Hello Eric, Like Barry wrote: Don't use your battery without a solar charge controller. The only (!) situation for connecting the panel direct to the barttery is, if your transceiver sucks more current in RX mode as your panel can deliver AND (!!!) you pull out the panel, if you switch off your transceiver. In all other cases use a solar charge controller. The reasons are following.
Foundation: A solar panel delivers up to 20 or 22 V if the current is low (or zero). Yes, the voltage drops if you put on a transceiver which sucks a lot of current. Case 1: But what is happend if you switch your transceiver off? Right, the voltage rise step by step during charging your battery because the charge current drops slowly. Anytime the voltage transcends the cut off voltage of the battery (13.8 volts) and the battery begins to produce gas and/or loses water (also at SLA's). Any loss of water or acid will reduce the capacity of the battery and will reduce the life time of the battery because you can not refill water or acid in SLA's. Esacaped acid is visible as white sediment around the small vents on the upper surface of the battery. Case 2: If you use a high-performance solar panel, so the current from the panel is greater than the current to your transceiver. So the battery will charge at all times and transcends anytime the cut off voltage. Consequences: See case 1. If you want to use your battery for a long time, please use a solar charge controller. 73/72 de Ingo, DK3RED - Don't forget: the fun is the power! www.qrp4fun.de - dk3...@qrp4fun.de ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
