Will 10 Watt Solar Panel Kit Fully Charge a 35 Watt Battery

Question:

Hello! How long would it take for this panel to fully charge a 35 watt battery? I would like to use solar only to charge my campers 35 watt battery and avoid connecting it to the alternator. If you recommend a larger panel, please let me know! I bought the camper used and it already has a 10 watt panel. Thanks!

asked by: Melissa B

Expert Reply:

It all depends on how many amp hours your battery is rated for and how much sunlight you have available. The Go Power Eco Solar Charging System 10 Watt Solar Panel # 34273836 has an amperage rating of 0.57 amps which means it is just a trickle charge application and is really only meant to keep your battery topped off when your camper is in storage. This should be the case for your 10 Watt panel as well.

To make sure you get a solar panel kit that will allow you to only charge it via solar panels you first need to determine how many amps each of your appliances (and lights) are rated for and how many hours a day you plan on using them. Then we just multiply that by how many of days out of the week you plan on needing that power and choose the correct system from that. The 10 Watt kit mentioned above is only rated for 29 amp hours a week so it wouldn't be able to supply you with very much power (especially is you don't have a whole lot of sun). The 50 Watt kit # FR53FR has a much higher rating.

If you can let me know how many amp hours per week you plan on using I can make sure to recommend the correct system for your application.

expert reply by: Jon G