Side by Side Comparison of: ALLPOWERS vs C.Crane

This product worked like a champ on the beach. We connected our inverter to a projector and watched movies on the beach during the night and in the morning the solar panel was pointed at the East and we were relaxing and drinking and enjoying the beach.In the evening the battery was ready and with no issues but to provide more power to the projector.

I was a bit skeptical of these after reading so other reviews, so I did a bit of testing. Hopefully my results will be helpful. My situation is that I am retired, have 2 vehicles and don't have a need to drive much. But it seemed like every time the weather turned bad, the 4WDs battery was dead, and every time it turned nice the rag-top was dead. Not only a pain to drag out a charger, but it's really bad for batteries to sit there dead. So I decided to get one of these and, if it worked out well, get a second so I didn't have to swap it between cars. After a couple months use and a bit of testing, here's what I can tell you:1) Don't expect this to charge a dead battery. Not designed to, and won't. What it will do is offset the natural loss in the battery and the minimal drain that the vehicle may have when off due to such things as the computer, security system, etc. There is an isolation diode contained within the solar panel to prevent back-feed drain regardless of whether the lighter or clip-on cable is used.2) The Red LED on the lighter plug is your friend, if you know how to use it. a) Connect lighter plug to solar panel, but do not plug into lighter socket. Aim panel towards sun and observe that LED lights, then aim away from sun and it goes out. This proves that the panel is generating electricity. b) Disconnect lighter plug from solar panel and plug into lighter socket, with ignition off. Verify that LED lights. This proves that socket is live with key off. c) Connect lighter cord to panel, and install panel either on the dash, windshield or (my preference) on the passenger's visor which can be rotated to catch the best sun based on how you park. Protect the panel from the elements; this is not an outdoor panel.3) Do NOT disconnect when driving, just rotate so it does not impede your visibility. The isolation diode will protect the panel and vehicle from each other regardless of whether the car is running or not. Frequently plugging and unplugging the lighter socket increases the chances of a bad connection inside the socket. If you must disconnect, do so at the panel end instead, and make sure the LED is on before reconnecting. If it ever seems as though it has failed, repeat the tests in step 2 above.If you do the above, I think you'll find this does what you need it to, and does it well. Hopefully this fills in the gaps in the manual, as well.

My vehicle battery kept going dead after the vehicle sat for a couple weeks, it being our spare vehicle at the time it was not very handy for it to not start on those mornings you needed to leave and your primary vehicle was not running properly etc.I purchased this charger and hooked the alligator clips directly to the battery, the cable is long enough you can then run it inside the vehicle and plug it into the solar panel and place it in the dash. I ran the wires discreetly to keep it all clean looking and you cannot see the panel on the dash while driving (every vehicle will be different). After 5 months we still have not went to use the vehicle and had a dead battery so it works very well. I will be purchasing more for my other vehicles that sometimes sit and various yard/farm equipment that sits.I am impressed with the ability such a little panel has.Please keep in mind this panel will not take the place of a malfunctioning alternator or a "bad: battery, but it will prolong the life your batteries. drained car batteries loose life quickly, not being deep cycle batteries these batteries are not made for multiple "cycles" of the charge on them .

Obviously made in china, but I'm unusually impressed. Flaps that attach to suction cups have clothing snaps to tuck them neatly away and the power port plug (cigarette lighter plug) has a red light, which I quickly realized to be a great diagnostic tool.Plug the power port plug's pigtail into your vehicle without the solar panel while the key is out of your ignition. If it lights up, you have a live plug, not a switched plug. If it doesn't light up, you need to run a wire since power won't get to the battery otherwise. Also, when the pigtail is attached to the panel and not plugged in, you know if it's making power.I'll know in a month if this will keep my truck's battery from going flat.I really like the 2 pigtails they include, but it's wise to have a fuse between the panel and the battery, which is why back-feeding through a power port is preferable.

I am a truck driver, and my car sits for several days at a time. With all the technologies installed in todays new cars, they cause massive drain on your batteries. The first time my car battery was drained and I had to have a service call to jump start my vehicle, as soon as I go home, I was online with Amazon to find a battery charger I could use to trickle charge my battery and keep the cranking power of the battery at the proper levels. It will not overcharge your battery. I would recommend this product to anyone that their vehicle sits more than 3 days before using. It is easy to install and use.

This worked great. The motorcycle battery was dead, having been left unused for a solid year. I attached it in the late afternoon and it had enough juice to try to turn over the starter a few times, but the bike wouldn't start right away. I put it back on the next morning and the bike was running before noon. It was in full sun in the morning, and tilted up a bit to help with angle of exposure. This was exactly what I hoped this would provide and if you aren't in an all-fired hurry you could get by with one of these instead of a plug-in charger.

Usually after leaving the battery bank for two weeks or more, I come back and find them between 76%-81%. With this little trickle charger which Is in a port side window, the sun side of the sailboat, after two weeks came to sail and the battery bank was at 90%. It does what it says it will, I was very surprised because of it's small size and cost. Will see how well it does for a weekend trip.

I have used these solar powered trickle chargers for many years. They keep getting lighter in weight and this product is very light weight. I recently lost a perfectly good battery because I did not have a trickle charger and hadn't started the vehicle for several months. I have had trickle chargers on a car that gets started maybe once or twice a year and the car still starts right up. It is the best way to keep your battery in good condition if you don't use the vehicle regularly. I also use it on my boat over the winter and the battery has never failed. The only drawback on this particular product is that the length of the cables with the alligator clips is shorter than others I have owned. It still fits on my Suburban but with only inches to spare. Otherwise I am very happy.

I didn't have an application for this solar panel at the time of purchase. I ordered this particular panel because of it's specifications and also price value. Upon receipt we inspected the panel for physical defects and found none. We then load tested the panel to verify advertised output and it performed flawlessly. My only comment would be that I wished it would have come with Siamese bullet style connectors like some of the other brands of 'DC' chargers and maintainers out there instead of the 'DC POWER ' style connectors which would have made it compatible with the others. Maybe ALLPOWER could manufacture a small adapter that would do that function I can never give a product a ' 5 STAR RATING' only because there is always room for improvement ; like in the example stated previously The power available LED on the cigarette lighter plug is a ' PLUS ' but could have been incorporated into the panel itself to verify it was producing power irregardless of output choice In closing I would like to commend ALLPOWER on a great product at a reasonable price. I would welcome similar products from this manufacturer.Thank you !!!

This charger is primarily a battery maintainer. I tried starting my vehicle after two weeks. The battery had plenty of "juice" to start the vehicle. I had previously set the solar panel on my dash with cigarette charging cable attached. All charger equipment worked as designed.

Clip on to battery and stay charged. I purchased this product to keep my 06 Sportsman charged up between uses. My folks have had an atv for years (2000 Magnum) on the farm and after sitting from time to time the battery just couldn't maintain its charge, didn't want that to happen to mine. Have had the charger on for about a month now and electric start works every time.minus 1 star for the cheap fabric around the solar cells, wish it would have its own weather tight plastic case or thin aluminum box with window for the cells

I use this to keep my 8Ah fish finder battery charged on extended bushwhacking camping trips. Fished 3-4 hours every day for a week a couple times and this summer and this kept it charged. I wired the leads to a 12V marine plug and installed the receptacle end in my kayak and wired it to the battery. Let's me charge with the panel or plug in my phone charger and charge the phone from the battery. I also installed a stern post light. Make sure you keep the polarity correct if you do this.

I have a bass boat and I bought 2 of these to keep my trolling motor batteries charged while my boat is in outdoor storage. My outdoor storage facility does not have power to plug normal chargers into. I take my boat out about once a month and I just took it out. They should change the name of these to "Battery Maintainers" not battery chargers cause I don't think it charges the batteries very much. I think these just keep the batteries from dying is about all. I figured theyd charge up the batteries if I didn't use the boat but once a month...I just took out the boat after 2 months of storage and my trolling motor lasted 2 hours before it was completely dead and when using a normal plug in charger they'll go 10+ hours and still have over 50% of the charge when coming home.So id definitely recommend if you just want to keep your battery from dying but if you want it to actually charge up a 12v battery I'd go with some of the ones I saw that were 100W.

Fell apart from the heat, left all this small plastic fiber bits. But giving two stars because it does seem to charge, however i would still want them to use better materials.Update: The seller has contacted me and has assured me that this is a problem that they are trying to fix with the cloth, it seems to be related to the temperature. They have been courteous and prompt while trying to resolve my problem.I have upgraded the star review because of how concerned they are about my experience.

The charger itself seems to work okay. However, if your intention is to mount the solar panel on your deck to charge your ATV or lawnmower battery underneath the deck, good luck to you, because the cord from the panel to the clips is VERY SHORT. I had to find an alternate mounting area for the tiny cord to reach my Suzuki ATVs and Toro Zero-turn lawnmower.

hooked 2 to a Docooler 20A 12V/24V Solar Charge Controller Solar Panel Battery Regulator Safe Protection They dont seem to add enough charge to the battery to keep the battery charged and power the LEDs on the regulator.

It doesn't keep the battery on our motorhome charged when parked for over one month.

Works ok I guess. It doesn't have enough output to keep the car like I hoped it would. I bought this to keep the battery topped up in the jeep I use for snow plowing. The jeep has an aftermarket alarm on it that constantly draws power. The alarm will draw the battery in less than a week. This solar panel just isn't big enough for the job.

Only works when direct sunlight is available. If you plug it into a cigarette lighter outlet in your car and leave it on overnight, it will drain the battery. Therefore, it is not of any use as a trickle charger to maintain battery charge during long periods between driving the car.

Meant to be on the sun to charge your battery, but the material around the cell just disintegrates with the sun. Had to throw it away. It did keep the battery charge for a longer time, but could not keep it to just leave the car parked for extended periods and we have to change the battery in the end.

What a great idea. I'm retired so my car, 2005 Scion Xb, sits 3 or 4 days at a time without use so I got this. Plugged it into the socket, got the bright red light, but the radio started playing. Weird right. So figured I would use it but just always remember to turn off the radio when I turned off the ignition. Twice in the last week I've had to have a jump to get my car started. Still a bright red light coming from this power vampire. I've had it past the time to send it back and get a refund so I'm out the bucks on this one.

Do not order this solar charger if you need one to maintain an automotive battery on a later model car or truck that has a security system. It simply does not generate enough power to keep up with the parasitic draw on the vehicles battery due to the security system. I tried using this on a bone stock 1998 Honda accord with a fully charged AGM battery. The charger was plugged into a 12Volt power outlet that is active when the key is off. The car sat for two weeks without being driven with the charger plugged in. Needless to say, the battery was dead when I tried to start the car. Very disappointed!

This thing did not work and completely ruined my year old optima battery.The battery worked fine and had no problems.I used this thing because I dont drive my truck often. The truck still would die after a few weeks of not using it (my alarm system drains the battery)After a month or so the optima would only charge up to about 10% (Per autozones charging methods)

Per my measurements, this puts out about 160mA in direct sunlight in Florida. Voltage is right at 18v. Anything less than direct, bright sunlight and amperage drops down to ~40 - 60mA. Tested this using the cigarette lighter plug and with the alligator clips. I was thinking about permanently mounting this in my truck since it doesn't get driven much, but I'm not confident this will do an adequate job of keeping the battery charged, unless the truck is constantly moved so the panel gets direct sunlight.Also, like other have mentioned, the LED in the cigarette lighter pulls power from the plug itself. So if you leave it plugged in overnight, it will actually DRAIN your battery.

I bought one of these, tried it for a couple of weeks, and the voltage on my car battery, which was unused otherwise, actually decreased. I’ve an older car that, as long as I haven’t left a door ajar, doesn’t seem to lose any noticeable power when it sits. I thought this would be enough to offset occasionally opening it up and checking on a few things when it isn’t being used, but it just isn’t. Output voltage was close enough to the 18v, but it just doesn’t put out enough power. The position was good too. My car is facing south and almost completely unobstructed, so putting the panel on the dash was pretty much the ideal spot.At least the return process was quick and painless.For reference, it’s a mid-sized car that doesn’t take a ton of juice, a 2000 Subaru Outback.

ALLPOWERS 18V 5W Portable Solar Car Battery Charger Bundle with Cigarette Lighter Plug, Battery Charging Clip Line, Suction Cups & ManualWas hoping and praying this would be the answer. ...BUT...Doesn't work car is as dead as a door nail.!!!! Would NOT recommend.

No Bueno.....didn't charge for me at all like it says.....and I live in Phx AZ....lots of sunshine here.

Waste of money. Wire to the charging connection are thin as threads. No noticeable effect on battery.

Unfortunately it does not work at all. Keep it plugged in and it would not keep battery charged. Light on the unit does not light checked the fuse my be I just got a bad one.

is fine, but there is not a big difference with the panel or without for my 27 marine Battery (trolling motor).