The influence of stellar activity on the fundamental properties of stars around and below 1M_{sun}_ is not well understood. Accurate mass, radius, and abundance determinations from solar-type binaries exhibiting various levels of activity are needed for a better insight into the structure and evolution of these stars. We aim to determine absolute dimensions and abundances for the solar-type detached eclipsing binary V636Cen, and to perform a detailed comparison with results from recent stellar evolutionary models. uvby light curves and uvby{beta} standard photometry were obtained with the Stroemgren Automatic Telescope, radial velocity observations with the CORAVEL spectrometer, and high-resolution spectra with the FEROS spectrograph, all at ESO, La Silla. State-of-the-art methods were applied for the photometric and spectroscopic analyses.