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Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
What's going on everybody. Adam here with "etrailer". Today we're going to be taking a look at the Performance Tool, Solar Battery Charger. So I was tired of carrying this battery all the way up to the house to charge it. So basically what we did is put the Solar Battery Charger on there. So we don't have to do that anymore.
And we don't have to worry about getting stranded out in the middle of the lake. So this is going to be super useful for you guys that have boats, but also for your trailer stuff. You know, if you have a decent amount of appliances and stuff inside some of your trailers, it's nice to kind of keep the batteries that are supplying that power for those different things juiced up. So this way it's basically free energy. You know, you spend the money and time to install it once and let the sun do the rest of the work.
I just think solar is a no brainer. And for my instance, it's just going to save me so much time and hassle just so I can get on the boat and go fishing without having to charge this thing up. Basically, all you gotta do is find a place to put it. That's step one. Once you figure that out, we have about nine foot of cable, that'll go all the way around and then you can either use these alligator clamps.
I really like them just because they're shaped pretty nicely for the studs on our battery, but also just picking out the spot is really, really important. But basically once it gets going there's a little LED at the bottom that's going to light up blue. Since this is so easy to install, you can do it a couple of different ways. We basically just took self-tappers, but something that we didn't use in the kit are just these little suction cups. So if you don't want to permanently install it, you can just take it out and you can put it on the dash of your car.
Another thing we're not using that comes with the kit is this. So all you gotta do is just plug this into your 12 volt port in your car and connect it to the solar panel, throw it on your dash and it'll charge the car. So this doesn't really have to be hard mounted, but we're just keeping it on the boat just to prevent me from having to take this battery up there. But you have those options, which I think is pretty cool. So we've never really had an issue of using a full battery and running it completely dead when we're out on the lake. It's not that big of a lake. So we don't use a whole lot of juice. This panel is going to give us about 2.5 Watts of power going to our battery, which isn't a whole lot, but it's going to be sitting out here all day when I'm at work and it's just going to be working for me the whole entire time at work. So it's going to be ready by the time I get down here. So not a whole lot of juice that goes to it, but that's not really a big deal when it comes to solar panels. I just want to make sure it maintains the charge on the battery. So we don't get stranded and have to bring it up and charge it all the time. I think this is a no brainer and it's super easy to install. So if you stick around, we're going to show you the very, very few steps you need to take to get this thing, pumping juice to your battery. A really important piece when it comes to the solar panels is placement. So I'm doing on a boat today, but a lot of you guys are just putting it all on your trailers, whether it's on a little toolbox in the front, on your A-frame or just wherever else you put it on your enclosed trailer. Sometimes people just put it kind of in the front, but with the boat, what I think is best for our situation. We really don't use more than one troll motor of course, and nothing else really mounts on here. So I think a good way to do it since the cable kind of offsets to one side when I have it kind of like this, and I'm just going to self-tap it to the little ridge of the boat. It doesn't come with mounting hardware. So you just got to sort of set yourself. And we don't really have to keep it this close to the battery because we have about eight foot of cable on this end and about foot where it connects to our battery. So you don't have to put it that close, but it just kind of works out in this case. So pretty much we're just gonna go ahead and take our self-tappers, get it lined up where it's nice and center and screw this in. We don't do it too tight. Cause it does have an ABS plastic housing, which is pretty strong. But if you put anything under a certain amount of stress it'll eventually crack. So just be mindful that we don't want to damage the panel. Solid. So now that I connected these, it seems to be pretty watertight, not a hundred percent. So if you're going to keep this on here for a while, maybe throw some tape or something around it but of course, we're going to end up putting a little topper on our battery. I think what I'm going to do is not really undo most of this cable. We can kind of pull it apart and basically just hook it up just like a jumper box or whatever. I do like how rounded these clamps are. So it really gets a lot of surface contact with it. So we can go ahead and do something like that. Kind of fold them in a little bit. Just so the top of our battery cover can fit. If you're wanting to charge your battery with a solar panel, this is probably the simplest setup I've ever done. So I would definitely recommend it if you just want to get something in there quick and get your battery just charged up without you having to be there. And that's pretty much it for our look at the Performance Tools, Solar Battery Charger,.
Purchased solar panel to keep my trailer battery fully charged, since it is not used frequently I do not want the battery to be low when it is needed. I have not yet mounted it and will put it in the tool box when using the trailer since the truck alternator will be charging when in use.
I ordered the panel because I wanted it to charge the battery on my trailer just like your video. Did the same set up as you guys did and it works like it should. The only thing I did different is I put little rubber pads between the panel and tool box so water doesnt get in the box. Its maintaining the battery at 12.6. If I have a problem with it I'll write another review but good so far.
This was to replace the same one be that was broken during a jackknife turn that damage the box and broke the solar charger. Works great always kept my battery topped off during the lulls of storage. HIGHLY recommend this product
I had it connected to a bumper hitch 14' dump trailer that uses a 12V battery to power the hydraulics to raise and lower the dump bed. Usually plug an extension cord into the side of the battery box as it has a built in charger to charge the battery fully or use a battery charger. Since we get plenty of sunshine thought this would be a good accessory to keep the battery charged while not in use, but after having it connected to the battery for 10 days it did not charge the battery up. The blue light on the unit was blinking and I used a voltmeter to make sure the unit was putting out correct voltage and it was. Moved the unit to a battery on my lawn tractor to see if it would charge it up, same results, would not charge the battery. Will try it next on my deer feeders to see if it will charge the smaller 12v batteries as my smaller solar chargers do.
Would not recommend this product.
First and foremost etrailer rocks. Excellent experience as always. The solar panel I am not happy with. I keep the panel zip tied in my dump trailer, I am assuming that I will be replacing this every year or so from damage. I assumed it had a standard two prong 12v disconnect. I bought a quick connect that attaches to the studs of the battery... it doesn't work! etrailer customer support confirmed it. Keeping the alligator clamps on all the time worries me, that they will bounce off.
Frank
12/22/2020
The charger didn’t make is past 10 months, and completely died. It was mounted on a dump trailer and stayed out in the elements. While there was no impact damage, some heavy rains totaled it. They aren’t really weather resistant....
Product is durable and works as adverti sed.
I have one on my dump trailer and one on my 5th wheel. I havent had any issues at all. Easy to install and works as described.
Exactly what I wanted, and exactly as advertised!It is charging my trailer break-away battery with the solar panel in the shop window!
Eric
8/11/2022
Still working fine. Im amazed how little sun light it needs to work.
It kept the boat battery charged till I started the boat without disconnecting the charger, then it stopped working, that was my fault. I bought 4 more and one of them didn't work, put out about .3 volts.
Sierra K.
11/29/2021
It is important to disconnect the solar battery charger from automotive 12 V receptacle or battery terminal before starting the engine because surges of electricity from the engine may damage the solar panel.
I used this charger to keep the battery up on a dormant vehicle in Baja Mexico. So far, So good.It started after 10 months of off time.
Victoria H.
2/20/2025
That's awesome to hear, Chester! These sure do come in handy for vehicles that may have to sit for awhile. Do you have a favorite place you recommend in Baja? I've heard it's gorgeous!
Complete waste of money!
Bought it for my dump trailer to maintain battery between long runs in between use, mounted it to battery box, ran wires cleanly and it seems to work fine, light blinking acknowledging it’s getting the solar rays it needs to charge until you plug it to the battery and then nothing. Light goes off. Tried it with the alligator clips and or wired straight with plug, same result. Thought maybe it was charging anyways without light blinking so I let it sit to charge the battery that was only used to dump once and nope, still no charging going on.
Save your money!
Would not recommend this unit.
Solar battery charger work very well very easy to hook up thank you E trailer
Bruce
6/25/2021
Great It kept my boat battery charged all winter
My winch is mounted on a pedestal welded to the tongue of an open trailer. I power the winch with a 12v marine battery mounted in a watertight box and a small solar charger. The winch pulls a 3000-pound car onto a trailer with ease.
They are great, I use them to keep my hearses battery charged up when they sit outside. Work perfect, also my lawn mower.
Dale S.
5/22/2022
They work great, have installed on all my stored cars
So far so good the solar battery maintainer was packaged very good .Now I can’t wait to hook is up to my RV battery and see if it will maintain the charge through the winter months. The reviews on this product were good. I would have given 5 stars but I have not used it enough to see if it will truly maintain my RV battery. I give 5 stars to Etrailer for the quick ordering service they provide and the way they take care of the merchandise that they sale no matter how much it cost they packaged it very well. I will give another review after this winter to see if this solar panel will keep my battery charged.
Those solar as you call them "battery" chargers do not have enough regeneration to charge a 12 volt battery. I chucked them, or to say, threw them in to the garbage can. I will never order such a product again without proper research and proven testimony.
I purchased this charger to maintain my lawnmower battery. I had been using a plug in type charger and thought this would be more convenient. The integrated charging light and my multi meter showed voltage, but it did not do what I needed.
To be completely fair, the location was partially shaded daily depending on sun location. If you purchase this unit plan on full sun all day long.
This did not keep my battery charged and I stopped using it because my battery kept dying.
Brooke M.
8/9/2021
Thank you for your review! I linked an expert answer that I thought you might find useful. Basically, you might have something else that is draining your battery even when everything is turned off. I hope this helps!
Helpful Links
Great item for the price. We use these on our dump and lift trailers that have an onboard battery to power the pumps and winches. Sometimes the trucks don't always keep the batteries charged, this charges it all day while the sun is shining. Just need to make sure it's in a secure place, as they can get damaged fairly easily.
If you have a battery on your trailer to run your hydraulics, this is a MUST HAVE! The slow trickle charge keeps the battery up and ready when I need it. I attached it using some 3M double sided tape, and hooked it to my battery and have forgotten about it.
Using this solar charger to keep my Travel Trailer battery charged while in storage. Small and easily to mounted on propane cover. Doesn’t need full, bright sun to charge. Doing an excellent job. Would buy again. Highly recommend!
Good product. Very compact and easy to install It took a very long time for the solar battery battery charger to be delivered. It would be best that Etrailer provide the customer with the number of weeks before delivery.
It charges well once you flip the wires if you already have a previous battery charger lead on your battery. I had to call to find out why it wasn’t charging.
I purchased two of these chargers, one for my camper and one for an old vehicle, both kept in an RV lot when not used. I used to remove the batteries and bring them home to keep them charged during the winter months. I don’t have to do that now. The chargers work perfectly for my situation. Would certainly recommend them.
Richard L.
12/11/2022
Solar charger works great maintaining the charge on the two batteries in my camper when camper is in storage. No worries!
I have purchased 3 of these to keep batteries charged in a location where there is no electrical power. I checked the output with a multi-meter and in bright sunlight it is an equivalent trickle charge to a powered charger. Keeping the batteries just fine! I live in an area where there are frequent hailstorms, so I cut a piece of thin lexan glass to cover the solar panel glass when I installed them to prevent breakage from hail.
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Victoria B.
1/6/2020
This solar charger is great for maintaining a battery when your trailer is being stored long term. It essentially provides a trickle charge to keep your battery from dying while it is not being used. To provide the battery with a small charge during shorter storage, I recommend a charger like the Go Power Eco Solar Charging System # 34273836. This Go Power kit has a 10 Watt panel to provide more power to your batter than the PT 2.5 Watt panel. The 10 Watt panel will still provide low enough power that you wont have to be worried about over-charging your battery.
Helpful Links
RV-Solar-Panels/Go-Power/34273836.html