[AT] Solar battery charger setup

[charlie hill]

Bill,

Lynn recently broke down and bought a new car to replace
the Buick she had bought and driven for the last 18 years.
The new car is so loaded up with electronics that the salesman
told us that it is possible to call the car on your phone and
start the engine.  Then he said "if you travel, you need to call and
start it at least once a week" apparently if you don't all of the
electronics loose their memory and have to be reset.  (radio
presets, mirror and seat settings, and all sorts of other stuff
stored in the cars computer).

Enough already.  I'm about ready to go find a early to mid 70's car with
a good body and breaker point ignition and restore it.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Bill Bruer
Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2016 5:55 PM
To: Antique Tractor
Subject: [AT] Solar battery charger setup

I recently picked up one of these 1.5 watt solar battery chargers on sale at
Harbor
Freight for $14.99 -
http://www.harborfreight.com/15-watt-solar-battery-charger-68692.html

The manual says it needs an external voltage regualtor to prevent
overcharging.  There's no indicaction of that requirement on the packaging.
What's the best (cheap) way to set this thing up so that it can be left
on a battery for indefinite periods?  Harbor Freight has a 100 watt
regulator -
http://www.harborfreight.com/7-amp-solar-charge-regulator-96728.html
that will also allow you to power a tool but costs $25.99.  Kind of defeats
the
sale price on the charger.

My main use will be to keep the battery hot on my IH 686 tractor with a
D312 engine.  However, I would like to mount the panel and regulator on a
light
frame that can be moved to any piece of equipment where it may be
needed.

Bill Bruer
Murfreesboro, TN

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