Solar Trickle Charger (1 Viewer)

[MikeandCarolyn]

When we came back from 5 weeks in France,the battery on my Volvo S60 did not have enough guts to start the car-enter friendly local garage owner with his power pack.It started 1st time and I gave him £5 for a drink.
Next day I bought a power pack with a compressor from Halfrauds in case it happens again.
After our next trip of only 3 weeks there was JUST enough power to start it-although it sounded as though it wouldn't
I have now invested £29ish in a Solar trickle charger,which I will leave on car for our next trip which is of about 10 weeks.I will,of course report back,but was wondering if anyone had tried one of these chargers ?

 

[scotjimland]

never tried a solar charger, I guess it will help provided it's sunny ... how much will depend on the battery drain ie, the phantom or parasitic loads like alarm, radio etc

, when I leave a vehicle for an extended time I disconnect the negative cable from the battery .. of course you lose the radio code, and the alarm (if fitted ) but that happens anyway if the battery goes flat

 

[robnchris]

draining batteries

Difficult one this, car battery draining whilst left for a lengthy period, we tend to lock the doors with the key rather than the remote this then doesn`t initiate the alarm, (we don`t tell the insurance company of course), there is the immobiliser anyway, ok the clock is still ticking away but 6 weeks and the cars appear fine so far.

Like the idea of the trickle charge solar panel though. :thumb:

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[Wildman]

my old landy has no electronic and stays charged for months, hee hee
beast was often left months with a 5Watt panel to trickle charge and did the job fine.

 

[Dodgey]

Can't answer the trickle charger question but it sounds more like there is an issue with the chargeing , battery on the car or possible a fault with one of the 'parasitic' (like it) loads.

If the batteried a few years old that'd be my favotire, worth checking out anyway?

 

[MikeandCarolyn]

Can't answer the trickle charger question but it sounds more like there is an issue with the chargeing , battery on the car or possible a fault with one of the 'parasitic' (like it) loads.
If the batteried a few years old that'd be my favotire, worth checking out anyway?

I did ask 'friendly local garage owner' about this , and asked him what could be done to avoid the problem.He knows my Volvo and felt that there was nothing wrong with it.
His stance seemed to be "what can you expect with all the technogoly in modern cars" his advice was to either disconnect battery (and put up with the inconvenience thus caused) or leave it connected to an intelligent charger.

Mike.

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[656]

I had a problem with the van battery going flat when left in storage so bought the best 12v battery pack from Machine Mart - Link Removed but it did not have enough power to start the van. I took it back and bought this - Link Removed. Started the van with no problem. A couple of weeks later had a Battery Master fitted as I have Solar panels on the roof. Now, once the van batteries are charged, the extra power is sent to the engine battery. No more flat batteries :thumb::thumb::thumb: I never found the trickle chargers to be any good!!!

 

[JockandRita]

or leave it connected to an intelligent charger.

Mike.

That would be the option for us if we had the same problem, as we have to move the car out of the way, to get the MH back on the drive.

I would always prefer the car to be ready for immediate use when I came back home. :thumb:

Regards,

Jock.

 

[MikeandCarolyn]

That would be the option for us if we had the same problem, as we have to move the car out of the way, to get the MH back on the drive.
I would always prefer the car to be ready for immediate use when I came back home. :thumb:
Regards,Jock.

That's the crux of the matter Fortunately the first time it happened Carolyn had put the Volvo just far enough into the drive after I had taken MH out so that I could put MH in front of it-but I couldn't close the gates as nose was about 6" too far forward.
This time I had told her to put Volvo right and the end of drive,so I could get MH in and lock gates after it.
We do have Carolyn's car in another drive-so it's not a big deal-just irksome oh:

Mike.

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[paulmold]

I have two solar trickle chargers, a 2.4watt from Maplins which I take around in the MH and use if I'm not moving off site for a couple of days and a 4.8watt (which I got off ebay for peanuts) I leave on the dashboard when at home and I've left it for 3/4 weeks at a time and MH has never failed to start. I bought the first one after my battery was dead after 2 weeks, probably due to alarm/immobiliser and CD player memory draining it. I know a lot of people reckon they are rubbish but I'm certainly pleased with mine.

 

[Snowbird]

I have 2 of the trickle chargers,one I use to keep the engine battery charged on the RV which stands for months.
The other I have wired directly to a small fan on the RV fridge which helps keep it cool when the sun is shining,they were £10 each from one of the cheap shops and they both do the job I bought them for,maybe I am just lucky.