In article o.uk,
"Dave Liquorice" writes:
On Wed, 11 Jun 2014 07:42:20 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote:

I bought one from Maplin some years ago. It generated enough output to
light up the LED on it, but no more. It was sold as a 12V car battery
charger.

Probably the same as the one I have, 5" wide 14" ish long?

Sounds like it.
As it was useless, I pulled it apart to look inside.
I don't seem to have it anymore, so I suspect I chucked out out.
I only bought it after they'd been significantly reduced, and didn't
expect much, but it failed to live up to even that.

It might have been useful to counteract self-discharge of a stored
battery, but no more.

In full sun it probably will charge a bit but really all they are is
self discharge eliminators. The LED on mine flashes, when it's on
there is very little on the output, the mark/space is around 1:1 so
50% of the very little produced is wasted...

Yep - exactly same with mine.

I must rescue it from
the garage and "get at it". B-)

ISTR the circuit was embedded in a lump of silicone, or some such.

--
Andrew Gabriel
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