-> -> I read about something recently (saw it mentioned in a book I
was reading)
-> -> where they mentioned a dashboard-top panel that would keep a 
-> -> vehicle's battery topped off when it was sitting for a while,  and 
-> -> not being driven.  Have you ever heard of this?

-> TW> I concider them a SCAM and a Ripoff. Typicaly they are capable in 
-> TW> FULL Direct sun of putting out 250 to 500 MA.

-> That's not too bad.  For what kind of price,  though?

Those 5 Watt(or less)are really cheep but again they DO NOT REALLY work
al that well. The Price for a quality 10 to 15 Watt solar panel is
about $150 to $200.

-> TW> That may or may not even keep up with the Internal Self Discharge 
-> TW> of a Lead Acid Battery.

-> It should delay things a bit,  I'd think.                 

It could delay a Real Charge of the battery for a while. But it also
could delude you into thinking all was fine and one day you wake up and
find the battery needs replacing prematurely.


-> TW> I have a little 1 Amp fully automatic unit designed for that 
-> TW> purpose I have connected to me Group 31 emergency battery for my
-> TW> Laptop/Ham Gear.

-> Most of the 1 amp units I've seen are only "automatic" in
the sense that they
-> just don't have that much push to them,  compared to bigger chargers.  They
-> just taper off automatically as a battery gets a bit more charge in it.

This one actualy has some sort of step in the Charging routine.
Monitoring Voltage and at a point cutting back the voltage set point.
The circutry is fairly simple. And you can but 1 Amp battery Charger
Kits for Lead Acid cells for those that like to tinker themsleves. As I
recall "Ramsey" has one

-> TW> You can also use a regular Automobile battery charger if it is 
-> TW> Full Automatic and has a 2 to 5 amp charging rate.

-> Yeah,  probably.  I have an assortment of different chargers around,  but am
-> not real sure what I need to use on some of these gels I have around here.  At
-> 33AH ratings,  some of them are going to take a nontrivial amount of charge
-> without getting too upset about it,  but I'd rather not push them too hard,  if
-> I can avoid it.
                     
 That recmendatio nwas ONLY for Automobile/RV sized batteries. Either a
1 amp Charger Kit or a Good 1 amp commercal unit designed for Gell Cells
is best for what you have in mind.
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