Solar Battery Chargers - do they work?
Discussion
My Cayman lives outdoors so I cannot easily put in a bateery conditioner but do not intend to drive thecar regularly over the winter months unless I can see the roads are ice free.
Do solar battery chargers like http://www.maplin.co.uk/solar-powered-12v-1.5w-bat... work, or are they a waste of time?
I have tried a search andthere is only one article on the Vauxhall Monaro forum where the OP seemed to have worse problems.
Do solar battery chargers like http://www.maplin.co.uk/solar-powered-12v-1.5w-bat... work, or are they a waste of time?
I have tried a search andthere is only one article on the Vauxhall Monaro forum where the OP seemed to have worse problems.
That particular one isn't great due to being low power (although it's rated at 1.5W it'll only produce that in ideal conditions - not UK winter ones) but a 3.5-5W rated one should be OK. I'm pretty sure you'll need to hook it up to the battery though (I don't think your cig lighter will work without the ignition on) - do so with care regarding connections, clearance to bonnet etc.
one of the guys of the PCGB fourm,has done this, see below
I use one of these in conjunction with a solar charge controller. Seems to work fine but I do give it a blast with the CTEK from time to time - just in case!
http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/icp-solar/se-50...
Shopped around and got it much cheaper than that price though.
I use one of these in conjunction with a solar charge controller. Seems to work fine but I do give it a blast with the CTEK from time to time - just in case!
http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/icp-solar/se-50...
Shopped around and got it much cheaper than that price though.
I bought the Maplin product because my battery would struggle to start my car (996T which lives outside) after a relatively short period. It works, plugged into the cigarette lighter. No doubt someone will be along soon to say it can't work in the long term because it doesn't generate enough power to compensate for the discharge rate, and that may be right (I don't know), but it must at least slow the discharge down because the battery is definitely stronger than without the charger. For me at least, problem solved. Would the car start if I left it for a couple of months? Dunno, and hopefully I won't have to find out. HTH.
I have one of these on mine....
http://www.ecofreak.co.uk/products/0/137/Sunsei-SE...
Had a dead battery prior due to lack of use in the winter.
Since having a new battery and using this I have had no issues, this is it's second full winter. I probably gets driven every 2 weeks or so.
In the TVR's garage there is an electric point so it has one of these,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Accumate-6v-12v-Battery-Ch...
When the TVR is out I put the Porsche on it for a day or two.
http://www.ecofreak.co.uk/products/0/137/Sunsei-SE...
Had a dead battery prior due to lack of use in the winter.
Since having a new battery and using this I have had no issues, this is it's second full winter. I probably gets driven every 2 weeks or so.
In the TVR's garage there is an electric point so it has one of these,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Accumate-6v-12v-Battery-Ch...
When the TVR is out I put the Porsche on it for a day or two.
Outofoffice said:
I bought the Maplin product because my battery would struggle to start my car (996T which lives outside) after a relatively short period. It works, plugged into the cigarette lighter.
Yep - works fine for me as well. I have it connected to the battery in the boot and the panel is underneath the rear window. If I had to take a guess, the rate of discharge is about half what it was before (albeit in my lowly 968).fido said:
Yep - works fine for me as well. I have it connected to the battery in the boot and the panel is underneath the rear window. If I had to take a guess, the rate of discharge is about half what it was before (albeit in my lowly 968).
Interested too - was It the 1.5w product you bought? Enough oomph?I have the 1.5W one & it doesn't keep up with the Boxster discharge, although it did on the 944. I suspect that because of the way it is parked in relation to sunrise - sunset & also the limited range of glass, especially at the angle it is. A Cayman is much bigger glass area more like a 944 so maybe better. I suspect the alarm on the Boxster (& Cayman) draws a lot of current, plus the radio memory draw is why the poor battery struggles.
SaintsPaul said:
Although my 996 is garaged I have no access to power.
Would this type of product work with the solar panel fitted outside the garage ?
I need to sort out something as the car could go 3-4 weeks without being used.
Yes but not all panels are weather proof though. Try a yacht chandlers for weatherproof ones.Would this type of product work with the solar panel fitted outside the garage ?
I need to sort out something as the car could go 3-4 weeks without being used.
As someone else alluded to, it doesn't matter how powerful the panel is if you plug it into the ciggie lighter socket. They are disconnected from the battery when the ignition is off. (well, at least my 2000 Boxster is; no reason to think it is different on other models)
In principle though, they would work, but 1.5 watts is pretty pathetic so even say with 4 hours of sunshine (if we were lucky) and no shade on the panel at all might give you 6 Watt.hours = 0.5 Ah - Given your battery is, say 80Ah capacity, that is 0.625% of capacity, which is pretty much the self discharge rate. That is not taking in to account alarms and other stuff, and assuming we get some sunshine.
So, if you had say a 10 watt panel you might get some joy, but you would have to wire it in directly, not via the lighter. Also remember, any shade on the panel will cut the output dramatically (i.e dis proportionally to the amount of shade) so that needs to be take in to account
In principle though, they would work, but 1.5 watts is pretty pathetic so even say with 4 hours of sunshine (if we were lucky) and no shade on the panel at all might give you 6 Watt.hours = 0.5 Ah - Given your battery is, say 80Ah capacity, that is 0.625% of capacity, which is pretty much the self discharge rate. That is not taking in to account alarms and other stuff, and assuming we get some sunshine.
So, if you had say a 10 watt panel you might get some joy, but you would have to wire it in directly, not via the lighter. Also remember, any shade on the panel will cut the output dramatically (i.e dis proportionally to the amount of shade) so that needs to be take in to account
Don't assume because of no sunshine equals no output, it doesn't. The critical bit is a reasonable amount of light. My really cheapy one will output just on a normal overcast day. So even in winter you'll get 6-8 hours of some output. My cheapy one in the 944 meant that instead of a flat battery in 2 weeks (just radio & alarm being supported) It would last for 5-6 weeks, so obviously was not enough to keep the battery up but postponed the day when it was jump lead time. I'd expect a much bigger one to more than beat the discharge. The briefcase ones are used on boats very successfully so must work.
..good thread, I've been playing with one too, only a 1.5W folding sort, my car lives outside, and only gets used once or twice a week, I plug mine in every time I use it, and it doesn't keep pace with the drain rate the immobiliser and tracker take out of it, I was going to go up in size next to see if that works better, the little green light is on.. my car will go 17 days from full charge to will only just crank over.
The tracker draws another <10 milliamps on top of the immobiliser, I've tried to just lock it on the key, instead of the button hoping that wouldn't trigger the immobiliser on, but alas..!
With say 15-20 milliamps drain, 24-7... I need to do the maths to get to grips with if any sort of solar working 5-6 hours a day would keep up, but it needs to be small enough to go on the dash inside the car, not the size of a fence panel.. !
The tracker draws another <10 milliamps on top of the immobiliser, I've tried to just lock it on the key, instead of the button hoping that wouldn't trigger the immobiliser on, but alas..!
With say 15-20 milliamps drain, 24-7... I need to do the maths to get to grips with if any sort of solar working 5-6 hours a day would keep up, but it needs to be small enough to go on the dash inside the car, not the size of a fence panel.. !
Edited by RatBoy M3CSL on Sunday 16th December 09:40
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