"Dan J.S." wrote in message
...
I noticed these new solar battery chargers in some of the catalogs I just
received. Being that I like to shut the engine down and listen to the
radio, leave the fish finder on, and use other electronics, would putting
up one of these solar gizmos be a good idea? It supposedly has some
electronics so it doesn't over charge.


I doubt any solar charger that you could fit on a boat will ever overcharge
a marine battery. But, to answer your question, yes a solar charger will
maintain a charge or, depending on how much stuff you leave on, extend the
time it takes to discharge the battery.

The electronics are usually associated with a display of array current and a
diode to prevent the battery from being discharged by the solar panel at
night.

To give you some idea, I had an RV with a solar panel rated at "50 watts".
In bright sunlight the most array current I witnessed was just under 3 amps.

Eisboch