I have this on the wall outside my garage on the South facing side. I plug it into my motorcycle which has a connector on it feeding to the battery (so one can put a charger on it or a trickle charger to maintain the battery). It does the trick. Works very well and I measure the no-load voltages coming off of the leads in full sun, partial sun, and shade. I am surprised it is able to generate a good voltage even in the shade from stray light photons -- it is that sensitive! This seem to be the black microcrystalline cells (the newest technology). I think all in all well built.
You know many motorcycles (and cars for that matter) have some energy consumption even when the are off. That is because of things like clocks and security systems, etc. My Harley Davison VRod has both an internal clock and a security system and it does have a small draw on the battery when it is turned off and parked. Not a problem if it is parked for a day or two but if it is parked for a week then there are issues sometime starting it. This little solar cell counters that and keeps the battery charged but not over charged. Now over a month and it is working great... my bike fires right up like the battery is new and has a full charge on it every time!
Since it is waterproof I just leave it outside all the time. It has rained hard and the unit has been partially submerged in flowing water and it has no signs of taking on any internal moisture or any damage.
It has a standard connector that I just plugged directly into my motorcycle connector... installed it right out of the box in 2 seconds. It also comes with that connector on a pig-tail to wire one to your battery if you don't already have and it has a connector with 2 clamps so you can use it to charge any 12V battery. It would take probably many days to charge a dead battery however -- this 1-Watt is a good trickle (maintenance) charger only.
It has a cigarette lighter connector too... I believe you could put it on your dashboard of your car facing the sun and plug it into your cigarette lighter and trickle charge your car battery that way. That would be great if you park your car at an airport and go on business travel for a week or so then you have that bit of confidence knowing that when you hit your key it fires right up! Should be enough to counter any drain from security systems, clocks, etc. that operate continuously when your vehicle is turned off and parked.
Oh... you are not supposed to operate the vehicle with this attached. I did start my motorcycle once with it attached and no damage. I suspect maybe there is no rectifying diode that protects the unit so running voltage into it may heat up the cells and burn them (guessing -- not sure -- maybe someone else knows that is reading this?) I know altenator generated voltages can be as high as 18VDC (regulated) and if your vehicle voltage regulator is in failure possibly even much higher (70VDC or so on my Harley motorcycle unregulated)I am guessing. I am thinking that if you wired in a diode that would keep the current flowing in the correct direction (protect aganist polarity mis-connection) and block over-voltages say to 200 volts that would improve this and you might be able to even attach it to your car/motorcycle and leave it installed. That would be better if you didn't have to think of un-hooking it when you decided to drive/ride somewhere. Just a thought. Someone else that knows more please chime in.
| Manufacturer | Sunforce |
|---|---|
| Brand | Sunforce |
| Model | 50013 |
| Item Weight | 1.3 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 3.9 x 0.5 x 13.9 inches |
| Item model number | 50013 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Manufacturer Part Number | 50013 |
| Amperage | 66.67 Milliamps |
| Voltage | 15 Volts |
| Wattage | 1 watts |
