Solar battery charger

[Boughtabay]

Planning my horses move to their summer field hopefully around the end of March! I’ll need to put an electric fence around the perimeter and I use a mix of car/tractor batteries to power it but they inevitably run out of charge (usually on the days you’re running late somewhere!) so preemptively I’m wondering if there are any (reasonably priced) solar panels that are compatible with this type of battery? Either to leave on in the field all the time or to use to top up in the daytime (solar things do seem to get nicked round us)

 

[SpotsandBays]

I use cheap solar panels from eBay! They do the job just fine!

 

[Boughtabay]

I use cheap solar panels from eBay! They do the job just fine!

Oh ideal thanks! Do you leave them hooked up all the time?

 

[poacher82]

I second SpotsandBays, cheap solar panels seem to work brilliantly. I have this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08K3BQTNK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share it's been attached since October 2021 with the fence unit running probably 70% of that time, and I haven't had to charge the battery once, even through winter when it's getting less light. I made sure the battery was fully charged at the start, and it seems to just keep it topped up perfectly. Far better than I ever anticipated!

 

[Boughtabay]

Awesome

I second SpotsandBays, cheap solar panels seem to work brilliantly. I have this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08K3BQTNK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share it's been attached since October 2021 with the fence unit running probably 70% of that time, and I haven't had to charge the battery once, even through winter when it's getting less light. I made sure the battery was fully charged at the start, and it seems to just keep it topped up perfectly. Far better than I ever anticipated!

Awesome thankyou! For some reason I thought it would be way more complicated than this

 

[SpotsandBays]

Oh ideal thanks! Do you leave them hooked up all the time?

Yep, all the time! So far this winter I’ve only had to pull the battery off twice to charge it up (but once was because the barrow I put them in filled up with water and froze in a giant ice block - my fault!)

 

[SpotsandBays]

Also, i bought a battery from Amazon. I’ll get a link for you. Works much better than car batteries! (Stick to leisure batteries if you can, car batteries aren’t designed to run flat and be recharged much).

AgriBatt ELB50 Heavy Duty Electric Fence Battery 12V 50Ah c100 https://amzn.eu/d/aYcKTxz

 

[meleeka]

If you can ensure your fence isn’t touching any grass, etc, a cheap solar panel should work well to keep it topped up.

 

[janei]

I second SpotsandBays, cheap solar panels seem to work brilliantly. I have this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08K3BQTNK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share it's been attached since October 2021 with the fence unit running probably 70% of that time, and I haven't had to charge the battery once, even through winter when it's getting less light. I made sure the battery was fully charged at the start, and it seems to just keep it topped up perfectly. Far better than I ever anticipated!

Sorry to hop on.post but I have just bought one of these but can't for the life of me work out how to attach to battery and energiser - I'm sure I'm being a bit dense but ...

 

[SpotsandBays]

Sorry to hop on.post but I have just bought one of these but can't for the life of me work out how to attach to battery and energiser - I'm sure I'm being a bit dense but ...

Use the clips to attach the solar panel to the battery exactly like you would the energiser!