7899, thanks for that post - I emailed it to myself for future reference. The only problem I have is that on my clubs SCs course most of it is in the woods and solor panels don't get direct sunlight. The ones I have don't seem to work very well.

Does anyone have any luck with solar chargers in the winter in the northern Midwest. I have one Promatic charger that works really well 9 months of the year, it needs help in the winter. I think it is 30 watts and it cost about $250. Pretty expensive to do the complete course. A good bit of the course is wooded and that is a problem in the summer.

I’m torn between doing the whole course with 110 buried, but then I have to deal with cords and trickle chargers. If I really had faith in solar I would spend the money.

So is there a way to use solar successfully in the north year around?

This post has been great, but Florida is not Ohio and points north.

Bob Hickle, Island Creek Sporting Clay

I had trouble charging batteries until I got with DC Systems in Cleveland , bought a industrial 300 amp charger. When you put it on 10 batteries at a time they charge together. Set you timer for 8 hours and in the mourning you have 10 good batteries. You need to build a buss system of some kind to attach the battery clamps. It has really worked well. You have to have a way to time the charge so you don’t cook the batteries.
I also purchased a heavy duty 300 amp charger at rural king and set a second charger ,and it works as well as the industrial one, probably won’t last as long.
Bob Hickle

If you are wanting a larger panel, don't forget a charge controller. The ones I have in the woods most of the time I run a 20 watt panel on. 20 watt will run you $50-75 and controller another $40 https://www.ecodirect.com/Solar-Panels-s/3.htm If the battery is new then never any issues. As they age it won't last as long. The ones in the field never have issues even with the smaller panels that I got from Lincoln with the traps. We have a few permanent stands in the woods that I used a 30 watt panel on because in the shade all day and keeps our long range system running well and the larger size wasnt an issue because the stand is 10'x10' covered so lots of room to mount it.

I have found batteries make a big difference too. I really hate buying AGM but man do they last so much longer than the standard lead batteries.

Volume makes a difference too. If a full battery will throw 3000 cycles and you are throwing 250k targets spread over 40 machines vs throwing 5 million targets spread over 80 machines makes a big difference too.

Well after a summer and a half using panels on batteries and one not so cold winter I can tell you that the 30 watt solar panels I purchased from Tom Kidd in NC were definitely worth the money . It cut my handling of batteries by 90+%. Even at the courses darkest stations the chargers work. I had to use extension cords to get some to sun. I was concerned they would not work in OH. They work well.
Remember Kidd’s Place in NC

Also thanks for the tip about Tom Kidd

When in or around Pittsburgh, look us up we are 40 miles west of the city in OH
www.islandcreeksc.com

You are welcome. Tom and I are now perfecting a solar charger set up on my battery powered golf cart. So far it is working great. A lot of the ranges here in NC are using Tom’s solar panel, and have had results like yours. Their labor cost and battery cost are drastically reduced.

In Tucson at Coyote Springs they have the FITASC controller on a two wheeler cart for like a grocery store, etc. the battery is on the bottom, the controller between the handles, the solar panes and antenna on an extension above it and it is all very simple and self contained. makes it easy for Maint. and shooters can wheel it around and make shots different, closer, farther, etc. They are super handy.

Call Renair shotgun sports and ask Casey what he does. He charges the trap battery and the batteries for the mobile bases.
Battery charging can be tricky. What you really want is a static regulated charger. If you can get an equalizer in the charger, you should. Look at LaMarche. They make battery chargers for emergency generator sets, and those batteries have to work when called upon.
Charger setups for golf car batteries with a large bus and connections works also.

Wyoming here, we have tried several solar panels, 1.5w, 5w, 10 and 20w. We have settled on the 20w, they seem to charge and maintain our batteries. We are using the Newpowa 20w kit, comes with the panel, controller and clips, just ordered 5 more at 45.18 each free shipping.

We use intrastate batteries, had some go 8 and 10 years before replacing. We do bring in the unused batteries in the winter time, and try and make sure any out in the weather are charged ( we dont yet have panels on all machines ).

We also have remotes on some of our machines and we found they will draw down a battery, but with the solor panels on, no problems. As long as the battery is good, we have not had a battery issue on those we have these panels on.

I might also add. we have had batteries that tested low, put these panels on in a day they were back up and powering the machine.

Hope that helps a little

I also decided install solar panel on my RV like in this review https://websolarguide.com/bifacial-solar-panels/.