Sunforce 50022 5-Watt Solar Battery Trickle Charger , Black

I'm no expert in solar tech. but this thing works. I read some of the negative reviews about the construction and some said it didn't work. Well, mine works just fine. The construction is enough for what it's intended to do. It's not bullet proof! It won't charge a DEAD battery, but it will bring one backup to full state of charge after moderate use. Not quickly, but it will.The phrase "Trickle Charger" is a bit miss leading. At 5 watts, it's better suited to maintaining state of charge not really "charging". If you want to charge batteries, you need to be north of 15 Watts with a regulator or you'll be cooking batteries not charging them.The 5 Watts works well with my MT31 deep cycle batteries, and I don't need a regulator to keep from over charging.You need to match the tool to the task. Its well made and is performing as I expected. The two adapter ends, alligator clips and power point plug in, are great. The molded connector on the cord makes it easy to change from the clips to the PP plug. You cant get the connection wrong.Who can argue with "free" power,,,, well,,,, minus the cost of the solar panel. Product gets a A+ in my book.

The product's frame BUCKLED when I placed it in the rear window of my car on a sunny day...I recently bought this item, and was trying to use the item to maintain the battery in my vehicle. So, I plugged the item in my cigarette lighter, and placed the item in my rear window. When I checked on the solar collector, after a day in the sun, I discovered that the plastic frame had buckled (i.e. severely warped), I assume from the heat of the day. This occurred after 1 day, and the high for the day was about 85-90oF.I think my experience with this product is ridiculous. The item is advertised to maintain your vehicle's battery, and the charger comes with a cigarette lighter. Furthermore, the item is a solar cell, so the item would be expected to be placed in a sunny location. So, of course, it would be expected that the plastic frame would be able to withstand the heat of the rear window of a vehicle. But, as I found out the product failed at it's expected function of withstanding the heat of a rear window of a vehicle during a sunny day.From my memory of watching the Mythbusters, and numerous news articles about the internal temperature of vehicles, the temperature of the interior of a vehicle does not exceed 200oF. Furthermore, from my memory of numerous plastic cooking utensils, numerous plastics are able to withstand upto 350oF, or more. Therefore, my conclusion is that the plastic selection for the frame is due to negligent manufacturing.

This was purchased to counter a strange parasitic drain I had on my 1998 GMC suburban which only gets driven for trips when I need space for up to 9 seats. I did not permanently mount this to the roof. I ran my multimeter to the outputs and it read 22 volts in full sun (behind the windshield) <==I don't know enough about solar panels to know if it makes a difference. I know over time dust and waterspot stains can impede performance that is why I kept it inside the vehicle. This keeps my BIG 454 burb ready for action. The car can sit for over 2 weeks or more and the battery is fresh. I am also using one of these on a Jeep Comanche (hard wired in with a disconnect switch when vehicle runs) *****The manufacturer recommends the unit is unplugged when vehicle is running**** This vehicle can sit weeks without use and starts right up every time. It does what I need to do for the applications I have. The Jeep even has a Boomin system which I let run for 8 hours and still had plenty of juice left for a quick start up (*950 cold crank amps rating on battery in Jeep*). So if you are looking for these units to keep your batteries fresh in vehicles that sit for long periods unused.... then this is the ticket for you. OR if like me you have some strange PARASITIC drain that you cannot trace this fix for under $50 is cheaper than taking it to a dealer with shop rates over $70 per hour. the local auto parts shop was selling the exact same model for double the price as I got here on AMAZON... I think it was around $43 when bought new. The kit I purchased came with small alligator clips to fit most batteries, and 12 volt adapter, and stainless screw set. Which if you are going to permanent mount this to a car... the stainless and regular steel of a car body will react in galvanic corrosion **(something to think about.)** I'll trust you can look up how to prevent that if you go that far to permanent mount. The stainless will work great on a fiberglass boat or RV or camper shell. Again its Ideal for me and the applications I'm using it for- and keeps the hassle/headaches of removing the batteries from the vehicles every time, to a minimum.

Ok, I bought this for my truck that does a lot of sitting around during the summer. I work on vehicles that have similar systems on them. When they work, they work. Some of the gadgets I have in my truck tend to drain the battery, but not enough to keep it from not starting. I did get worried after installing a new electric cooling fan. I did it the lazy way; bought the thermostat controller and hooked the system directly to the battery. So the fan starts at set temp and shuts off at set temp. Of course this still runs after the truck is shut off until the truck cools down. I knew this was not a problem because if the truck was running the batteries were charging. Just had bad timing when the trucks battery started dying on me. (found out the starter decided to short out on me)Well the question of the Solar Charger came back to mind. I saw good reviews for this one. Thought it would fit great on the tool box in the bed. So i bought it, installed it, and here are the results:I let the battery drain a bit from my on board devices. Then tested it. Battery tested to 770 CCA. I did this about a month ago so the exact days I am not sure, but shortly after hooking up the charger I retested the battery at 840 CCA, and it is still maintaining it at 840 CCA.I would have given it that fifth star if the instructions stated you could keep this connected while driving.The brand/type we use at work stay connected all the time with no known issues. I did not want to risk it with this one.

excelente

Yay! Our Jeep now starts every time, no more getting stranded!Our Jeep Grand Cherokee (1995 model) has been "eating" batteries like nobody's business for the past decade. We spent a fortune replacing batteries and having the mechanics trying to figure out why we were losing power all the time. We replaced the alternator recently, and then hooked up one of these "bad boys" to trickle charge the battery when the vehicle was otherwise sitting idle. Now we don't have to put on the battery charger the night before we want to use the Jeep. :)Has already paid for itself, several times.UPDATE: We've been using this for more than a year now, and it's still working great. Even manages to keep the battery charged enough to start our Jeep, even without much sunshine. We make sure it gets as much light exposure as possible (facing south, minimal tree shadows.) We are still very happy with this product.

It keeps my car battery right up. It is exactly what you need for an older car that has electronics in it that drain ur battery if you don't use it for a long enough trip to properly top up ur battery and my battery is new. It still drained it unless I drove around for at least 30 minutes and at highway speed. Just going to the store and back in town did not do it. Now, my battery is up all the time.

no issues, then it got stolen out of the car

Works great and my battery is always ready to start the truck, I would recommend this to anyone.