1.8 Watt Solar Battery Maintainer

[The Danes Are Coming]

I bought a 1.8 Watt Solar Battery Maintainer at Tractor Supply.

I am going to be storing my toad for a long period of time and I want to trickle charge the battery to keep it from discharging completely.

I therefore intend to take this 1.8 Watt Solar Battery Maintainer and connect it directly to the cigarette lighter outlet. This means that I will not disconnect the negative lead on the battery like I usually do.

I have got the option to first hook up the Battery Maintainer to a SunSaver 6 solar controller since I just took this out of my RV but I think it may "eat" some of the already limited power I get from the solar panel. I can't believe that a 1.8 Watt Solar panel will cook anything so do I really need a solar controller at all?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Gary RVRoamer]

1.8W barely qualifies as a "trickle". That's a hair over 0.1 amps, but maybe is enough to compensate for battery self-discharge.. No need for a controller that I can see.

[Rocky Larson]

You do not need a controller for that charger. Be sure your power outlet remains charged with the key off (and connected to the battery you want to maintain) . Can't tell for sure if it will be adequate so it would be nice if you could check the battery status once in a while.
Good Luck.

[Ed-Sommers]

That low wattage, after going through the lighter plug and all the wire to the batteries will eat up what you are putting in!

At the minimum, I'd say connect directly to the batteries.

Ed