solar panels

Anyone ever tried solar panels to keep your battery up during non use? I bought one from Northern Tools so far I think it is working.

I live in an apartment so I don't have direct access to power and I have to bring the battery back to the patio to give it a charge. I still need to put a voltage meter on it to see where the battery is.

Also has anyone used the battery conditioner that Minn Kota sells?

To charge a battery you'd need about a 50W panel. To maintain one, you'd need about 25W. You need to unhook when the battery is charged or a 50W it will overcharge if you have enough sunny days. The littler panels are worthless. They might keep a lawnmower battery charged.

I bought one from BPS, about 6 by 8" or so and returned it. don't know the charge rate it was. No auto turn off kept boiling my battery. Doesn't take much of that to damage it. I bought and auto shut off at WAlly for less than $30 and it works great.

I've got one that I think works, but how do you test one to see if there if output and how much?

Set your multimeter on 12v and connect the appropriate colors to one another, then switch to amperes and see if it generates enough to charge like it should. Up to 14v is acceptable.

Thanks.

I saw these advertised but never used one.

i have one from northern tool a 15 watt and never have to charge it with the 110

Let us know what happens.