Sunsei SE-400 Solar 6-Watt 120-Volt Charger

Sunsei SE-400 Solar 6-Watt 120-Volt Charger
From Sunsei

Price: $120.03 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com

Average customer review:

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #50656 in Home Improvement
* Brand: Sunsei
* Model: SE-400
* Released on: 2005-10-25
* Dimensions: 14.17" h x 1.00" w x 14.76" l, 5.50 pounds

Features

* 6-watt, 120-volt solar panel for reliable, renewable energy
* Perfect for back-up power in RVs, boats or off-grid applications
* Provides immediate trickle charge when exposed to sunlight
* Touch-action indicator clearly shows battery charge status
* Measures 14.8-by-14.2-by-1 inches; weighs 3.3 pounds; 10-year warranty

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Product Description
The Sunsei Solar 6-watt 120-volt charger is a solar panel designed to provide reliable, renewable energy as an alternative to noisy and expensive diesel, propane and gas generators.

This solar panel is ideal for medium-sized boats, RVs, trucks, and tractors, and can also be used to charge portable electronics, deer feeders, gate openers, and fence charges. It is engineered to maintain a 12-volt deep-cycle battery, it will keep a battery topped off when not in use.

The weatherproof solar charger provides immediate trickle-charge when exposed to daylight, even on cloudy days. Its "Plug-n-Play" features allows connection of multiple panels in seconds without tools or rewiring; it also features a touch-action indicator to show when the panel is charging.

The panel comes with 1 1 cigarette lighter adapter,1 female cigarette lighter adapter,1 battery clamp connector,1 terminal ring connector,1 extension cable (10-foot),1 panel-to-panel jumper cable, 4 mounting screws. It is 14.8-by-14.2-by-1 inch in size and weighs 3.3 pounds. It is covered by a 10-year warranty.
Customer Reviews

This works great for me
In all fairness, I never expected to charge a dead battery with this. I leave my boat parked in the desert and I leave this plugged in. Week after week, I go back to the boat and it the battery is fully charged.

I was worried that without a trickle charger that I would be "stuck" constantly looking for a jump or have to carry another jumper battery. With the SE-400, this has not been the case. I did buy the small charge controller (probably not needed) as well as the mounting equipment.

The mounting arrangement was overpriced for what it was, but it works very well and is probably the simplest way to go. If you're handy, you could easily make your own. (This should be a separate review.) If you are looking for a trickle charger, I think this is an excellent solution.

Well made charger
Well made and does the job just fine. It will work on almost any 12v battery. Naturally it does not replace what an electric battery charger can do and in the same amount of time, but as a trickle charger for car and boat batteries this is all you need (other than some sunshine).

The only negative is that tese Sunsei solar panels are far more expensive than they need to be. They are made in China and a 6w panel of this quality should be 30-50% less than what the Sunsei brand demands. Coleman is pretty much the same product, all coming from ICP Solar in Canada, however the Coleman panels cost much less.

Title Mistake
This is NOT a 120 volt solar panel but a 12.0 volt panel, which will NOT charge a 12.0 volt battery (need 14.5 volts minimum to charge a 12vdc battery). Basically, well, it's pretty useless. at 6W / 12V it produces 1/2 amp of current which would take 230 hours of sunlight to charge a 115 Amp Hour deep cycle battery.

At best, this *could* be used to keep your car's battery alive in long term parking at the airport with all the computer drain but even there a 1 AMP panel (12-15 watts) would be more ideal given the few hours of light during the winter and shielding from the glass windshield.

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