Solar charging battery.

[fishinglizard]

I am going away with my brother, his van has 2 batteries and solar, we will be camping with out power for 5 days on a couple of occasions, I have a battery but no solar, so on day 3 or 4 is it a fair option to take one of his batteries out and put mine in for the day to give it a charge? I will be only running lights and charging iPhone/ipad ect so I am pretty sure ill get 5 days out of it anyway, but thought this might have been a good option.

thanks

 

[twscoot]

Great idea. It would be best if you can isolate the charge coming in to just your battery though.

 

[blacky]

For the sake of a couple of hundred dollars mate, maybe a portable solar panel would be your best option? You've got it forever then.

 

[chartrock]

I agree with @blacky, you always have it and it is always ready to use.

 

[blacky]

I also use mine to maintain my boat battery, my ride on mower, and my hilux now that I have a cruiser. I just give them a day every now and then on the solar

 

[fishinglizard]

I spent all my couple of hundreds dollars on other stuff.

 

[Hubble80]

I am making a few assumptions but if he has 2X batteries in his van (assumption 1 - 200Ahr total) and solar (assumption 2 - 200+W solar power with a 20A regulator), I think you will be OK. You SHOULD not need you battery and I would ensure it is charged before you go.

Your brothers van should be running the fridge on gas and be using minimal other 12V appliances. Normally we run out of water before we run out of power. Surely his van could be used to charge your phone etc and run lights. If it charges the batteries when driving, even better!

You could make leads (minimum 6mm2) to connect your battery in parallel with the two in the van so you can charge it when and if required.

 

[fishinglizard]

Thanks for the replies, I bought a portable solar 100w off ebay, thought it would be easier than lugging the battery between vans.

 

[chartrock]

Good plan.

 

[Capt. Gadget]

We camped on the Beach near Exmouth last July for two weeks had sun every day and a 200watt Solar panel on the roof of the van which kept up the 2 120ah Batteries no worries at all also ran the ARB fridge as a freezer off a 100 ah Battery in the Tug charged by my portable solar panel which I think is about 100watt took the genny but didn't need it