The Sun is Shining Everyday

Solar PanelDuring my lunch time today (and was nearly late back) I went to Maplin to get myself a 12v Solar Charger for my PowerPack.

The PowerPack is a car jump starter type with 7mah battery, and also includes 12V DC (via cigarette lighter socket or clips), built-in inverter which supplies 230V AC at 150W, spot light, twin fluorescent tubes and an emergency flashing amber light.

Maplin’s own info says “At this rate it will take 125 hours to fully charge a 75Ah battery from flat” so with a quick calculation , I worked out should take around 12hours (or 11.6666667 hours thanks to Google).

One interesting thing (guess being a Ham had to) I attached to a Meter. The Solar panel gave 6-7 volts sitting on my desk, but fluctuated due to some bright spark (pun intended) adding a flashing LED. I have been informed since that although affects the voltage, the LED will not be a massive drain on the current.

I will report back when I have more info.