Solar Tool Battery Charger

justme

1. I have a bunch of 18 Volt Ridgid tool batteries, I want to charge by Solar. Will an MPPT charger convert higher voltage panels to the battery's voltage? 
2, I have a 260 amp Leece Nevill Alternator. Any suggestions on how to drive it with 5 mph and up available winds?

Dave Angelini

Some MPPT's will do this but if I were you I would just get a small inverter, small battery, MPPT solar, and use Rigids AC tool battery charger. Less chance of damage and voiding Rigid battery warranty.

BB.

I could not find any DC versions of the Ridgid chargers... For example, last I looked, Makita had 12 VDC input chargers to plug into a cigarette lighter socket.

As Dave says, your best bet is to start with a 120 VAC inverter+XX Volt battery+solar+MPPT controller sized to the charger input power (Watts), and how much charging per day (Watt*Hours) to size the battery bank and solar array.

Ridgid appears to have a handful of different chargers available (low, med, high power) and 1/2/6 port chargers--So you need to design the system for the chargers and number of charging stations you wish to support.

Use a Kill-a-Watt type meter to measure the "peak" Wattage, and how much energy (Watt*Hours) your need, then design (on paper first) your solar system to support those loads.

https://www.amazon.com/kill-a-watt/s?k=kill-a-watt

Make sure your AC inverter is a True/Pure Sine Wave type (TSW/PSW) and not a Modified Sine Wave type (MSW)--As MSW wave forms have been known to work incorrectly or sometimes damage tool battery chargers (and other equipment).

While it may be possible to make a DC connection to Ridgid batteries, as Dave says, the chances of damaging the expensive batteries (or even causing smoke/fire in some cases) usually are not worth the risk.

-Bill