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I'm looking at getting a solar battery charger as I don't drive my car for weeks at a time it's to keep the battery topped up when fully charged. Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with them
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My personal experience was that they worked probably better than the manufacturer intended.
<bodge confession>
I used one for a couple of weeks when I was too skint to replace the alternator in my Ka. Fortunately, it was summer (long days, short nights) and I got away with not using the car every day.
This was in 2003 and the solar cell thing was about a tenner from Makro. I'm sure the technology has improved since then.
Which model are you looking at?
There might be data online that lets someone give a better answer.
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I've not found a model yet, my car has a new alternator and battery but I don't drive it for a month at a time and the alarm kills the battery. If anyone has any suggestions based on personal experience it would be great
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I know it's not the personal experience you're asking for, but you could of course measure how much mA the alarm is drawing and also see how much mA the panel is giving off. This should give you an idea if charging, keeping up, or still drawing (and at what rate).
Of course this would mean actually buying one first...
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I had a bit of a look a while ago, as if I leave any of the cars for over 5 days they battery seems to die..
You can get some of the bigger ones that are more like 4.8/5W for not a lot more than the 1.5W ones...
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taurus
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,084
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They work very well if you don't have access to 240v. Otherwise I'd use a low amp maintenance charger.
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Indie
Part of things
Wtd : Carlton/205 bits
Posts: 154
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I got one from Maplin in their special offer pile for £9.99. The lead is long enough for it to sit on the parcel shelf and plug into the cigarette lighter.
I never measured it's output but as it's Solar powered this would obviously vary.
It kept my BMW 523 fine from weekend to weekend when the (very) expensive battery was on it's way out.
For the £10 I paid I thought it was worth it.
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dgo
Part of things
Posts: 41
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I had one of the cheaper ones also from Maplin like Indie above though if I recall mine was about £20. Not impressed, needed decent sunny days and direct sunshine. Ended up buying a Battery Tender like this: www.amazon.co.uk/Deltran-Battery-Tender-Waterproof-800/dp/B000CITKCE which is waterproof as it's designed for bikes. Used it since to keep a diesel battery alive |
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