For most charge controllers, you connect the battery first and then the solar panel.Safety best practices are to place a fuse between the charge controller and both battery and solar panel.Here’s the circuit diagram for a solar 12V car battery charger with auto cut-off.Īnd here’s what it looks like when built: □ DIY Solar Car Battery Charger Circuit Diagram The box makes the whole system more portable and cuts down on cable clutter. Tip: Drill the holes angled slightly away from each other so the leads won’t touch when fed through the lid. Next, I drilled some holes in the top of the box to feed the battery cables through. Then I used a drill and the mounting screws included with my charge controller to mount the controller to the top of the battery box. ![]() I picked up a NOCO battery box and plopped my 12V battery right inside. If I want to solar charge the battery while it’s in my car, I can just put the solar panel and charge controller on the hood of my car.īut I decided to take it one step further… Step 4: Make Your Solar Car Charger Look Nice (Optional) That’s right - this solar 12V battery charger has auto cut-off built right in. I can just leave the panel out in the sun and the charge controller will cut off the charging when the battery is full. Technically my solar car battery charger is done. It read 0.2 amps, meaning my solar panel was in fact charging my 12V battery. Then I looked at the PV current display on my charge controller. To test my solar car charger, I simply took the solar charger outside and put the panel in direct sunlight. Time to test it and see if it works… Step 3: Test Your Solar Car Battery Charger This means my solar car battery charger is complete! □ Now the solar panel is connected to the 12V battery via the solar charge controller. Note: If your solar panel has MC4 connectors, you’ll have to use MC4 adapter cables to be able to connect it to your charge controller. ![]() Step 2: Connect the Solar Panel to the Solar Charge ControllerĬonnect the solar panel wires to the solar panel (PV) terminals on your charge controller. Mine defaults to sealed lead acid, which is the type I was using. My solar charge controller turned on, indicating it was properly connected to the battery.Īt this point, consult your charge controller’s manual to see if you need to program it for your battery’s chemistry. Then I connected the stripped wire ends to the battery terminals on my solar charge controller. Red to red, black to black! (I also swapped out the inline fuse for the right fuse size given my solar panel wattage.) To do so, I connected the positive and negative ring terminals to their respective battery terminals. I can now connect charge controller and battery. Just like that, my “battery cables” are ready. Then I peeled the wires apart and stripped them with my wire strippers. (the GC018 is a 12V plug adapter that comes with an inline fuse and ring terminals.)įirst, I cut off the 12V plug socket with my wire cutters. I used the NOCO GC018 to make it super easy to connect my 12V battery to my solar charge controller. Step 1: Connect the Car Battery to the Solar Charge Controller These aren’t needed for the 5W and 20W panels linked above.
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