SUNAPEX 12V 30 Watt Solar Trickle Charger Maintainer - Waterproof Solar Powered Battery Charger - Solar Panel Kit Built-in Smart Charge Controller for Car Rv Trailer Truck Boat Automotive Marine

My experience with solar chargers started about a year ago. I had a 5 watt charger that a friend had given me for my generator battery. I never used it for that. Fast forward one year later - I have since retired and my truck sits in my driveway a lot more than it used to. My battery kept going dead so I tried the 5 watt charger and waited a week to see if it either worked or if my battery was dead again. To my surprise it worked! My truck started right up but the problem was that the old battery was 4 years old at that point and I knew that this was going to keep happening unless I either went back to work or I was going to keep the solar charger on my truck battery. The sun and the heat warped my 5 watt charger so I needed a new one. I saw this one and it was on sale at the moment I purchased it here on Amazon. You should know that any solar charger you buy will be subjected to extreme heat and light so please keep that in mind when you buy one of these things. I recently went to remove mine during a hot afternoon and nearly burnt myself because the unit was so hot after being on my dashboard in the midday sun in front of my dashboard heat shield (see pic). 20 watts seems to be the limit for a solar charger before it needs a separate controller to regulate the flow of power to what whatever it is you're charging. Also for those who care at 20 watts the charger is putting out about one amp of DC electricity which would be the equivalent of a trickle charger output from a battery tender. I like this unit because the solar panel is flexible instead of being rigid or made from hard plastic like my 5 watt charger. The holes in each corner give you the flexibility on how you want to position for maximum sunlight exposure. In my case I laid the panel down on my dashboard and put my big sunshade behind it to protect the dashboard and interior of the truck from the heat and sun fade. The sunshade keeps the panel propped up for best sun exposure. I didn't write the review until I tested it out the same way I tested the 5 watt panel, by waiting a week to see if my new battery (Northstar AGM- NOT RECOMMENDED due to it going dead within 10 days of inactivity and VERY poor warranty support-see my review) would be able to start my truck (Nissan Murano). The Murano has a 3.5 liter engine, not a big engine by any standard yet I have to keep a solar charger on it in order to prevent the battery from draining on me. The charger has been on my truck for about 3 weeks now and whenever I decide to go for a drive my truck starts right up with no issues. I disconnect the charger before I start the truck and when I come home I reconnect it. A bit of a pain in the neck but it guarantees that my truck will always start no matter how long it sits in my driveway I can see this charger might have other uses too. It could be used in a camping situation to charge battery packs or an emergency situation as well. The only minor quibble I have is that the panel does come with a small controller attached to the back to let you know that the charger is charging. There are 3 lights on this little controller. One to let you know that it's receiving sunlight so that it can function. Another LED to let you know that it's charging whatever battery you have it attached to. Then there is a third LED, a green one. Once an item is fully charged the green light is supposed to come on. I have yet to see this green light come on but the charger does work as it's intended. Update 5-29-21- The green light on the controller does appear to function! I noticed the other day after having my truck sitting with the charger attached the green light on the back of the solar panel was on! Apparently my battery must have been low and it took time for the charger to top off the battery. Highly recommended -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I rely heavily on reviews when I make purchases so I put some time into reviewing everything I buy on Amazon for personal or business use so I can help other people considering that item. If you found my review helpful, please consider hitting the "helpful" button below when it asks if the review is helpful. Thank you!

In case you wanted to know what a 30w panel can recharge your battery at, here is how you can figure out what the amps are when charging. Let's say you bought 1 of these panels. You already know that it is rated for 30 watts, but how many amps? Take the 30w ÷ by the volts which is 12v (battery) and the answer is 2.5 amps. Most battery chargers/maintainers charge at. I bought 1 to try out on my SxS for a trip to Arizona. Unfortunately for me, this one was working so well recharging my marine battery backup (I have 2 of these batteries for my lights) I purchased another 1 and hooked it up to the other battery. Now both batteries are charging at the same time when I am running around in the desert (and at home) and at night (depending upon how many lights I have on, the SxS headlights are separate from the other lights) I will have between 4 to 8 hours of battery usage longer if I use only 1. Then during the day, they are recharging. They are completely waterproof which is good because I did buy 1 and it was water resistant (not the same thing, it did stop working won't mention the product). I found out because I wanted to know how water resistant it was, so I left it outside during some local rain storms we had before going on my trip and that's how I found out the difference between water resistant to waterproof. I did the same thing with these and I had no issues yet. While on my trip we had very good and hard downpours. However I did bring my battery chargers (just in case) to help out if I had problems with the panels. During this part we had a storm move in and it was a gully washer of a storm. The storm lasted 2 days and at times it was pretty dark during the day so charging was hampered. If you ask me would I get another 1, "YES" would be my answer even as a gift. I hope this helps you, I am always trying to find ways to just get another panel but the 2 I have are doing the job. No regrets. 06/19/2025- I expanded my ability to recharge each of my marine batteries on my SxS and the main battery that starts the engine. I bought a "Y" with the same connectors and I got a 12awg extension cord with the same connectors and hooked up the battery under the hood of the SxS and 1 of the marine batteries and it charged both batteries plus was able for the green light on the solar panel to confirm it. It took about 3 hours in full sun, longer of course if cloudy. I did the same hook up with the 2nd marine battery but I bought a 20' 12awg cord to plug into the main battery on the QUAD RUNNER. It took a little longer to charge but it did. So now basically my SxS is self charging and is capable to charge another machine (provided it is set up to except the connection). Hope this update has helped someone that hates to wait for charging. I will still do the overnight charges. 08/15/2025 Update: I have bought #3 panel for the QUAD Runner but I have not been able to hook it up due to work, but when I do I will update this as soon as possible. Update 08/28/2025: I know that someone out there reading this will make a comment about this but I was so intent on the recharge part using these panels that I didn't realize that something else was going to happen. I know that I should have figured this out but sometimes I do have BRAIN FARTS. I was riding around in the SxS and I noticed that the voltage meters were increasing. I didn't disconnect the solar panel from the SxS battery so since I was driving around, the SxS was now charging not only the battery under the hood but the marine battery it was connected to with the panel. So now I have not seen any issues with this and when the SxS is off, the panel takes over keeping the batteries up. I thought it would ruin the panel but so far it seems fine. I will do another update on this after I get back from my trip to Arizona in November. Thanks for reading this, I hope this helps you. Update 12/01/2025: This has been a great test with my SxS and the 2 solar panels. Believe it or not, I never had to put any of my chargers on my SxS in Arizona. When I was done driving the SxS I would park it so that it would get the most direct sunlight possible until it was needed. 9 times out of 10 I would have both panels in the green. The panels had 3 colored led lights on the back where the controller is and the Blue light meant it was getting the right amount of sunshine and was working. The second light was Red which indicated that it was in the charging stage and the last light was Green which means that the battery or batteries was fully charged. Not very often did I not have Green lights on both before usage. The 3rd panel I bought was for the QUAD RUNNER and I still don't know how to mount it so it can do what I have done to the SxS yet. I hope this helps you with whatever you want to do with your machines. Have fun with it, I'm having fun learning what I can do with them. Maybe 1 day I may move up to a higher wattage solar panel and have more options or opportunity on lighting.

Works fine

I purchased this panel for a few reasons, which I placed in the windshield of my truck. First, I wanted a trickle charger to keep my battery topped off. I have a good battery and want to keep it in shape. Second, I have a dashcam that is powered on when the truck is off. There is a cutoff box that will turn off the power to the dashcam when the voltage drops below 12V. This will keep the camera running longer than before. Third, I have a Starlink Mini that runs at about 20Watts idle. The 30Watt panel should be enough capacity to run the Starlink, with a battery and step-up adapter. The panel is lightweight, well built, and came with multiple mounting hardware. The cable length is fine to reach to cigar lighter from the windscreen. The MPPT controller is also a bonus with this panel.

Se ve bien el producto

I drive so infrequently that my car battery often looses it's charge, especially during the winter. The electrical outlet for my parking space is turned off by the apartment building's management from April thru October so I needed a non-electrical solution. This unit works to keep the battery topped up. It's been working even though the weather has been cloudy and raining for the last two and a half weeks.

Good product does what is says. Fast delivery.

Been using this for about a year now to keep my battery topped up in a RAM 1500. Truck mostly sits and doesn't get driven much so this is a great solution where you're parked too far away from a plug in trickle charger or don't want to run unsightly cables.

I have a boat that is set up so that the electronics, lights and live well runs on that battery, but the battery is not connected to the engine to charge. On my week long fishing trip last fall, that battery got so low, that the sonar/GPS would not function. I installed this solar panel over the winter. I just returned from a week long fishing trip and on day 6, I tested the battery and it was completely charged.