Solar Battery Charger?

Hi.. Has anybody tried using one of those Solar battery top up chargers that plug into the cig lighter etc??? Any good, or best to wire direct to the battery?? 1998 4.6Hse

all depends on whether the ciggie lighter is live when the ignition is off. i used to have one on my caravan when it was in storage and did what it was supposed to, best to connect to the battery directly just to be on the safe side.

I was thinking of get one of them for my p38 but didn't find one that would put out much power unless you want to pay ££££££

Let us know how you get on with it and how much you spent

p.s. think you'll need to wire it straight to battery. cig lighter isn't live when ignition is off..

The cig lighter and the socket in the boot are not live when the ignition is off. I rewired the boot socket so that it is permanently live when I did the tow hook wiring. I lay a large solar panel that I use for the caravan on the parcel shelf with a regulator to control the charge. Works great.

I've got an 8W one, which I no longer need.
PM me if you're interested.

If you look at the output they put back into the battery (its very small) its doughtfull they would help that much,

Had a customer once , we re-wired his cig lighter to perm live so he could use one of these as his convertible was a summer car only.
Came back complaining it didn't work, to cut a very long story short he was using it on the rear paecel shelf.....................in his garage!:doh:

I have one, tried it through the cig lighter, wired to be live all the time, the charger kept blowing fuses. So have tried it wired direct to battery. To be honest I havnt noticed any change to battery drain issues. Now just stick battery on charge over night when its cold, like now. that seems to sort the issues out.
Mind my battery is 3 yrs old, so for a P38 thats well passed it sell by date.

Just ordered two differnt ones form ebay, one fore my BMW540i and one for my parents volvo. Only £15 a piece delivered.

Checked the BMW one and lighter is still live with ignition off so I will let you know how well it works, its a big 900 amp 90AH battery so if it can mange that should be ok on a rangie!

Luckily the calssic battery doesnt drain much so I dont need one for that lol

fett said:

Just ordered two differnt ones form ebay, one fore my BMW540i and one for my parents volvo. Only £15 a piece delivered.

Checked the BMW one and lighter is still live with ignition off so I will let you know how well it works, its a big 900 amp 90AH battery so if it can mange that should be ok on a rangie!

Luckily the calssic battery doesnt drain much so I dont need one for that lol

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ave you gorra link to them please

Datatek said:

The cig lighter and the socket in the boot are not live when the ignition is off. I rewired the boot socket so that it is permanently live when I did the tow hook wiring. I lay a large solar panel that I use for the caravan on the parcel shelf with a regulator to control the charge. Works great.

Click to expand...

Eh? What socket in the boot?

Guy

I got ine from MAplins for £9.99

You can buy them from any camping /caravaning place, usually just over a tenner.....they are only supposed to keep the battery from discharging when not in use, they will not charge the battery if low or flat........you can buy the suit case style ones that I also have for my caravan for around £60-£70 pounds, they are better and will charge a battery, put enough charge into my car battery earlier in the year from completely flat to being able to start the car in just over an hour and half.....

Socket in boot, drivers side, under access panel......

hoarec said:

Socket in boot, drivers side, under access panel......

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Ooh, I'll have to have a look for that.

How does one make it permanently live? Is it easy or a pain?

hoarec said:

Socket in boot, drivers side, under access panel......

Click to expand...

Is that OEM or aftermarket?

I fitted one that I've wired off the tail light for running a flashing beacon, maybe I didn't need it?

I've had 3 different ones from maplins (1 robbed, 1 broken, still using third) and have been v.happy with them. The £10 one from maplins kept my 200tdi starting on the button even after being parked for months at a time, even in snow last year.

I thought that it was fitted as standard.....

do they vary much on output at the 10 to 30 price range, my battery goes flat overnight, thought one of these might help but just realised they needs some sun to power em and we dontget much at night. DOH

here you go matey.

12v Solar Panel Battery Trickle Charger caravan car on eBay (end time 11-Jan-10 09:31:29 GMT)

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kooky_guy said:

Ooh, I'll have to have a look for that.

How does one make it permanently live? Is it easy or a pain?

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Run a 4mm wire from the battery via a fuse to the boot. I ran mine along the chassis rail in a protective tube. Useful for lots of things as long as you remember not to run the battery down