On 22/04/2020 15:54, T i m wrote:
On Wed, 22 Apr 2020 14:28:53 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:

snip

Do the sums very carefully before spending any money!

+1 ;-)

Unless you are
seriously off grid it will almost certainly be cheaper and much less
hassle to buy a mains charger and a pair of SLA's to use in rotation.

I've done that ...

Solar panels work in summer but allow batteries to be ruined in winter.

But isn't the outcome a function of all the components?

You need a very big solar panel and a smart charge controller to protect
the battery from overcharging if you want something to do real work.

eg, If the OP's use is likely mostly in the summer (except tyre
inflation probably but that's rarely a sustained load), and that's
when there is the most sun, if he had a big enough panel connected
though a charge controller to a good enough battery, why wouldn't that
be as good as all those solar powered roadside signs that seem to be
able to cope all year round?

Those solar powered "please go round the dangerous bend" signs are fine
in midsummer but invariably dead in the water on cold frosty winters
mornings and trash a set of batteries every winter. There is one not far
from me on a sharp bend where a car entered someone's living room.

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/l...-house-3702602

It was midsummer so the sign would have been working.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown