The Ford Barn

ScubaChief60 · 01-19-2025, 06:50 AM

Great post! The timing is good too since I just replaced my solar panels on the roof for just this reason:

Solar panel #1 is a 20 Watt 12 V with a charge controller/maintainer to keep my diesel home generator battery at peak charge.
Solar panel #2 is a 6 Watt 6 V with a charge controller/maintainer to keep my 1935's 6 volt battery at peak charge. Both seem to be working great.

Found this as well:
A battery maintainer is essentially a "smart" trickle charger, meaning it automatically monitors a battery's charge level and only provides a trickle charge when needed, preventing overcharging, while a basic trickle charger continuously charges at a low rate and may require manual disconnection once the battery is full; in short, a maintainer is designed to be left connected long-term to maintain a battery's charge, while a trickle charger is primarily used to slowly recharge a depleted battery that needs to be monitored.

01-19-2025, 06:50 AM	#21
ScubaChief60 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2023 Location: Summerfield, NC Posts: 256	Re: maintainer Great post! The timing is good too since I just replaced my solar panels on the roof for just this reason: Solar panel #1 is a 20 Watt 12 V with a charge controller/maintainer to keep my diesel home generator battery at peak charge. Solar panel #2 is a 6 Watt 6 V with a charge controller/maintainer to keep my 1935's 6 volt battery at peak charge. Both seem to be working great. Found this as well: A battery maintainer is essentially a "smart" trickle charger, meaning it automatically monitors a battery's charge level and only provides a trickle charge when needed, preventing overcharging, while a basic trickle charger continuously charges at a low rate and may require manual disconnection once the battery is full; in short, a maintainer is designed to be left connected long-term to maintain a battery's charge, while a trickle charger is primarily used to slowly recharge a depleted battery that needs to be monitored.