Hi,

 

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for trickle charging the battery in my Fabia Estate. I'm not going to be using it for about 6 weeks and I don't want the battery going flat. I can't run a charger to it so was wondering about a solar panel charger; something like this - http://shop.theaa.com/store/view-all-1/car-battery-solar-charger but wondered if anyone else had any experience or ideas.

 

Thanks

Ben

Ideally a optimiser as that will cycle the battery not just charge it

I use one on my motorbike over the coldest winter month's

In my experience. that charger will not do too much!  When connected to a "well" charged healthy battery, it will produce 150milli amps under blue sky direct sunlight conditions, under grey sky conditions it will give around 20milli amps. I bought one a few months ago to help stave off intermittent battery drain on an Ibiza with the same battery, over the course of a few months in what gets called summer, that car kept its battery okay when the car was left for a week for so - but a couple of weeks ago I left it at the local airport with the charger connected - car failed to start, luckily I had a booster battery in the boot!.

 

So, if you are an AA member that price drops down to under £20, also as said by clunkclick in another topic, the direction of parking the car might become important so that you help it see as much direct sunlight as possible. Another thing is, do you think that car has heavy normal battery drain, if is, nothing will beat disconnecting that battery

I use one of these, works in the same way as the more expensive Ctek trickle chargers but at third of the price Mine's now three years old and still going strong...

 

http://www.leisureoutlet.com/caravans-and-motorhomes/Battery-Chargers_2/Maypole-Electronic-Battery-Charger-3-8A-6-12V.html?gclid=CjwKEAjw1qHABRDU9qaXs4rtiS0SJADNzJisnu7KgElvYBoZzAhAEWfaqzBfXKyIxAIOcmGdrUj6cBoCoIjw_wcB