I've heard people say to use a diode between the solar panel and the battery to avoid the panel draining power after dark. Anyone have experience with this? Also what is the mA rating on your solar panels and mAH on your batteries?
My camera batteries never went dead so I did not put the diodes in line. I did do it on my feeder setups but they lasted just as long as without.
Many newer panels come with the diode built in which is why GLC (and others) may have never had problems; you can always add a diode if not sure- it won't hurt.
The biggest thing that many miss, is that at least once per year (more often if solar-panel is undersized), you should pull the battery and put it on a intellilgent charger for 16+ hours. A solar panel can only 'replentish' charge, and cannot makup a battery that has been depleted. A plain solar panel does not have a regulator in it, and cannot charge the battery to optimum full. NO solar panel can slow-charge the battery for 16 hours to fully-reset the charge to full. Doing this the battery will last 5-7 years.
A rechargeable (SLA) that is low on charge going into a cold winter will actually freeze the electrolyte, destroying the battery immediately.