Product Description

The Sunforce 50022 5 Watt Solar Battery Trickle Charger gives you another reason to love the sun -- it'll help keep your vehicle's battery charged. Just plug the this helpful 5-watt trickle charger into your vehicle's 12-volt lighter socket and position the panel to pick up the most daylight possible. Or, if you prefer, use the included alligator clips to connect it directly to the battery, so you can keep your lighter socket open for cell phone chargers or other accessories. Regardless of how you hook up the battery charger, you'll never get caught off guard without the juice you need to start your car. You can also use this device to maintain the charge on any 12-volt battery for clean, silent operation of various electronics, such as deer feeders and landscaping pumps. The 50022 features a built-in ultra-bright blue LED charging indicator, and is a great choice for automobiles, recreational vehicles (RV), tractors, all terrain vehicles (ATV), boats, electric fences, telemetry and more, and it is even effective on cloudy days. This trickle charger is made of durable ABS plastic and amorphous solar cells, measures 14 x 0.75 x 13 inches (WxHxD), weighs 4 pounds, and has a maximum temperature range of -40 to 176-degrees Fahrenheit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #97 in Automotive
• Brand: Sunforce
• Model: 50022
• Released on: 2005-11-25
• Dimensions: 1.25" h x 13.00" w x 17.00" l,

Features

• 5-watt solar charger plugs into your vehicle's 12-volt lighter socket
• Works with automobile, all terrain vehicle (ATV), personal water craft (PWC), and boat batteries
• Made of durable ABS plastic and amorphous solar cells
• Includes alligator clips for direct connection to a battery
• Measures 14 x 0.75 x 13 inches (WxHxD) and weighs 4 pounds

Amazon.com Product Description
The Sunforce 50022 5-Watt Solar Battery Trickle Charger gives you another reason to love the sun--it can help keep your vehicle's battery charged. It provides up to 5-Watts or 350mA of power to prevent the natural voltage drain of batteries over time. It includes both a lighter socket adapter and alligator clips to give you flexible connection options.

The Sunforce 5-Watt Solar Trickle Charger is compact and easy to install.

Convenient Power That Helps Keep Your Batteries Charged
The Sunforce 50022 5-Watt Solar Battery Trickle Charger lets you harness the power of the sun, the most powerful and plentiful source of energy available to us. Unlike nuclear and fossil fuels, solar power is clean and pollution-free, and the equipment requires very little maintenance to operate.

This trickle charger is designed to stave off the natural voltage drain that 12-Volt batteries undergo over time. It can also maintain the charge of a 12-Volt battery while it is providing energy to small electronics like cell phone chargers or small pumps and motors. The Sunforce 50022 5-Watt Solar Battery Trickle Charger is constructed with durable ABS plastic and features amorphous solar cells and an ultra-bright blue LED charging indicator. Four mounting holes are pre-cut in the frame for easy permanent installation. It is weatherproof and remains effective even on cloudy days. The built-in overcharge/discharge protection prevents overcharging and reverse-current drain. This trickle charger is an ideal choice for automobiles, recreational vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, tractors, boats and more.

Sunforce Solar Panels are effective in areas of both high and lower sun exposure, making them ideal for use in the United States. View Larger

About Amorphous Solar Power
Amorphous solar panels are created by spraying silicon on to glass in very thin layers, and are commonly known as thin film solar panels. This process allows them to be better at generating electricity in all lighting conditions, including cloudy or shady environments. Sunforce amorphous solar panels are weatherproof and suitable for outdoor use. They have a maximum operating temperature range of -40 to 176-degrees Fahrenheit, require virtually no maintenance, and are also effective on cloudy days.

Solar cells convert sunlight into an electric current; they do not actually store power. The Sunforce 50022 5-Watt Solar Battery Trickle Charger is designed to maintain an existing battery charge, and not to fully recharge a battery. It can remain connected to a vehicle battery at all times and will not adversely affect its operation or electrical components. Unless the trickle charger is permanently mounted, you should remove and store it to prevent physical harm while the vehicle is in motion.

Customer Reviews

Perfect for my campsite
I live on a river and built a campsite on an island across from my house (the dog loves it). I bought a deep-cycle marine battery but am getting too old to lug it in and out of the canoe for charging. So I got this little panel and, so far, have not run out of juice. And it's cheap enough so if someone steals it it's no big tragedy. I run a laptop, TV, fluorescent light and charge my cell phone. I even have a 12v car-vac to clean the sand out of the tent.

Of course, I'm not there 95% of the time so 5 watts is probably adequate. And I don't have to worry about overcharging. I screwed it to a big log in pretty open sun. So far, it has survived, even some small hail.

BTW, I use the power cord from an old vacuum cleaner and a 4-way 12v splitter to distribute power from the battery.

Good electric output but fragile / bad packaging
I recently ordered one of these panels (June 2007). The first one arrived shattered - the manufacturer packaging does not protect the panel much and it was inadequately packaged in the shipping box by Amazon. The replacement unit was also badly packaged for shipment.

I tested the electrical output in full sunlight and got 20V out into a 100 ohm load -> 4 watts which is pretty good.

One thing to consider though is that this product is not very rugged. The solar panel has a plastic frame but the middle is unprotected on the back (and front). So unless you handle it very carefully it is likely to break.

Someone using this on a car dashboard would need some sort of protective carrier (like those insulated pizza boxes) to protect the unit when it was not being used.

------------ Update Dec 2007 ----------------

Panel stopped producing electricity in November. Had to send it in to Sunforce at my expense for warrantee replacement. They promptly tested it and sent me a replacement. One thing I did notice is that the plastic housing on the unit that I returned had developed some small cracks. I am using the unit on my car dashboard to keep my battery charged.

A nice tool for those who take long trips away
In 2006 I took a 3 week vacation out of the country. I left my car at the airport and away I went. Upon my return, I had to have the battery boosted for 15 minutes before it would turn my car's engine on. I have no idea what caused the drain (Sattelite Radio memory, car's other computers, etc), but I had to do something to prevent a $50.00 boost call in the future. A coworker told me about these devices and how his brother uses them to keep his mobile home powered when parked. Higher wattage products are sold, but if all you're doing is keeping a car battery charged, 5 watts is plenty of power for the job. No other devices (charger controllers) are needed. The charger comes with a couple of ways to hook up to the battery (direct battery terminal clips, cigarette lighter plug). I used the cigarette plug. Just plug it in to the power port, and lay the solar energy collector side face up on your dashboard. For those with heavily tinted windshields, I have no idea if the tint would cause a problem with the panel's energy collection.

This year, after returning from another 3 week trip (and using the solar charger), my battery started better than it did before my trip to the airport!