A trickle charger for a s2 elise

[Shearecj]

I am looking for a trickle charger for a series 2 lotus elise for storage. However the garage has no power sockets. Are there any that don't need to be plugged in?
Any advice. I am getting sick of starting the car weekly to keep the charge in the battery.

[AdrianR]

There are solar things but they don't deliver a lot of oomph, especially this time of year. If you don't need it alarmed you could fit a cut out switch which would stop the battery drain when unused.

[Shearecj]

Can you explain this in a little more detail?

[dunxS1]

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=21785...

As stated i'm not sure how good they are,(mines hooked up to a mains powered trickle charger) I don't arm the alarm when I leave the car standing for long periods,just the imobiliser to disable the car.A removable steering wheel is also a good anti theft device.
Dunx.

[LRGS2]

I have an Accumate from Elise Parts and this has been faultless.

[Shearecj]

Unfortunately the Accumate, while it appears very good, if a mains charger and I have no access to mains power in the garage. Any ideas?

[AdrianR]

Shearecj said:

Can you explain this in a little more detail?

The solar thing is as posted by dunxS1 - if you can get this inside a window or on the roof of your garage then you can use it to top up your battery, but not much and only if it's quite sunny so may not actually do enough.

Your battery will be going flat because something on the car is drawing power even when it's parked. If you fit a cut-out switch to isolate the battery (switch off when you park, switch back on to drive) then it won't go flat. Downside is there is no power to run anything, so not suitable if you want/need the alarm on.

AdrianR

[Shearecj]

So this cut out switch is something a garage could fit for me yeh?

[dunxS1]

http://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/37/270/sol...

Not sure if this http://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/57/366/fia... is exactly what you want. A good garage can fit one no problem.
maybe this http://www.elise-shop.com/battery-switch-dual-func...

Dunx.

Oh just found this too
http://www.elise-shop.com/battery-isolator-dual-fu...
Seems just what you may need.

Edited by dunxS1 on Friday 29th January 14:16

Edited by dunxS1 on Friday 29th January 14:19

[Sicob]

Battery cut off under the bonnet. Parts from demon tweeks. best get a Lotus garage to fit. Basically same as the race versions, but not cut through the bonnet. Simply kills all power, great if you are leaving the car for some time. No alarm or immobiliser to will invalidate theft insurance if used.

I also had a jackson clip in the passenger footwell compartment that connected directly to the car battery. If battery ever went flat, plugged in a spare battery with jackson lead fitted (male/female) to fitting in footwell, turned engine on, so no need to remove battery.

[AdrianR]

To try it on the cheap, there is a thing called a 'Dis-car-nect' that goes on your neg battery terminal (assuming the S2 has a battery with round terminals in an accessible space, which I don't know) You unscrew a knob to isolate the battery...have got one of these on our tractor, works fine and if it will handle the current to swing a huge diesel engine then I'm sure it'll be fine on the Elise.

If it does the trick, you can pay for a prettier/more accesible solution.

[AdrianR]

Off topic, but as it happens I've just bought a (mains powered) trickle charger for mine from CTEK after the battery went flat...left in on for a few days, light on charger goes green to say all well but when I tried to start the car, flat as a pancake, barely enough to prime the fuel pump so (2) I think my battery has had it and (2) The CTEK isn't as smart as its makers think it is.