Solar Panel Trickle Battery Charger

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Hi,

Just bought one of these. The local car chappy, said he has had lots of people asking for these, as they send a gentle trickle to the battery, no need for mains. 12V etc etc. Attached to outside of garage with lead going directly to battery, so will trickle a charge during the day. Just clipped on top of the battery unit + and -. Didn't remove the existing connections, just clipped onto the kinda circular element that was visible etc. Hopefully going to work :) I will be using my car every 3 weeks or so, given the bad weather. Wondered if anyone else had a similar experience or had tried these? The alternative was £69 for a mains charger.

Steve
 
£18 :) will see what happens over the coming weeks. I will check if the little blue charging light is on tomorrow, that's a start i guess lol.
 
Right, I aborted on this. Couldn't get a decent location to get a charge going. The solar panel needs a lot of light, and there is not much around!

Time to go to a mains one :)
 
Yeah, its hard to tell if it works, it is supposed to have a blue light when charging, but outside, you cant get it to go on. Inside the house, bizzarely under a light it works. Anyway, after 3 weeks of the car in the garage it started first time, but im unsure as to whether it's the trickle charger or the quality of the battery.

Ordered a CTEK Multi XS3600 Battery Charger - http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs3600.php
 
Shidevil said:
Yeah, its hard to tell if it works, it is supposed to have a blue light when charging, but outside, you cant get it to go on. Inside the house, bizzarely under a light it works. Anyway, after 3 weeks of the car in the garage it started first time, but im unsure as to whether it's the trickle charger or the quality of the battery.

Ordered a CTEK Multi XS3600 Battery Charger - http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs3600.php
Click to expand...

I've got a CTEK XS800 - had my Elise plugged into it for the last 18 months or so whilst I've been in Afghanistan. I've been home every 3-4 months or so and it's kept the battery in first class condition. I was going to go for the 3600 but I was told the 800 could handle it and it has with no problems. Cheaper too.
 
I have a CTEK XS800, as above cheaper than the 3600 and more than capable of keeping the battery topped up, would only be a problem trying to recover a flat battery as it would take a while to charge.
 
Shidevil said:
Hi,

Just bought one of these. The local car chappy, said he has had lots of people asking for these, as they send a gentle trickle to the battery, no need for mains. 12V etc etc. Attached to outside of garage with lead going directly to battery, so will trickle a charge during the day. Just clipped on top of the battery unit + and -. Didn't remove the existing connections, just clipped onto the kinda circular element that was visible etc. Hopefully going to work :) I will be using my car every 3 weeks or so, given the bad weather. Wondered if anyone else had a similar experience or had tried these? The alternative was £69 for a mains charger.

Steve
Click to expand...

My bird had one of these solar powered chargers. It didn't work at all so it went back to the shop.

Do you really need to top up a battery like this anyway ? I sometimes don't drive for up to 3 weeks, including the last 3 weeks due to the bad weather, but when I go back to it the Z always starts first time with absolutely no issue.
 
The theory is OK on solar chargers, except those I have seen have no overcharge protection, so they just carry on pumping current to the battery. Way better to get a propor charger and conditioner that charges the battery then shuts off, just monitoring voltage.

I use Halfrauds. Fairly expensive, but it can handle latest generation batteries correctly.
 
These are very useful, especially on older cars, cars that get little use or cars with a drain.

Definitely cheaper on ebay and worth every penny. Check the charge values though and ensure they have good electrical wiring, mine snapped after a year..
 
Shidevil said:
Ordered a CTEK Multi XS3600 Battery Charger - http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs3600.php
Click to expand...
Just ordered exactly the same one, just hope it recovers my currently dead battery.
 
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