Charging battery while on vehicle

[myskoda]

Hi,

I do not use my car that much, i very often remove the battery to charge, which has caused me problems with the radio memory etc.

I have an "intelligent charger ", it states in the handbook, to disconnect both batter leads before attaching charger.

Can i ask, i want to leave the battery connected while i keep it topped up, is there a safe way of doing this

Many thanks

[rossa123]

You can apply the charger straight to the car while the batteries in situ.

If charging the battery in situ you should use a trickle charger that gives no more than 7 amps - larger may cause problems to other components.
Voltage can also cause an issue

The only thing you have to watch out for is how high the voltage on the charger goes to charge your battery. 

1) You will never get a problem charging an 'okay' battery
2) you will never get a problem with a decent car charger.

You will however get a problem with a completely flat battery, and I mean flat as a pancake with a charger that doesn't have the ability to sense a dead battery. In this instance the charger increases the voltage to a level sufficent to charge the battery. Its this raise in voltage that will potentially harm you cars electrics. I would monitor the voltage and anything up to 14v will be fine. If the charger gets the voltage up to 18-19v to charge your dead battery something is going to get damaged, and quick 

[DGW]

I charge my Fabia I and my Octavia II with a CTEK MXS 5.0 charger via the cigarette lighter/12V power supply sockets. The charger can safely be connected for extended periods.

[Bassets4eva]

Other point is that if it is a charger which cycles through its programme when the voltage drops it can set the alarm off.

[devonutopia]

I stick a Lidl charger on mine every now and then.  Never bother to disconnect the terminals.

 

I think there are solar panel type chargers you can stick on your dash, and it charges into the cigarette lighter whilst parked up?

[littleade]

I've not done this with my cars, but have used a battery mate on all the bikes I've had with no issues. Similar to above I just used to plug it onto the 12v socket on my beemer. The important thing to remember is to attach it with the mains switched off and turn the mains off before disconnecting to avoid any possobility of an explosion from the gasses given off by the battery during charging especially if you connect it direct to the battery under the bonnet.

[Alexandru]

I think there are solar panel type chargers you can stick on your dash, and it charges into the cigarette lighter whilst parked up?

 

I've checked that idea a few months ago, they don't have enough power to charge the battery .. very low amp output. A 12v, 4aH solar charger would be very big and expensive as well, so it simply doesn't do the job.

If I may add something regarding charging the battery while it's still connected to the car, please don't forget to take off that battery caps .. or else it might get pretty bad due to the pressure that could build up. I've seen in a garage .. the people there were leaving the cars with the running lights on while the battery was being charged. 

I'm currently using one of those cheap lidl battery chargers and it's purrfect (for my 55aH battery). Taking off or putting the battery back in takes less than 1 minute and compaired with other cars, it's just a joke. 

Edited 14 February, 2015 by Alexandru

[mannyo]

The solar charger only needs to supply more power than is currently being consumed to keep a battery topped up, I've used one with great success in the past.

 

If the battery is good and reasonably charged, then they are perfectly good for maintaining a charge. I would not use one to charge a battery though, just to keep it maintained.

[myskoda]

Many thanks.

[Gti Fly]

I stick a Lidl charger on mine every now and then.

 

 

I've done the same on my Golf.

 

I have also got the lidl charger (about £12-15),  and have it plugged to my car directly to the car battery for sometimes weeks on end in my garage.

 

  No problems and it's been used like this for maybe 5years

 

Same car battery now for over 9years too,  so really no long term issues at all