solar trickle charger..

[armadillo]

Anyone had any experience of these? Skoda Octavia Scout 3. Will it work via the 12v "cigarette lighter "female socket" rather than croc clips to battery terminals? i.e. is that socket connected to battery even with no key in the ignition?

thanks

[Warrior193]

Hello, welcome to the forum. Yes, the 12 volt sockets are live at all times.

[armadillo]

Thanks Warrior...that is good to know. I have used a mains intelligent charger via the battery terminal and negative earth point on the bulkhead several times before  for an absence of up to 2 months and all was good on return. This time I will have no mains so looking for an alternative method.

 

Anyone actually used a solar trickle charger through the 12v socket for an extended period..e.g. 4 weeks?

 

Anyone got  a recommendation for a good "unit"?

 

thanks for reading

[Breezy_Pete]

Only thing to consider is that a solar panel, unless with an additional controller of some sort, will not be able to stop charging if/when the battery is full.

An intelligent charger will switch off when it detects fullness, in contrast.

 

A low power panel, say 10W or less, is unlikely to do any harm (especially at this time of year) in my opinion, but AGM/EFB batteries in recent start/stop-equipped cars are deliberately kept shy of fully charged by the car's charging control system.

Some/most people buy the claim that this is to allow headroom for regenerative charging during braking/overrun, but I think it may be more to do with protecting the battery from overcharge/overheat situations. 

In a static solar charging situation the battery and engine bay temperature is going to be nice and low though.

 

[armadillo]

thanks Pete.. that's food for thought. Interesting, and makes me wonder if it's worth buying one.

That's why I was hoping someone on here had actually used one and could let me know how they fared..maybe someone has/will.

 

I guess just leaving the vehicle with no charge would run the battery right down in a month?

What do others do in such a circumstance?..remove negative terminal from battery? What sort of fun and games might that produce I wonder?

[EnterName]

On 18/09/2023 at 19:01, armadillo said:

Anyone had any experience of these? Skoda Octavia Scout 3. Will it work via the 12v "cigarette lighter "female socket" rather than croc clips to battery terminals? i.e. is that socket connected to battery even with no key in the ignition?

thanks

Yes, I have one.

It seems to have done very little to help the battery so far.

It knocks out about 17.5v unloaded even in quite cloudy weather, but volts don't mean much, current is what counts.

At night, it causes a slight current drain as the car powers the little red LED on the plug, which is illuminated by the 12v power from the car.

 

It's not really a fair test as I've only had it since September, but that's my experience of it.

I'll have to see what it can actually power in summer sunshine, as the panel itself seems reasonably well-made.

[armadillo]

thanks EN..eventually I decided to postpone any such purchase and rely on mains charging.

[EnterName]

1 hour ago, armadillo said:

thanks EN..eventually I decided to postpone any such purchase and rely on mains charging.

I think that's a good call. I have a Ctek charger that works a treat.