SOLAR Battery charger any good??

[Moraystag]

Was looking through Ebay last night looking at Solar battery trickle chargers. Are these any good as they were very cheep ranging from 10 quid upwards.
Also many have reference to 2 x crocodile clips + a cigarette lighter connection. Now this got me puzzled.
Can you trickle charge your battery through the cigarette lighter, ????

Mike

[jleyton]

Hi Mike,

I don't know about how effective the trickle chargers are, although the phrase 'you get what you pay for' springs to mind, but I don't see any reason why you shouldn't trickle charge via the cigar lighter. It is connected to the battery and electricity can flow both way through the wires.

You even see some car starter devices that are supposed to work through the cigar lighter - that I'd be extremly doubtful about, but a trickle charge to the battery seems to make perfect sense to me

Cheers

Julian

[Moraystag]

Cheers Julian. It was more for my XK as for what ever reason my wife left it for a week and when she went to start it the battery was dead, the doors would not even unlock. Now she swore that she had left nothing on, but she would have anyway.
Had to take the car back to the dealer and get everything reset as various warning lights were coming up on the console screen. They could find nothing wrong with the battery or nothing else which could have discharged it so quickly. Not sure if I could plug in a solar trickle unit via the fag lighter. To be honest I was suprised it even had a cigarette lighter in the first place as most manufacturers don't even put them in now. Well our last 2 x discos have no cig lighter.I will see what the general opinion on solar chargers is as I'm sure a few guys on here will have tried them out.

Mike

[milothedog]

Mike, you can charge through a cigi lighter but you first need to check it is still live when the keys are out the ignition as some are not.

I personally think these solar chargers are as useful as an ashtray on a speedboat, chocolate teapot etc etc........

Only my views

Ian

[grumpy2]

I have one from maplin. They come in different amperages which in turn depend on the size of the solar cells. They will not charge a flat battery but they will compensate for the drain caused by systems on standby. My old mini has a fancy alarm, radio and separate immobiliser. With the ignition switched off the drain is about 100mA, fine if you use the car every couple of days but during the winter it only comes out about once a fortnight. The solar charger keeps the battery topped up and the mini always starts first time.

So they do have some use

Gary

[Jeff]

Was looking through Ebay last night looking at Solar battery trickle chargers. Are these any good as they were very cheep ranging from 10 quid upwards.
Also many have reference to 2 x crocodile clips + a cigarette lighter connection. Now this got me puzzled.
Can you trickle charge your battery through the cigarette lighter, ????

Mike

Dave (DJT) has a good one but mine was useless.

Jeff

[Moraystag]

Cheers guys still not 100 % convinced they will be much cop!!!

[Giles]

Hi I have a maplin one. As others have said it will not charge a battery. If right by a window I reckon it might br enough to off set the immobiliser and clock but that is about all. I know it sounds obvious but where you put it makes a big difference. Right up against the glass of the window in my garage is much better than a bit away from it but still in strong light. If you have a power source I would get a mains maintenance one although those vary a lot in quality. If no power source better than nothing.

[Dave Worrall]

I have one in my Transit. I only use the van about a couple of times a month to take the Go-Karts to the track which meant the battery kept going flat and had to be jump started ever time I used it. But since getting a trickle charger I have not had any probs starting it.

Hope this helps.

Dave.