C Class Sports Coupe - Trickle Charger

[pauloamore]

Hi,

I'm looking for a good mains powered trickle charger (that plugs into the cigar lighter).

The car is unused for 6 months of the year and is dead if not driven inside of a month. It is garaged and therefore a solar one can't be used. I'm hoping for safe connection via the cigar lighter to make it easier to use.

Does anyone have a recommendation? Can I be sure it won't blow the electrics or indeed go on fire with prolonged use?

Thanks in advance.
Paulo

[blueyes]

pauloamore said:

Hi,

I'm looking for a good mains powered trickle charger (that plugs into the cigar lighter).

The car is unused for 6 months of the year and is dead if not driven inside of a month. It is garaged and therefore a solar one can't be used. I'm hoping for safe connection via the cigar lighter to make it easier to use.

Does anyone have a recommendation? Can I be sure it won't blow the electrics or indeed go on fire with prolonged use?

Thanks in advance.
Paulo

There's only one way to go:

www.accumate.co.uk/cg010001.html

Optimate.

We use one for our stored vehilces and our 47kva generator 12 months of the year. Can't fault them.

[pauloamore]

[/quote]

There's only one way to go:

www.accumate.co.uk/cg010001.html

Optimate.

We use one for our stored vehilces and our 47kva generator 12 months of the year. Can't fault them.[/quote]

HI, thanks for that. Now, as the car is in Spain (I am in the UK), I don't know if :-

1) The cigarette lighter is powered when the ignition is off.
www.accumate.co.uk/it020003.html

2) If it is negatively earthed?

Anyone out there know?
Anyone power the C Class Sports Coupe via the cigar lighter?

Thanks again everyone!
Paulo

[steve-p]

There are others, I've been using one of these on and off for about 10 years:

www.airflow-uk.com/battery-conditioner.htm

They are cheaper now than when I bought it.

[steve-p]

pauloamore said:

1) The cigarette lighter is powered when the ignition is off.
www.accumate.co.uk/it020003.html

That's the main problem with the cigar lighter ones. In most cars nowadays, the cigar lighter only works when the ignition is on, or in the accessory position. I'm sure your Merc will be like that, as both of mine are. My charger has a separate lead which can be permanently connected to the battery, with a connector on the end. The output lead from the charger has a a similar connector and it can be connected up in seconds.

[pauloamore]

steve-p said:

pauloamore said:

1) The cigarette lighter is powered when the ignition is off.
www.accumate.co.uk/it020003.html

That's the main problem with the cigar lighter ones. In most cars nowadays, the cigar lighter only works when the ignition is on, or in the accessory position. I'm sure your Merc will be like that, as both of mine are. My charger has a separate lead which can be permanently connected to the battery, with a connector on the end. The output lead from the charger has a a similar connector and it can be connected up in seconds.

May I ask where the connecting leads go from the Battery? i.e.
At the battery, are your leads just screwed on under the clamps of the car power leads and are therefore semi-permanent?

At the end of your leads (those attached to the battery), are they short? / therefore just left dangling off the end of the battery when not used. I guess i'm trying to understand how I can keep the battery topped up, the alarm on (without keeping the bonnet open - alarm would sound) with the minimum of fuss. This is for my mother how doesn't want to have to keep removing the aircon filter to get at the battery everytime she needs to store / start her car - thus the need for convenience.

[steve-p]

pauloamore said:

May I ask where the connecting leads go from the Battery? i.e.
At the battery, are your leads just screwed on under the clamps of the car power leads and are therefore semi-permanent?

At the end of your leads (those attached to the battery), are they short? / therefore just left dangling off the end of the battery when not used. I guess i'm trying to understand how I can keep the battery topped up, the alarm on (without keeping the bonnet open - alarm would sound) with the minimum of fuss. This is for my mother how doesn't want to have to keep removing the aircon filter to get at the battery everytime she needs to store / start her car - thus the need for convenience.

Yes the leads have tags on the end which connect to the battery terminals in a permanent way. I don't know what the length is with the current models. With mine, the battery lead is only about 50 cm. This is because I originally bought it through the TVR Car Club and TVR batteries are in the passenger footwell, meaning a short lead was sufficient to just have the connector sticking through the carpet in the passenger footwell. However I've used it with other cars and generally it's fine to just coil it up and put it inside a plastic bag secured next to the battery, while leaving it connected to the battery of course. If you had a longer lead I guess you could route it anywhere you wanted for access. Leaving the bonnet open isn't an issue, because the lead is pretty thin and you can easily close the bonnet without damaging the wire. These things are only really trickle chargers so the cables don't need to carry much current. I'm sure this all applies to the OptiMate ones as well. One other thing which just might be a problem is if the alarm is very sensitive to voltage changes and decides to go off. This hasn't happened to me though.

[pauloamore]

steve-p said:

pauloamore said:

May I ask where the connecting leads go from the Battery? i.e.
At the battery, are your leads just screwed on under the clamps of the car power leads and are therefore semi-permanent?

At the end of your leads (those attached to the battery), are they short? / therefore just left dangling off the end of the battery when not used. I guess i'm trying to understand how I can keep the battery topped up, the alarm on (without keeping the bonnet open - alarm would sound) with the minimum of fuss. This is for my mother how doesn't want to have to keep removing the aircon filter to get at the battery everytime she needs to store / start her car - thus the need for convenience.

Yes the leads have tags on the end which connect to the battery terminals in a permanent way. I don't know what the length is with the current models. With mine, the battery lead is only about 50 cm. This is because I originally bought it through the TVR Car Club and TVR batteries are in the passenger footwell, meaning a short lead was sufficient to just have the connector sticking through the carpet in the passenger footwell. However I've used it with other cars and generally it's fine to just coil it up and put it inside a plastic bag secured next to the battery, while leaving it connected to the battery of course. If you had a longer lead I guess you could route it anywhere you wanted for access. Leaving the bonnet open isn't an issue, because the lead is pretty thin and you can easily close the bonnet without damaging the wire. These things are only really trickle chargers so the cables don't need to carry much current. I'm sure this all applies to the OptiMate ones as well. One other thing which just might be a problem is if the alarm is very sensitive to voltage changes and decides to go off. This hasn't happened to me though.

Thanks Steve,
very informative.

[blueyes]

To answer your questions re: the optimate

The ends that connected to the battery are fitted by loosening the battery connections, slipping the optimate metal connecters in the gap and then re-tightening the battery connectors.

The lead from the battery to the optimate is about 6-7 feet long and can be routed to wherever you want using cable ties to clip it onto the car's wiring. The plug at the end has a rubber cap so it's totally waterproof (fully tested on a jeep off road!). You could maybe feed it down so that it pops out under the number plate or near an air intake,(somewhere where you can find it but it can't be seen by other people) so you won't have to open the bonnet to connect it.

It would then be a simple process of popping the rubber cap, plugging in the optimate, then connecting it to the mains.

Hope that helps.