10w Solar Trickle Charger

Great little panel which was pushing out 13.8v on an overcast day. Keeps my battery topped up perfectly, also stopped my car alarm from sounding due to voltage drop from power drain

An excellent value item that works well. I keep it in place on my wheelchair car to ensure the battery is always ready for use. As a drive from wheelchair car, it uses a great deal of energy from the battery and this charger is ideal to keep it in full charge.

I have found that the panel is pretty much useless during the UK midwinter. The panel sees little direct sunlight when placed on a car dash on a sunny UK December day due to the sun remaining low of the horizon through the day. Which is no fault of the product. With an independently powered data logging instrument I measured the voltage and current produced by the panel over three sunny UK winter days. The panel was active 5 hours per days and produced an average of 150 milliwatts per active hour. This is not enough power to keep up with a discharging car battery. I observed the battery voltage continuing to drop day on day while the panel was connected. As per the attached picture, the voltage regulator appears to be a simple Zener diode and resistor arrangement. I wouldn't expect a more elaborate regulator at this price point. I guess my message is don't expect miracles from this is a small £20 solar panel. It may produce enough power over the summer/sunnier months to keep a car battery topped up. But it won't do much for you in the UK midwinter months. I won't be sending it back. I'll see how it goes in the summer.

Look.....what do want for £20 (+next day delivery)? for the price - I think they're great. All I can say is I have one on my Range Rover & one on my wife's SLK & they work completely as expected. Range Rovers use a lot of power even when not being used & I had a lot of trouble initially when I didn't realise this. I use mains trickle chargers on other cars & this is definately the way to avoid problems with a lack of use. However - it's a pain to disconnect each time & I was worried that it was only a matter of time I'd drive off dragging wires behind! So I tried these & they're great. Pop the panel on the dashboard - plug into the cigarrette lighter & it's job done. As others have said - main thing to watch is check your cigarrette lighter is permanently live or it won't work - though you can clamp onto the battery in-situ (but again, disconnection is a bonnet up job) - Watch out for those sockets which stay live for 5 mins after ignition off. TBH - I will probably hardwire mine & was thinking about mounting the solar panel in the sunroof blind. Over winter? Not a problem for me - still works fine - fill your boots.....

Technology has moved on, l am impressed by the power of the panel, at 10 Watts. The size is small and lightweight on a Plexiglas base where Several different layers are printed on top. This is a printed laminations about 0.8mm thick. It has a toughness and a little flexibility, however l would not want to treat it with any roughness or vibration wear. However it is only 8.8 grams. No plastic cover lens, plastic frame, seals. Closes thing to compare to is a printed circuit board, I'm sure you would have to use a blade to do any real damage. Accessories: l bought it because of these to be honest. Mainly the extension lead with the simple barrel plugs. The ringed pigtails are the second option, but under close inspection, a cheap thin wire, with a hard insolation plastic. Meaning it will not relax from packing, no cold or heat resistant, work hardening and breaking is very possible. The Clamps and pigtails are cut ridiculously short! I mean changing bolts over to point inward which clamps aren't. If you have a large battery you will have to solder new wire in, l suggest a 2amp inline fuse, as worthy upgrade. Second issue the box on the back, a cheap and nasty battery box. Though the connection box gives you access to the protection board to add better wire for engine bay and external use. Third issue, the suckers can only be used on the front of the panel, to mount on the inside of the window, the cheap box is taller than the suckers. Duh! Pro:- lightweight 8.8grams, weather proof panel, powerful, extension cable at 8ft small barrel Plugs at both ends. Con:- accessories will not fit every battery out the box, no fused line even though the wire is a hazard, plugs aren't weather proof, saved money on the accessories totally letting down the panel. Buy it knowing that you will either break the accessories first and have to replace or repair, or do it first to fit your purpose. Conclusion :- inside use only, mount on window, dash, sun visor. Use the cigarette socket, if closed with ignition off get an automotive electrician to open it, or run a new socket with fuse and correct cable. I have chosen to get the hidden 12v output opened, and stick it to the moon roof, which still allows me to close the blind. The cable drops at drivers seat back, and tucked in chair pocket. Simply pull at barrel plug on board and you have removed any cable. I'm disappointed at the quality, but it's weight and size only allowed for one type of setup, and made it more expensive. However its livable, turns out it will be a better all year round spot on the moon roof. If blind had not closed it would have been sent back, but to be fair no other option was available here. Note... Honda CRV EX 5th Gen 2013.

Days in use (solar panel): 2, at the moment Car: Ford Focus 1.6 Titanium (2014) Length of time car not used: Just over a month Symptom: Unable to use remote central locking, no electrics/tech working in car. After charging the battery for a little while; was able to start the car to take it for a quick drive (with the solar panel still connected, so not sure if me starting the car was due to the battery charge or the car taking the power from the panel to start the car), use the remote central locking, and radio (didn't want to try anything else). This is the second day of charging with no issues. Please note, it has been a very sunny couple of days and everything that I could turn off was turned off to aid with the solar panel recharge. I am using the 12v socket to charge the battery (so not using the jumper clips), with the position of the solar panel on the dashboard and rear parcel shelf (to follow the direct sunlight). There isn't any issues with the amount of power & amps provided by the panel for my battery. But will re-review the item, if any issues develop.

We bought this in May 2022 for my 90 year old father’s van. He is in a wheelchair and we take him on outings every week in his adapted van . As the van gets little use except once a week we were told that these solar panels are perfect to keep the battery ticking over while the van is not in use. Perfect we thought this is the solution. However, since we fitted it we have called the RAC recovery numerous times as the battery was flat. We have had it in the dealership to work out what the problem is and yesterday they found out that it’s actually the solar panel that drains the battery instead of keeping it topped up! You just would not credit it would you… the very thing that is supposed to solve a problem actually creates a big problem. I’ve spent hours of my time out from my job waiting for help taking the van places to try and sort it, not to mention the waste of money on looking into why the van won’t work. A diagnostic check is £150 which Renault ran on the van to try and find the fault. It is abysmal and totally and utterly disappointing!!

I was not sure if this would work in my car through the 12v output however, I have been surprised as it does seem to work on my Range Rover. The problem I was having was due to lockdown my car is just sitting there using the battery to power all the internal systems and the low battery warning light was coming on every time the door was opened so this lightweight solar panel in now ever laying on top of the dashboard or stuck to the front window with the suckers. It is quick to remove and put back in place and best of all it’s keeping my battery topped up. I have also attached the terminal attachment direct to my battery just in case and have only used this once as I did not want the solar panel stolen and it’s hard to run the wire into the car.