Solar Battery Chargers
Discussion
On occasion I end up leaving my tuscan sat in the garage for a few days undriven. It looks like on average the battery can survive for about a week before it drops to the point I can't start the engine.
In the ideal world I'd use a battery conditioner etc, but I don't have electricity in my garage, which somewhat limits my options..
There seem to be several solar chargers on offer which you're meant to be able to leave on the dashboard & plug into the cigarette lighter. I haven't found any yet which claim to be waterproof or have extension cables - I'm thinking of sticking one one on my garage roof & running a cable inside and through the windows seal.
Has anyone ever seen such a thing being sold for the purpose or am I venturing into the realms of bodging & electrical tape ?
Cheers,
Martin
In the ideal world I'd use a battery conditioner etc, but I don't have electricity in my garage, which somewhat limits my options..
There seem to be several solar chargers on offer which you're meant to be able to leave on the dashboard & plug into the cigarette lighter. I haven't found any yet which claim to be waterproof or have extension cables - I'm thinking of sticking one one on my garage roof & running a cable inside and through the windows seal.
Has anyone ever seen such a thing being sold for the purpose or am I venturing into the realms of bodging & electrical tape ?
Cheers,
Martin
On occaissions I have had to leave my Tuscan S for 3 WEEKS 
without being able to have a blast. So far I have never had a problem nor any major battery drain. Probably coz I kiss her goodnight and give her a big hug before closing the garage door!
I've managed a couple of weeks in the past, but recently have been taking the bike to work 3-4 days a week and the bit of driving on the other couple of days doesn't seem to be enough to reliably charge the battery back to full.. Or so it would seem anyway..
Drove 170 miles on Saturday morning, came to start it this morning and it started making that weird noise when it's failing to turn the starter motor and just clatters instead - or at least it sounds just like when I last let the battery drain too much
Voltage dipping to about 6 volts while trying to start it & normally it only drops to about 8 while the starter's turning, so I think it must be the battery.
Just found an outdoor charger at maplins which might do the trick - guess I'll need to get some live lines routed into the boot next so I can charge it in the garage - this one doesn't seem to have a cigarette lighter attachment.
Not what I needed today..
Drove 170 miles on Saturday morning, came to start it this morning and it started making that weird noise when it's failing to turn the starter motor and just clatters instead - or at least it sounds just like when I last let the battery drain too much
Voltage dipping to about 6 volts while trying to start it & normally it only drops to about 8 while the starter's turning, so I think it must be the battery.
Just found an outdoor charger at maplins which might do the trick - guess I'll need to get some live lines routed into the boot next so I can charge it in the garage - this one doesn't seem to have a cigarette lighter attachment.
Not what I needed today..
swordfish, why don't you just buy a big battery from halfords and plug it into the car (just stick a cable across into the fag lighter.
This will more or less stop drainage since it'll be 4x the size of the tuscan one.
Then all you need to do is charge up the big one every month or so (in the house).
stu
This will more or less stop drainage since it'll be 4x the size of the tuscan one.
Then all you need to do is charge up the big one every month or so (in the house).
stu
My cicumstances are identical.
I tried a small solar panel which was advertised at working from 6 to 12 volts.
It cost me about 12 quid so I took it as a gamble.
On a bright winter day I multimetered it.
6.8V!
In which way can that charge a 12v Battery?
Two in a row OK but how much for a Voltage limit system?
I use a large leisure battery to keep the car alive now if I leave it for more than a week or two.
It saves the car battery from draining dead.
Car batteries can give huge Amps for starting but are destroyed if they drain down. Leisure batteries are designed for a deep duty cycle but can't give the big Amps.
Combine for storage but do not EVER forget to disconnect before starting. The big batt. might bang.
hope this is of help.
Niall
I tried a small solar panel which was advertised at working from 6 to 12 volts.
It cost me about 12 quid so I took it as a gamble.
On a bright winter day I multimetered it.
6.8V!
In which way can that charge a 12v Battery?
Two in a row OK but how much for a Voltage limit system?
I use a large leisure battery to keep the car alive now if I leave it for more than a week or two.
It saves the car battery from draining dead.
Car batteries can give huge Amps for starting but are destroyed if they drain down. Leisure batteries are designed for a deep duty cycle but can't give the big Amps.
Combine for storage but do not EVER forget to disconnect before starting. The big batt. might bang.
hope this is of help.
Niall
Gassing Station | Tuscan | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff