Solar charger on vex...

[Doeslayer]

So ive been pondering this... Anyone ever done it... Would it work?

[jdgambler]

sure have. But for my camera. Could mount a solar panel on outside of shanty.

[RyanW]

So ive been pondering this... Anyone ever done it... Would it work?

Honestly, for the same dollar investment I’d just buy 12ah lithium battery and call it a day. Then you don’t have to worry about clouds or being inside a shelter. I thought about doing solar but then better batteries became available. I’d use solar for a bigger project though like maintaining charge on a hard house or something but to go through all of that just for a sonar unit seems less than cumbersome to me.

[jdgambler]

It's not a lot of effort really. 20$ buys a solar panel with alligator clips. I haven't priced a lith ion battery.

[Doeslayer]

It's not a lot of effort really. 20$ buys a solar panel with alligator clips. I haven't priced a lith ion battery.

lithium batteries are about 90$... I just figured if i even got an extra hour or 2 out if the battery it would be worth it.... Might be my summer project

[TRT]

First year with a vex FLX 20 and after 10-12 hours on the ice never had the meter go below 70%. Lithium I guess might be nice if
out for multi-day trips with no charge but aside from that don't see the issue?

[Doeslayer]

In a shack i ha ent had my battery go dead but outside of it on bitter cold days it goes down faster...

[jdgambler]

My camera battery lasts only about 6hrs. Like you said Doe. couple extra hours makes for a better trip. I have a solar panel on my kayak for my fish finder and I never have to charge the battery.

[dsupercat]

So ive been pondering this... Anyone ever done it... Would it work?

I guess you have to do some math to figure if its worth it.  Fist what is the draw of the vexilar? (275-500ma) . Next what size of output is the solar panel capable of.  Lets say you buy a cheap solar panel with a 1w output.  If you have perfect sun on the panel say 6hrs it would only create about 500ma or about 1 hr of vexilar use.  I'm not an expert on solar but I'm guessing that 6 hours would be more then a perfect condition and probable not practical.  Now if you had a 5 watt panel then you could create 2.5 amps or 5 hrs of use.  As others have said if you have the ability to charge at home it would be a better idea to get a bigger battery or a second one.

[jdgambler]

I’m using a 10 watt

[dsupercat]

Another thing you have to remember is you will be using this in the winter and not summer.  The efficiency during this period will be much less as compared to summer.