = maximum power point tracking. It is a technology that adjusts the electrical load on the PV module, so that the PV module can always output all electrical energy that it generates.

You can get away with a non-MPPT charge controller, but you will waste a lot of energy. I.e. just a easy diode that regulates voltage to remain below a certain value.

You probably DON’T want the AC charge controller that comes with it. That is specially designed to handle AC signals. The native output of PV modules is a DC signal…but there is a dynamic behavior to the PV module due to varying cell temperature and varying sun irradiance as the day progresses.

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Answer by Gryphon Noir
Look up Electroveya. They build batteries for laptops and are currently working on building an electric car. They might be able to help you.

Shares in the company are cheap, and will very likely make you a bit of cash in the future. Check out EFL on the TSX. Purchase and hold.

Answer by electricpole
Industrial deep cycle batteries should work correctly in that application. Electric Forklift batteries can last for 10 years or more. Deep cycle batteries have a different plate structure than automotive ones. They do not need to produce massive amounts of of current in a short amount of time, but are made for a steady, known amperage. An important point is that one does not drain them past 1/2 their Ah (Ampere Hour ) capacity prior to recharging. Battery manufacturers have technical data that gives metrics on the Ah rating, reserve capacity, and # of cycles of recharging a battery will take,

Answer by ldunbarl
There are some additional energy storage possibilities working towards being cost effective for off grid uses. In 1999, I obtained a device called an electric double layer capacitor, it looked very promising back in the day, and since 10 years has elapsed, I believe the cost of the devices are falling into the reach of many consumers. There are disposal issues for SOME double layer capacitor designs, whereas popular lead-acid batteries are not only very HEAVY in weight, they also have to be disposed of correctly, unlike the balance of double layer capacitors. According to one manufacturer (nesscap: http://www.nesscap.com/products_advantages.htm ), the double layer capacitor should last 25 times longer versus a battery (they do not mention which kind of battery, though).

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I checked all the wires and I connected it correctly…

Thax

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Answer by Øyvind
Polarities in the turbine might have swapped places, turning it into a motor. Not sure how that would happen.

Answer by FirstnameL
Looks like the power is reaching the turbine turning it into a motor. Something might be broken.

Answer by Bill M
If you are using a DC generator, you need a rectifier to keep current from flowing from the battery to the generator.

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Answer by Robin
Yes, not sure why you’d want to but it can be done.

Depends a lot on how it is wired. If for example you exceed the voltage/current charge limit on the battery at ideal the electrolytic (likely an acid) will boil releasing a poisons flammable gas. Worst case has explosions…

The systems can be wired as to not interfere with each other or exceed battery limits. For example high end new RV’s mix solar and alternator charging.

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