Car Battery Trickle Charger & Maintainer 12Volt 8W Solar Panel Power Charger kit Portable Waterproof for Automotive RV Marine Boat Truck Motorcycle Trailer Tractor Powersports Snowmobile

Short answer: Contrary to some of the negative reviews speaking about "warping", "discharging your battery" and other such things, it works exactly as advertised. I drive the test vehicle only a handful of times per year, so it sits outside for months on end sometimes which is bad for batteries, they like to be topped off all the time due to their internal chemistry. Long answer: I'm an Electrical Engineer so I did a few basic tests, with the following findings and some recommendations: NOTES: DO NOT leave the panel plugged in when starting or driving, spikes in the line might cause damage to the circuitry. It could fail and then put a load on the battery in that case. NO test for weather/water resistance was conducted, I have yet to test it in the winter time, which is a more challenging time for it and batteries too. I'm optimistic it will work ok given what I've seen so far. I tested this resting on the dashboard (no suction cups, I wouldn't trust that ever), with clear view of the sky facing generally slightly east of North during mid-late August, near the Washington DC area using a cigarette lighter connection with the supplied adapter. (it's FUSED, and works with a NEGATIVE ground socket/system, i.e. most everything not vintage) Some people have said the cig cable polarity is backwards, but in order to work as a CHARGER, the + connects to + as it should! Btw, the BLUE LED does NOT adversely effect the performance, and need not be "disabled" as some have claimed. The numbers I'm reporting are all with the unit as delivered, no modifications were made. 1) NO Battery discharge when dark (i.e., it doesn't drain your battery in the dark, or ever due to internal diode) Tested on the bench as well with a power supply and ammeter. 2) NO WARPING of case in direct sun 8hrs/day mid latitude US East Coast in August. (measured CABIN peak temps up to 117 deg, low of 69F, dash probably hotter in direct sun). ABS plastic has a glass transition temp (i.e. warping) around 105C (221F) so IF it is actually ABS, no melting/warping seems possible at temps found in cars NOT on fire lol! 3) For a HEALTHY battery, it MAINTAINS charge easily overcoming a parasitic drain in my vehicle of 9mA or (0.009Amps), and still puts a NET 44mA (0.044Amps) charging current INTO the battery in direct noon sun, and a NET positive charge current (in clouds/overcast), albeit only 7.3mA. In only 1 sunny day (and overnight) my new battery @ 12.34v went to 12.55v from this device. This is because it is a HEALTHY battery. The max open circuit voltage of the charger I measured around 22v but it can only deliver 1.5W max so you aren't going to hurt the battery with such low currents, and at best charging currents are only present up to about a 1/3 the time during a 24 hr period I'd estimate. NOTE: A dead/failing battery cannot be rescued by this or any charging device, and my prior failed battery at 12.24v (after 2 day commercial charge from "dead") with this same device under same summer conditions in 2 days went down to 12.01v and failed to turn over the engine! After the attempt it was down to 11.5v, clearly no good. I think this is suited as a MAINTAINER, don't bother thinking this will "charge" a vehicle battery. I drive that vehicle very very rarely, so this will keep the battery ready to go without having to periodically start it every few weeks to charge it up. Temperature and time will reduce the efficiency of the panel, but there is a 4x margin in my case (with a 9mA parasitic drain, which is quite small). If your car has a lot of electronic features, security systems etc, your parasitic drain could be more than this can even put out. In that case you would need a bigger higher power panel (this is only 1.5W). To measure the parasitic drain: with all vehicle doors shut, pull the main battery fuse and put an ammeter there, since it will measure absolutely everything, using any other fuse will only get a subset of what your battery drain is. Start with the maximum scale (typically 10A) to be safe, switch to smaller scales once you know the range. Let the initial connection settle since there will be a surge for a bit as all the electronics initialize and settle into a steady state. My vehicle settled in about 5 seconds (an after market CD player self test used 250mA during that 5 seconds) In principle, some sensors and other fancy stuff could spike some current periodically, but this couldn't be known without a logging ammeter. In all likelihood it won't boost the average drain in any significant way from your measured steady state.

I haven’t used it yet, but it appears to be functioning well. I placed it near a lightbulb LED lightbulb in my house, and it began charging. This is a positive sign that it will perform even better outdoors in the sunlight. However, I couldn’t find a better value for money. It is definitely worth the price, and it seems to be quite durable and of high quality.

Just to note - this seems to fail about every 18 months - I hope this one doesn't do the same again The Sunway Solar Car Battery Trickle Charger & Maintainer is exactly what I needed to keep my 12V car battery charged and maintained. The solar panel is compact and lightweight, making it easy to position on the dashboard or windshield with the included suction cups. It’s super easy to set up—just plug it into the cigarette lighter or connect it directly to the battery with the alligator clips. I’ve been using it for a while now, and it keeps my battery in top shape, even during extended periods of non-use. This is a great solution for maintaining batteries in cars, boats, or RVs. Highly recommend for anyone looking to extend their battery life and avoid unnecessary drains. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

EDIT: I ended up returning these, because the batteries slowly lost their charge over a couple of weeks. Maybe I should have bought the ones with a higher wattage! However, I'm leaving them at 5 stars, because they do put out the advertised amperage. PS, I installed quick-disconnects instead; they do a fantastic job of preventing battery discharge. *************** I have a couple of cars that haven't been driven much because of COVID lockdowns. We could go out & drive them around each week, to keep the batteries charged, but my wife & I have a second home so, when we are there, we couldn't do that. As a result, whenever we came back home, both batteries were discharged. So, I bought two of these 1.5W solar trickle chargers. I installed them both on the inside of the cars' windshields. I didn't want them outside, because (i) they could be stolen and (ii) they might get rain damage. Neither of the windshields is tinted, so I didn't think it would make much difference. They were in almost full sun much of the day (and where I live, we get a LOT of sunny days). I decided to use a voltmeter to measure the output, and (for both units) I got about 18V, and 8 milliamps. Watts = V x A, so that indicated an output of (18 x 0.008) = 0.144W - which is only about 10% of advertised. I wasn't too happy, so I emailed tech support. They replied very promptly and politely asked me to send photos of how I was testing the voltage & current. So the next day (also sunny) I went outside, and repeated the test (and got the same results). BUT, then I decided, to be fair, to repeat the tests, but this time with the unit on top of the windshield (that is, outside the car) rather than inside. And doing that made a HUGE difference. Voltage = 20V; current = 71 mA. So, wattage was now 1.42 = MUCH closer to spec. Time will tell (i) if this will keep the batteries charged and (ii) if the units can withstand rain, but as of now, they are operating as described - so 5 stars for that (and for the quick reply from tech support).

Does not work! Don’t waste your money.I tried using it through the 12v plug inside the car and also directly on the battery using it directly on the battery, the battery was unhooked from the car. The blue light was flashing like it was working, but the brand new battery would not stay charged as this product claims it will do. It was also indirect sunlight.

Works great on sunny days and is quick to charge your car battery. Great idea to one in your vehicle.

This will not recharge a dead battery. It just isn’t meant for that. What it will do though is keep your healthy battery from draining to dead while the vehicle is not in use. I found the suction cups are 100% trash and shouldn’t be trusted one bit. Just use a sun shade and prop the panel up against it between the glass and the shade directed towards the sun (don’t be dumb). It really works, I have used it for 3 weeks now and started the truck it’s hooked up to last night for the first time since 3 weeks ago. The cables and +\- terminals could be much better quality as well. Overall it works and just know you get what you pay for. There are definitely better higher quality products out there. If your on a budget this ones just fine. Can’t say much about it being in the elements though, I keep it in the cab of the truck. Update.. the plastic case around the glass is starting to warp from the sun. It is still working but it’s starting to twist and separate and the seam. Final update, still working just fine as of may 2023.

My husband purchased this for our older cars and truck recently. He doesn't use his truck every day, so he keeps it on the dashboard. It works really well, as our driveway is in a location which gets a bit of sun every day. He will move it from vehicle to vehicle, as he needs it and it has not failed to charge yet!