Cigarette Lighter to Charge Battery

[Brightone]

A simple one for the enlightened.  Can I charge my battery using the cigarette lighter function in boot of Yeti?  I believe that if the lighter is always 'live' then you cannot. 

 

Just asking before I mess anything up.

[Munfred]

If the lighter socket is always live then you can, and it's easier as you dont need to keep the key turned in the ignition.

You'll obviously be limited to the current, but most chargers are quite low.

 

Ctek chargers can get a 12v lighter adapter instead of going to the battery. 

[longedge]

My car only comes out of the garage once or twice a week and then usually to nip to the shops and back. I just ordered the Ctek MXS 5 and a cig lighter connector adapter so I hope it works 🤞 🙂

 

p.s. although I intend leaving the drivers window open and using the socket between the seats.

Edited 2 July, 2019 by longedge

[Tilt]

Yep, solar chargers are good for this, tho not for longedge's situation..............

 

unless he doesn't have a roof on his garage, Lol.

[Brightone]

12 hours ago, longedge said:

My car only comes out of the garage once or twice a week and then usually to nip to the shops and back. I just ordered the Ctek MXS 5 and a cig lighter connector adapter so I hope it works 🤞 🙂

 

p.s. although I intend leaving the drivers window open and using the socket between the seats.

 

I will be interested to see how it goes, please let us know.

[Urrell]

13 hours ago, longedge said:

intend leaving the drivers window open and using the socket between the seats.

 

If doing that you need to go into the Maxidot options and disable "Rain Closing" because if that is active the windows close after about 12 hours.

[longedge]

43 minutes ago, Urrell said:

 

If doing that you need to go into the Maxidot options and disable "Rain Closing" because if that is active the windows close after about 12 hours.

Ahh.. thanks for the 'heads up'. Just for interest, before I make the change I'll try leaving the window open tonight and see what happens.

 

p.s. The charger's due at the weekend so I'll update in due course. As an afterthought, does the boot light go off after a set period? It would be just as easy for me to use the boot socket but I thought the window left open was perhaps a better option than leaving the boot open. @Brightone - sorry for the hijack 🙂

Edited 3 July, 2019 by longedge

[Urrell]

If only a thin wire it'll be OK in front door at the bottom, the seals will allow that much with no harm.

[weasley]

...or shut it in the door - the seals are thicker and more accommodating.

[Brightone]

No highjacking here, all information gratefully received.

[longedge]

Early findings:-

1. Both the cabin and boot cigarette lighter sockets are live and the charger works normally in each one.

2. As suggested the boot seal has got enough 'give' in it to allow the boot to be closed over the low tension charger lead, as in photo. I wouldn't risk the mains lead. I made sure the lead was in the corner away from the latch and I will also make sure that it's not the same part of the lead that takes the wear every time.

3. My driver window has been down for about 16 hours now. I have not checked my maxidot settings but I haven't changed whatever the default was as far as I can recall.

4. I'm not sure whether you lose any special diagnostic or remedial functionality in the charger by using it like this rather than connecting to the battery.

[longedge]

The charger got to float voltage overnight so, using the boot socket appears to present no problems at all.

[rum4mo]

My S4 sleeps in the garage most of its life and gets connected to one of these CTEKs, as the battery in that car lives in the boot, I leave the bonnet open and connect the +ve to the +ve jump start post and the -ve to the -ve jump start post - so not directly across the battery terminals, most people do avoid the earthy side of the battery especially with cars fitted with a BMS dongle and use the pillar bolt on the wing area.

 

The added bonus of leaving the bonnet open in my car while it is sleeping in the garage is, it has been attacked by small rodents in winter in the past, and I don't want a repeat of that, so I have a "pest scarer" plugged into the same dual output mains socket as the CTEK so closing the bonnet might shield the under bonnet area from that scarer. In 44 years of owning cars and keeping them in garages, I have only had one winter where they attacked the cars, not the 2015 Polo along side my S4, but it and a late 2009 Ibiza parked outside - and both cars only had the closed harm foam areas nibbled - the 2015 Polo does not have any of that material in it as far as I can see, so now the garage has one mains powered rodent scarer and 6 traps baited with peanut butter and set - well until I'm working on any of these cars and I bump into the traps and set them off! I think that I killed off that happy family!

Edited 5 July, 2019 by rum4mo

[Tilt]

@rum4mo did they like the insulation????

 

It was the under bonnet insulation on my A4, the acrobatic little critters....

[rum4mo]

3 hours ago, Tilt said:

@rum4mo did they like the insulation????

 

It was the under bonnet insulation on my A4, the acrobatic little critters....

 

It was the short blackish solid foam inserts at each end of the "below windscreen" sealing strip. The stuff that looks very like a type of expanded polystyrene - same material used in roughly the same area in the 2009 Ibiza - I was not amused, more like very angry, so first night of trap setting caught a single field mouse, second night 2 field mice, third night 2 field mice, fourth night 1 field mouse - then no more, so maybe that family were culled out!

[Tilt]

On 05/07/2019 at 22:11, rum4mo said:

 

- then no more, so maybe that family were culled out!

 

Or got clever, and are busy planning their revenge, 

 

You could get a cat or three, Lol.

[rum4mo]

21 minutes ago, Tilt said:

 

Or got clever, and are busy planning their revenge, 

 

You could get a cat or three, Lol.

 

Oh NO NO, we are not that type of family!

 

I don't might "live and let live", I mean in the past I've always been aware that some field mice were "over wintering" in the garage, the most annoying previous thing that field mice had done was to chew lots of bits off my set of mechanics mats, before that they chewed most of the foam covering from the handle of a grass feed/moss killer applicator - but this family had gone a bit too far and paid the price

[Brightone]

On 05/07/2019 at 13:16, longedge said:

The charger got to float voltage overnight so, using the boot socket appears to present no problems at all.

That is so helpful Longedge, reallly appreciate your description and photos.  Amazon, here I come.

[longedge]

👍 The post prompted me to to do what's been in my mind for a long time now.

[Brightone]

All done and dusted and up to power level 7 on the charger. 

 

Thanks for all your input. 👌

[pikpilot]

On the point about garage rodents, I have a colleague who lives just outside Berlin in a small town surrounded by woods. Damage to cars overnight by pine martins is very common. They particularly like to chew through flexible brake hoses and other rubber components. It is routine to check for debris/fluid leaks before staring off in the morning.

 

I mention this because you are in Scotland and there are proposals to reintroduce pine martins there, but you are doing the right thing by putting your car in the garage.