SOLAR POWERED TRICKLE CHARGER MK1

[Tony jinxy froude]

Hi Guys just bought one of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0211461282 got it through the post yesterday as im laying the car up over winter & found the battery goes flat fairly quickly if left standing for a while, thing is that the plug goes into the ciggy lighter, now on our cars the ciggy lighter is not live until the aux point has been reached on the ignition barrel, so without the key in it will not charge, shall i snip the plug off & connect it direct to the battery via croc clips ? what would you do ?, cheers, Jinxy

[cartledge_uk]

Just wire the cig lighter up to perminant live, then you dont have to cut the charger wires so its transferable.

If you do that (wire in the cig lighter) with clips (male/female pins) then when spring comes clip the cig back to live with ignition.

edited for typos

[spudgun]

I would try and wire it in permanently Tony, then you could get it re-classified as a hibrid

[Tony jinxy froude]

Nice one Steve , Tim if i wire the lighter up permanantly surely i would have to take the dash cowel off & run a live under the arm rest ? if so that sounds like a real pain in the ar$e to do just for a short term trickle charger surely its cheaper & less hastle to snip the wires & put on croc clips , Jinxy

[crazylegs]

Hi mate, why not just start her up once a week to keep the battery going ? A new one is only £35 ish from Toyota if it all goes wrong.

[Tony jinxy froude]

Hi Kev, the battery is less than a year old so its not the battery thats at fault, im sure ive got a small drain on the battery somewhere but you know what a pain in the ar$e that is to find i could start her up once a week, but at the moment the life in the battery doesnt last a week & i cant be ar$ed to go out there every other day & start her up, hence the purchase of the solar charger , if all else fails i'll just snip the charger wires & see if a direct connection helps keep it topped up, hopefully it wont be long before my new engine is in there & the nicer weather gets its ar$e in gear then i wont have to worry too much , Jinxy

[cartledge_uk]

Nice one Steve , Tim if i wire the lighter up permanantly surely i would have to take the dash cowel off & run a live under the arm rest ? if so that sounds like a real pain in the ar$e to do just for a short term trickle charger surely its cheaper & less hastle to snip the wires & put on croc clips , Jinxy

I keep on forgetting the 1b's lighter is in a different place

Yep, you'll have to run it under the arm rest to the radio area. snipping it is probably easaiest then.

[kaiowas]

Just pop the earth wire off the battery. Mine used to go flat if left for a couple of weeks but with the battery disconnected it'll happily sit there for months and months with no bother.

[spudgun]

If i was in your shoes, Tony, I would probably wire it into the dome light in the roof. Run a bit of wire forward and attach it to the sunroof/T-bar panel with some self adhesive velcro pads. This would then sit here happily doing its busines all the time but could be relocated when you wanted to take the panel out on a good weather day, maybe twice a year

Just a thought and the wiring aspect could be done in no time.

[kevin..in]

the key point you have missed here is that these tiny solar panels are infact crap, unless in full summer sun
(thats only 2 hours here in the UK )

your best with a mains powered unit and battery removed somewhere close to a power point

[GaryR]

I would either cut the wires and fix on some croc-clips, or buy a cigarette socket, wire some croc-clips onto that, and use it as an 'adapter' to connect to the battery - although it's a fair amount of hassle.

[010on1986]

I have a solar battery saver permanently wired to my na. I permanently wired it to the battery using a fused cable running to the glove compartment, terminating with a cigarette lighter socket in the glove compartment.

The solar charger sits on brackets slipped down in the seam of the dash board near the de mist vent. where the dash goes from soft to hard plastic.

does it work, I've no idea. I think it puts out 17v/1.5w in good light.

[MarkySan]

I bought one of those battery charges from costco for about £30 - you attach and it keeps the battery topped up without any overcharging.

[MattMR2]

I've just bought one from eBay too.
It's the same one they sell in Maplin who were selling it for £10 just before Xmas but its back up to to £20 now.

Anyhow, mine comes with two attachment options, one for the cigarette lighter socket and one with clips for direct battery connection which is what I'm using at the moment for my Mk2.

The flashing charging LED says it is doing its job in even the dimmest light.

Regards,

Matt

[Tony jinxy froude]

Cheers Matt, yep i was going to buy that sort, but the seller didnt take paypal so opted for the other one, wish i had gone for the other one now after all . Ive snipped the wires now & put a set of croc clips on & also rewire the LED into the leads so that i can still keep an eye on whats happening , cheers, Jinxy