Solar Powered Battery Trickle Chargers

The Oily Bits S1 Specific Topics
1

Yes, Yes … I know this is England, and it’s the middle of winter but, my Exige is parked in a secure compound with no chance of running a mains power supply to it so I thought ‘solar power, can’t do any harm?!’ - can it?

Any one with any experience of these type of chargers? Does the variable power delivery cause any problems/set the alarm off or anything daft like that?

2

I never had a problem, don’t know how much good it did though.

Tends to work less well under a cover though, which it really should have if left for reasonable periods outside.

Ian

3

Do you have a particular model in mind…I have been looking at the Silva range for a different reason.

Silva Solar II 12v charger

[image]http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/images/products/big/57118.jpg[/image]

4

I had a solar power charger, and the battery on my puma still went flat after a week or so of it being plugged in, I have now got a CTEK TRICKLE CHARGER which has been fantastic, and we have also added the extra terminal connectors to our other cars so we can just swap the charger over if needed.

Although not much use if you haven’t got a power source!!

5

I’ve been having a look at the dash mounted 1 or 2 Watt chargers eg Select Solar - The Solar Power Specialists in Essex and throughout the UK just not sure if they have enough output to keep a battery charged if running with the alarm on etc - and yes, point well made about covering the car … hmmm

6

My Mister 2 has always leaked charge. I have tried all sorts and had a couple of ‘experts’ look at it to no avail.

I bought a ‘quality’ Chinas finest solar trickle charger of on’t tbay for about 25 quid and never had a problem since…

It’s a T Bar so I stuck it in the space between the removable headlining and the glass roof on the drivers side and connected it straight to the battery.

I had it parked in my new garage for a fortnight and it was totally dead. So I supose this proves it’s been maintaining the battery for about 2 years and replacing the lost charge.

I then connected my mains trickle charger (accumate type thing) and it had it back to tip top charge in 3 days.

I keep the trickle charger on the Elan mostly and it works a treat.

Hope this helps

Simon