Solar Powered Electric Fence Battery Tender

Fe-Wood

Hey all- Happy fourth to you!
My question today is about a battery tender for my electric fence.
I have a big box store battery that is 12VDC with 575 Cold Cranking amps and 100 amp hours... Don't know the rating method.
My fence charger runs on a 12VDC @ 180 Milla Amps. What would be the proper size PV panel to leave on the fence charger full time , I.e. all running 24/7? Should I use a charge controller too?

I'm thinking a 10w panel with .59 amp at about 17v as a off the cuff guess....

Thanks for the help!!!

Cariboocoot

Re: Solar Powered Electric Fence Battery Tender

Do you want to keep it charged against use, or just extend its operating time?

Frankly 1/2 an Amp on a 100 Amp hour battery isn't much. Not even maintenance level.

Your using a bit under 5 Amp hours per day, so to keep it going you really need over 1 Amp from the panel just to meet that. So you really need about 20 Watts of panel minimum. Ideally, one of these charge controllers http://www.solar-electric.com/sg-4.html and a lot more panel (like 80 Watts) would be nice.

NorthGuy

Re: Solar Powered Electric Fence Battery Tender

You can buy a single unit solar fence charger which comes with a panel, a battery, and everything is sized to work.

Fe-Wood

Re: Solar Powered Electric Fence Battery Tender

I know! But why would I if I already have battery and charger? That would be to easy:roll: