CTEK Solar Panel Charge Kit – Product Review
July 9, 2022
We recently reviewed the excellent CTEK CS Free portable battery charger, giving it a glowing and well deserved five star rating, but the story doesn’t end there. With numerous peripherals available for use with the device you can make it an even more complete and practical package. There are myriad leads, mounting brackets and accessories, including the CTEK solar panel charge kit, which is what we’re looking at in today’s Product Review.
It’s all well and good having an all singing, all dancing, state of the art charger-cum-battery pack but all of that swankiness goes straight out the window if it runs out of juice when you’re slap bang in the middle of Nowheresville. And that’s where the solar panel charge kit comes in, giving you ultimate freedom when it comes to battery charging and maintenance and the peace of mind knowing that you can deal with any power supply issues that your classic car decides to throw at you. No power source? No problem, the CTEK solar panel charge kit has you covered.
Get your CTEK Solar Panel Charge Kit here.
The Product
Nobody is a stranger to solar panels in this day and age. We see them everywhere, including on people’s houses. Solar energy is eco-friendly, it’s sustainable and so we can feel warm (literally) and fuzzy knowing that we’re not adding to our CO2 footprint by taking advantage of it. The CTEK Solar Panel Charge Kit is a foldable solar panel that you can utilise to harness the sun’s energy to power your CS Free which in turn will charge and maintain your vehicle battery or charge any tech you want to plug into it.
It’s completely portable, delivering fast, reliable solar power to recharge or independently power your CS FREE wherever you go. It’s durable and waterproof too and can be set up in seconds, giving you complete freedom from mains power. Like the CS Free the CTEK Solar Panel Charge Kit is intelligent meaning it delivers the exact amount of power without overloading or damaging your battery and devices and features efficient silicon cells and a specially developed safety box, all contained in a handy carry case.
The Test
We’ve spoken before about our Volvo 940 turbo estate. It’s a work in progress and we’re sure any classic car enthusiast can read between the lines and realise what that actually means. Temperamental, prone to inexplicable losses of power, the ability to cut fuel to the engine at precisely the moment when you need it the most. Being a bit of a bugger, to put it bluntly. Don’t get us wrong, we love it and will continue to develop it into the car we want it to be but in the meantime we have to put up with these fits of capriciousness and one such area where it can misbehave is the battery.
We’ve had it tested and it’s fine but for whatever reason we’re yet to discover it sometimes goes flat. We’re not going to get into it in detail here but suffice to say we carry our CTEK CS Free with us wherever we go, just in case. One such jaunt was to the airport recently where we had to leave our mercurial steed for a couple of weeks. For fear of non-starting issues upon our return we plugged our CTEK Solar Panel into our CS Free and stashed it where the sun does shine – in the boot – in order to have a fully charged battery pack in case it was required.
The Result
When we were reunited with the car we discovered that the CS Free had been fully charged thanks to being attached to the CTEK Solar Panel Charge Kit. Due to the intelligent gubbins involved the unit doesn’t overcharge so it’s 100% safe to leave everything plugged in and connected without fear of damaging anything with excess voltage. As it turns out we didn’t need to enlist the help of our CS Free this time but it’s comforting to know that the Solar Panel Charge Kit works perfectly and provides a full charge when needed.
The Verdict – 5 out of 5
The CTEK Solar Panel Charge Kit, when paired with the CTEK CS Free charger, is a fantastic bit of kit that we feel is indispensable as far as portable, worry-free battery charging is concerned. Perfect for those of us with classic cars that are perhaps a little less robust, shall we say, as far as the electrics are concerned. Not only that but it’s ideal for camping and charging phones, torches and anything else that requires power when there is no mains supply. Yes, it’s expensive but in the grand scheme it’s a drop in the ocean for the peace of mind and complete freedom it provides.
