Good morning Mike and Hunter, thanks for sharing about the Harbor Freight Solar battery charger, going to give one of those a try for sure. Might prolong my mower battery! Thanks again, Fred. 🙏🏻🙏🏻👍👍👏🏻👏🏻👋👋

Good afternoon everyone. 82º in Kansas City. Congratulations to Eva on passing the driving test. I’ll be picking Elizabeth later for the weekend. Stay safe, be humble & kind and have a day.

Always such a great smile from Hunter. You are such lucky people to have that.

Thanks been thinking about getting a solar battery charger for my pontoon but they get pricey and wasnt sure what one to buy but now that you reviewed this one i believe i will buy a couple of them and still save money! Thanks for the review!!

Good Morning, HuntMan!!! Great to see your smiling faces this morning! We installed one of those solar chargers on one of our aux fire vehicles because the guy never starts or drives it.. Works perfectly! Best Wishes! Be careful, stay safe and always remember to be humble and kind, My Friends!

Hi Mike , just something to think about as a retired equipment tech. As a recommendation always contact negative last & disconnect neg first. Way of preventing accidentally shorting out power . Nothing can work untill it has a ground. IE undoing The post clamp you touch frame with wrench sparks . Neg off no sparks. Love seeing the Huntsman smile . Hope you all stay safe and happy 👌 🇨🇦 Craig.

I have similar solar system for my battery that open and closes my gate. Works great. Very informative clip...

I have used that same panel for lawn tractors and other equipment I don’t run all the time. It always worked great. Just don’t leave it on the painted surface.

I will get one I don’t use my dump trailer a lot.Very nice review.Have good weekend everyone.

I've had pretty good luck with Harbor Freight. The only thing that has gone belly up was an electric pressure washer which lasted 6 yrs before the motor burnt up. I used it alot. The Braun 20v Lithium drill I got is really powerful.

I need to get one of those for my dump trailer. Harbor Freight here I come. Nice video

Nice review! I use something similar (2w northern tool) for my diesel fuel transfer tank. I have pumped a few hundred gallons so far with out putting a charger to the battery so I would say it’s doing it’s job!

These work great I use solar to maintain all of my batteries. A suggestion on that charger take the rubber plugs off the back unscrew and open it up peal the silicon away from the led bulb and clip one of the legs, this seems to be a small thing but it really helps with the charge current.

Thanks Mike. That’s good to know. I might have to pick one up. 👍👍👍❤️

I put one of those solar panels on all my trailer tongues to keep the electric brake battery topped off. Works well. I also have a second one on my flatbed trailer on the deep cycle for the winch. It won't charge it back up (well, maybe in a month) but it does a good job of keeping it from draining while the trailer sits for long periods. I permanently mounted mine to the side of the tongue box and hardwired it to the battery.

Thanks for sharing your your reviews, I’m going to buy one for my tractors.

Hi Mike, there's not much I buy at harbor freight, but the 45watt solar kit Lasted several years to run lights and charge phones off grid until we upgraded to a 580 watt system at my mom's cabin. Surprised me for sure!

Mike, I am adding a trolling motor to my pontoon boat tomorrow, and I am heading to Harbor Freight to pick one of these up for my battery for it. I dont always get out to it and being in Texas I get a lot of sun this time of year, so I will give it a true Texas test. Thanks so much for the video.

Great Info Mike seams you would have to be patient and some time to get full charge. We run cable off tow vehicle battery to the back. 👍👊

Only a few others have mentioned it, but its worth repeating. Check to make sure your truck is wired to charge the trailer battery while driving. When the trailer is plugged into your truck and the truck is running it should charge the battery. The trailer is not designed to run the pump from the battery alone. The battery is just a capacitor of sorts so it doesn't pull so much from your vehicle when dumping. If you are using the trailer for an hour or two with it plugged into the truck, the battery should stay charged. That is, if your trailer plug is wired correctly.

I bought a solar tender for my dump trailer and hooked a 30 watt panel to it . On that one with a low watt panel of you charge the battery up and then put the tender on it , it will keep it fully charged. Any battery that sets around without being used for long periods of time needs a tender . Good purchase, will extend the life of the battery .

Good idea to use on dump trailer. Won't overheat the battery either. I will get one for our dump trailer too. Thanks for the test.

Wire it permanently and mount it on the top rail of the dump trailer on the angle instead of flat 2 self tapping screws instead of the suction cups . Have one on my boat for the trolling motor works awesome

Hey Mike! I have the 14' version of your trailer. Love it! Believe it or not, I bought it from Bennett because of your recommendation so thank you! That battery is the one and only frustration I have run into. When I want to use it, I don't want to have to charge it and I never can think far enough ahead to be ready. I think that solar charger is a PERFECT solution. Thanks again for great advice!

Mike, this is just for your general information file.... when hooking up a battery to a car, truck, dump trailer or maybe jumping from one to another with jumper cables.... Always hook the positive first as if it is not grounded, then no sparks. You take a wrench and tighten a cable and its on the positive and the wrench hits metal, a flash of sparks. When tightening a negative cable and that wrench touches metal.. no sparks because negative to negative is not a short. I saw you hook the negative first and then the positive... of course there was no spark because you didn't bump the negative so no short possible. In that situation your fairly safe yes but get in a habit to do it the right way in all situations as in say installing a battery, that would be critical to tighten the positive first as the neg is not touching anything and so its safe.. then hook the negative and if a wrench touches metal, there will be no short.... I hope that people learn this. Its how people ruin a alternator. I hope that this doesn't upset you

Thank You for sharing. you gave me the info i was looking for. my situation is i have a polaris ranger with a 12volt battery and it sits for weeks, sometimes months at a time. i now know 1.5w. charger should be plenty for me.

Thank you for the review! You may want to park in a sunnier spot? Missed you today at 8am but glad you published! Marcus from Chesapeake VA.

I bought one of these. It was putting out 19 or so volts. I’ll be picking up a controller soon to avoid overcharging.

It's pronounced "morts" a company out of Mansfield, Ohio. They make great trailers. Have a friend here has a new one and it came with the solar charger.

I have one of the early orange version and it has worked flawlessly for over 20 years so I really recomend it.

I will probably put this on my boat thanks gret info

Thanks Mike I appreciate you sharing this information on Great video 🇺🇲

It is always great to see the hunt man, specially with a happy smile ! You go hunter,helping your ole man!! By the way I do have the same charger. it is okay for the price as a trickle charger.

Hi mike thanks for the information have a day love from TEXAS

Good to see Hunter in these videos. Keep up the excellent videos, Mike.

The panel is amorphous by the way, it‘s the same type used on those emergency radios/flashlights or calculators. Their advantage is, that they work very well in overcast conditions although they otherwise have a relatively bad efficiency. There is another variant with conventional cells and although, the peak wattage is higher, poly/mono solar cells really only perform well under direct sunlight. Anyways, thanks for the review (I‘m thinking of using this panel with a LiFePo4 for use with a standalone CB radio receiver and LTE/5G router). This panel is often marketed as a charger at many Chinese sellers, although traditional sellers state it‘s mainly for keeping the battery from discharging.

These are small, low power, amorphous silicon panels, they produce very low peak current but can produce some current even in the shade. This is because they have a higher internal resistance, but the liberated electrons stay liberated longer and so they have more time to wander through the load (charge the battery) before they are able to be lost and recombine in the cells instead of driving the load. They are SLOW at charging the batteries and are really only meant to maintain them or to slow the self discharge of lead acid batteries. They are not even optimized for the cells they use, they often produce 22 volts and just rely on having such a low current that the 12 volt battery will effectively act like a dead short as far as the panel is concerned since the battery could fully absorb power from a large number of these panels working together. Thus the voltage is limited by the voltage of the battery. I am going to put a DC-DC buck converter on on old one of these I found and see if that can turn some of the extra voltage into more current and get closer to the maximum power point these panels can generate.

You were correct with the first pronunciation. We have a Moritz family family in our scout unit

Mike, Rex here and I think this charger will be ideal. It should keep your battery ready to go at any given time! I’m a fan! I bought one of the lights from Harbor Freight, the one Melissa bought you for the new building! Good video!

Saw that Sweet Kershaw pocket knife at 2:46. Made me smile!

Hi Mike, trailer battery should be fully charged while towing . Check to make sure that when the trailer is plugged in to your truck that the trailer battery is being charged by your trucks alternator . Where you baught the trailer should be able to help you with diagnostic and wiring .

I need one of these for my boat.

Have 2 of them one on Tractor and one on my generator works great on both..never had to use jump box

Thanks I am.getting one of these I dry camp in my class A and hope this will keep the chassis battery topped.off

I have that panel on my boat, the problem is it doesn't have a diode that prevents it from discharging the battery when there is no sun. I installed an inline diode and it works great.

thank you

At 1.5 watts it's more of a maintainer. I've known several folks that use these for atv, rv, etc where it's not used for a week or more. Most people I know hardwire to the terminals and mount the connector so that it can be detached when using the vehicle and hook it back up when done. No need for the clamps.

I did the same thing on my camp trailer. But I added a second battery which worked great.

good idea for battery...thanks 4 video. be kind.

I find these more of a battery maintainer rather than a charger... I use it on a car I don't drive much and it keeps the battery topped up giving you a strong start.

I’ve used the Harbor Freight trickle charger solar panel before on my trailer but it wasn’t a dump trailer it was just for an electric break and had a small battery and it was nice because I didn’t use the trailer that often I’m on the road and I usually just hook it up to move sticks or some thing. But it will be nice to keep it maintained especially if you’re leaving it for long periods of time. They were great for anything that’s going to be in the sun that you could use a trickle charger on. Another thing I think you should look into. Warren, the winch company, makes some pretty hefty electrical connectors. A lot of the 4 x 4 guys hang out with put them on their trucks and jeeps. The nice thing about them is it heavy gauge wire. You can use a winch that mounts to a trailer hitch and have a thick enough connection with a quick release. But you can also make a set of jumper cables that just clicks right in so you don’t have to lift your hood, you could make a direct connection to that trailer so even if your battery was dead it would run off of your truck and you can put one on your tractors. Basically it’s just heavy gauge wire running to a quick disconnect that gives you a nice thick gauge connection with great continuity. I just mounted mine directly to the top of my box over the battery facing straight up and silicone it down so water didn’t get in the box. After two or three weeks it should be topped off and keep it nice and topped off, it’s pretty much just like a slow trickle charger it just uses the sun. It may not charge your battery enough to run it as much as you want but what it will do is help your battery last longer, keeping that charge on there really prolongs the life. There’s something that happens chemically inside and just having that trickle charge on it really helps. It’s great if you can do it with the solar. But I’ve also bought the five dollar trickle chargers that plug-in from Harbor Freight and use them on vehicles and when I stored my lawnmower over winter and on boats and even spare batteries, it’s just nice to know when you go to grab some thing that your batteries not going to be dead. On that trailer are used to have to replace that battery every two years and it lasted almost 7 years with the trickle charger on it it may have gone longer but that’s when I sold the trailer finally. Lead acid batteries just do not like to run all the way down and every time you do it you’re just cutting a ton of life off of that battery. There are ways to restore them but it’s a pain, but when they get that low the kettle is ation process inside build up a lot of corrosion on those internal anode‘s or whatever they’re called, the conductor plates inside and it’s not really that your battery is bad it’s just so corroded in there it doesn’t take a charge and they also perform much less 700 CCA battery may only put out three or 400 when it’s reaching the end of it’s life like that. A trickle charger can keep it cleaner and lasting a whole lot longer, so whether it’s solar or electric from a plug, people should keep them on every one of their batteries that they’re not using on a regular basis. Even if you’re not gonna drive your car for a week. I love that Harbor Freight sells that stuff for cheap. I’ve probably bought five of the trickle chargers and I’ve had two of the solar panels, mine were older models but it’s basically the same thing. If you want it to charge that it’s not hard either you just get a 12 V controller and a larger 12 V panel and the controller will protect your battery and keep it from overcharging and a panel you could still mount on top of that diamond plate box could probably put out 6 to 8 times the power easily. If it’s something you’re really concerned about on the trailer it might be worth spending a little more, a lot of solar panels are getting cheaper now because of mass production as well as the controllers, I’m guessing you could do some thing for under 100 bucks easy that you never really have to worry about it, it would probably charge full in a day or two easy. Solar may not be as efficient as regular electric now but the convenience of being able to put it on stuff like that that isn’t kept near an outlet is pretty awesome.

Mike, those chargers do work well but they're more of a maintainer than they are a charger. I always put my batteries on the regular charger and get them to 100% and then the solar panels will maintain them.

I have one for my motorcycle and another for my old jeep that only runs about 5 times a year around the yard. Plows snow and moves stuff around with small trailer. Is more a maintainer than a charger. Trick is to hook it up as soon as you are done with vehicle and it will keep battery up to full, if battery is dead as might be the case after you use your trailer you should charge it with charger than put maintainer on.

You just reminded me that I was suppose to get one of these for the farm/wood truck that sits outside and gets used maybe 2-3x a year.

I have one on my dump trailer too. Been on there 4 or 5 years. Seems to charge and maintain my battery ok.

Mike, if you run a hot wire from your battery in your truck with a 20 amp fuse back to the trailer +12 volt you can charge as you drive. I charge my boat battery that way.

Just got one for a car I don't drive much. We had one on a 12v battery on a golf cart for the radio years ago (only thing that charged that separate 12v battery). It was always charged up and ready to go unless you used the radio for multiple days in a row.

Hi Mike and Hunter. I have one of the solar chargers on one of my tractors. It is on my cab door up high and plugs into the cigarette litter. Had it for 2 two years and it keeps the battery up. Keep up the great videos. Stay safe and always be kind. Have a day

I have one of those on my generator shed to maintain the battery. If you want to charge the battery buy a bigger solar panel. What you have will probably maintain the battery. I like them on a tractor too in winter to keep the battery up.

Bought one from harbor. Use it to maintain battery on my x mark mower. It keeps battery charged. Mounted solar panel on side of shop which gets about 5 hours of sunlight a day. Added 15 foot of cable to go thru cable port to reach h mower. It does pretty good and I cut once every 2 weeks and have no problem starting mower.. Stay safe and hello to the family. See you on the next video!!!.

Love seeing the Hunt man. That solar charger is not setting the world on fire as far as how much charge it put in the battery but heck if it sits around a lot between uses, it may be all you need.

I have used one of these to maintain the battery on my lawn mower for years.

I had a similar problem with the winch on my trailer... i ran 2 leads from the vehicle battery to an anderson plug then to the winch battery... charges whilst driving... win win lol

I had a plow truck I didn't drive very often and had one of those plugged into the cigarette lighter and left it up on the dash when I wasn't using the truck and it always kept the battery topped off.

Mike. You should also be able to charge through the plug when it’s hooked to the truck. That’s the way mine is set up using the 7 point plug.

I have one of these 1.5w chargers on my log splitter. Its been started several dozen times this summer and I've never needed anything else to keep it charged. $15 well spent!

I've bought two solar chargers from Amazon that cost about $35 each. One for my rv and one for my dump trailer. It a great feeling knowing your trailer is ready to go when you are.

I have 2 of those HF solar chargers. There more of a maintainer then chargers. I've used one last 2 years on my rv during winter storage because there's no electricity. I live in northwest PA. It kept a charge on battery's all winter. Bought a 2nd one last December and used it for atv that was stored in it. I should of fully charged it before storage but it did keep a charge on battery enough to start it in spring

Thank you! 1.5 Watts is .125 amps. I sure wouldn't expect much from it. If it's for an auto I've seen parasitic drain higher than that. I just recommended a 20 watt one to a family member in Denver and I was thinking it's probably too weak. Without perfect positioning and adding the cold weather it's a tough job for a little panel. It's great that they exist!

Looks like a good fit for my trolling battery. It’d save me from yanking it out Once a week to charge. Worth a shot for the money.

Not bad for less than 15bucks, it will be useful for a lot of things, great video mike

I have had a solar charger on my dump trailer for about 7 months. The battery is always charged when I use the dump bed. I would recommend one.

Hey Mike , That’s good , I’m gonna go pick one up for my bobcat , Polaris , and dump trailer that’s a good deal , my bobcat mt100 sat for 4 weeks and didn’t have in charger then needed to use it for a job and it died lol , this is a solution I was looking for !

Great result for just 1,5 watt!

Mike cut the clamps off and hard wire it to the battery! Like you said at the beginning it is a trickle charger. It only maintains a fully charged battery. Even after you use your trailer in dump mode it will still require a charge because it is a trickle charge and maintainer

They are good to have

I have bought this solar charger a few years ago to put in my mustang to help keep my battery up in power. I found out sitting in my front window and having it plugged in the cigarette light socket worked but it did melt the ABS plastic so bad it twisted the plastic off some of the panel tearing the wire off one end of the panel. the ABS plastic can't handle the heat of direct sun in the summer . I wrote to Harbor Freight 3 times about this problem but they just ignore the problem. Now I'm in California and it can get hot here. but they shouldn't advertise leaving the panel in the window to keep the car charged if it can't handle the heat. I still have the solar panels but with out the ABS plastic on them .had to peal the rest of it off. Not sure what i can use to put back on the panel that the sun won't melt of cause a fire.maybe some high temp rubber will work.

If it works for you Mike, that's all that matters. Good purchase.

I need one for camping on the island and charging the trolling motor battery!

Howdy from the western Ozarks. Sitting in the shade trying to dry out from my sweat-soaked trip up the 1/4-mile driveway with a pole saw. And back, tossing the limbs out into the forest. It’s hot today. The logger is waiting for parts to fix his slider, so while he’s becalmed, I’m going to have him use his skid loader to fix our two eroded stream crossings. He said he’d be here this evening, so I’m not able to shut down and shower yet. Anyway, if you want that to maintain the battery, then it needs a charge controller. We used solar panels with a lot of our dataloggers we deployed in off-grid locations. Our panels were usually 90W with the controller (and not cheap), but they’ve worked really well for years.

Hi Mike! This isn't a new idea. Back in 07-09 Volkswagen batteries for.the diesels weren't charged enough when they were supposed to come off the boat to turn the motor over. The cars had sat to long in the German staging yards. VW solved it by affixing a solar panel.to.the inside of the windshield and plugging in to the OBD2 connector. Glad this worked for you! 👍 P.S. During dealer.prep of the car the panels were thrown away....

Mike ,,,I bought one of those from Harbor freight a few years back, as I recall I wasn’t all that impressed. I think I tossed it. However, something like you’re trailer maybe it’d be ok. Like you said “you better have some time on you’re hands.”

👍🇺🇸 in Texas we get a full charge in one day! Just pulling your leg, I think that solar charger might be the cat's meow for the way I use my trailer. My PJ Trailer came with an onboard battery charger, however, you still got to have a plug in👍

Good video mike and Hunter

my 2014 big tex gooseneck dump trailer has a 110 plug on it - you plug it in and overnight you are back to a full charge...if you have electricity available close by, it is much quicker and hassle free...

The Huntman had a smile on his face that would make anyone smile. He gets that from his momma. Hahaha. Stay well, stay safe and yall HAVE A DAY

Hello hunter! From Piqua Ohio!

We got are solar charger at at rual king cost about 40.00 and Weve Had it for 4 years and it works great on our gate opener, I got a truck battery that it keeps charged!. I bought two extra just to have!.

I like your new video today this was really cool video love your video

Mike the battery should charge when hooked to your truck. Ford usually leaves the fuse out with directions in your glove compartment on where to install it. You may have to have the engine running for the charge relay to turn the power on to your 7 pin connector. The truck plug cover may show which pin is powered. Usually labeled " Aux".

You should put a plexiglass or lexan box on top of the battery compartment to set the panel in so that it gets sun, but is protected from the weather.

What is the alligator clips to two prong clip adapter called and where did you get it? i'm going to replicate what your doing with my UTV! Thanks for all you do and your videos are not just good, they are fantastic!!

I just picked up mine today for my Alfa just to keep the battery fully charged.

Solar panels are a great back up but if you got a dedicated charge circuit wired into to the truck that would mean the battery was being charged from the alternator the whole time you were coupled, then all the solar panel would do is maintain the charge. Take truck and trailer to local auto electrician and they will fix it in a jiffy.

If you are going to use the alligator clips, don't clamp them to the threaded bolt. It will work better clamped to the lead base the bolt goes into or to the automotive posts. I work in the battery business and this makes a difference in conductivity.

Mike, perfect for maintaining a battery, nice Review, You seem to Be enjoying your Retirement, we Sure are! Take Care🚜👍🏼🪵🇱🇷

Just ensure it has a cutoff to prevent overcharging.

I used 3 of those in parallel to keep the battery on my RV from going dead.

It works but better have time on your hands is right! I use this solar charging strip just to maintain! Even two might not work for your trailer, is there enough room in trailer box for two batteries, then connect two to bigger panel!

TELL THE HUNT MAN I SAID HELLO! HE ALWAYS HAS A GREAT 👍 SMILE!