My Cheetah lives in an open-air hangar that faces south. To compensate for battery self-discharge between flights, I built a photovoltaic charger with adjustable pitch:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XtX802fwxGIbV8TGw3wTjSscdvR1ljca7w

To keep it simple, I made it adjustable to only two pitch positions: one for winter and one for summer based upon arithmetic averages. (See http://solarelectricityhandbook.com/solar-angle-calculator.html)

I had to make it heavy so it would not be toppled by prop blasts and wind. Its base is a pressure-treated 6×6, and its feet are pressuretreated 3/4″ X 3″ stock. It’s a bit of an eye-sore, but it gets the job done. The back feet were spaced so that they fit nicely on either side of the nose tire.

It is rated at 5 watts output at 12V–about a half-amp. (A green indicator LED shows when it is charging.)

I logged its power output at home for several weeks in late winter and found that this is only slightly optimistic. It’s obviously highly dependent on the sun angle and intensity, although clouds don’t affect it as much as one would imagine.

Itoyed with the notion of designing a motorized sun-tracking cradle that would be powered by the panel itself, but I haven’t done it yet.

I got the solar panel and connectors from Amazon:
NOCO Battery Life BLSOLAR5 5 Watt
NOCO Genius GC004 10′ Extension Cable

This includes a set of cables with battery-terminal clamps and a cigarette lighter adapter. All the cables are excellent quality and are suitable for outside use.

I run the output cables through the exhaust port in the lower cowling, thence to the battery.

So far so good.

Joe

• This topic was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Joe Campbell.
• This topic was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Joe Campbell. Reason: Broken link
• This topic was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Roscoe Rosché.