Just a quickie to say that we recently purchased a solar powere trickle charger for Mrs V's new Skoda. The previous owner hadn't done any mileage in it for some months and was finding he needed to charge the battery every few weeks because it was running down. I guess this was due to the drain from the alarm system. Well, since we've had the car we've done less than 50 mils and much of that has been learning - stop/ start/stall/restart etc. and the battery is absolutely fine. The cars starts first time, every time and turns over very willingly.
For those who don't know what these things are, ours is a flat solar array (about 12"x3") which simply plugs into the cigarette lighter and sits on the dash. For less than £15 IIRC I think it's great and it's certainly a lot better than charging batteries.
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I've got one of those and used to use it when I didn't use the car much. Great little thing but you have to remember to unplug it from the cigarette lighter before starting the car as otherwise (at least on mine) it would fry the electronics!
teabelly
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You don't have to worry about that problem with this unit Teabelly - the instructions state that it can be left plugged in all the time. I think it may be due to the fact that the charge it produces is very small.
If you're interested I got mine at Maplin and they have a range of such devices which are available from showrooms or mail order.
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Probably a good idea anyway, as it should preserve the life of the battery by preventing it from becoming fully discharged, which lead-acid batteries don't like. I'd quite like one coupled to the ventilation system to keep the air circulating when the sun is out...
15 quid sounds very reasonable. Where from?
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Ignore last question, VM - just read your post!
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Just a pertinent comment here, dont buy one of these if your Cigar lighter does not work with the ignition switched off! It will not be connected to the battery.....
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For anyone who's interested the maplin website is:
www.maplin.co.uk
and the unit I bought is currently priced at £19.99 (I've checked and it was on special offer when I bought it). The unit works in cloudy conditions and its output is 80mAmps/1 watt (whatever that means!)
BTW - For those of a more technical disposition these units can apparently be connected direct to the battery so you can avoid unsightly trailing wires etc.
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I understand that to keep a battery in pristine condition then it should be allowed to discharge now and again. Keeping it fully charged does nothing to help its overall life.
In fact this is in my instructions for the emergency phone and my battery toothbrush.
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DVD
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Think that only applies to the Ni-Cad or (less so) NiMH batteries typically fitted to these devices, and which can develop 'memory' of the discharge level. Car lead-acid batteries do not like being heavily discharged and sometimes won't 'come back' - they are best kept 'topped up' - as they are if the vehicle is regularly used.
RichardW
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I once had a conversation with a Chief Engineer of a RN Diesel Electic submarine. In his line of work batteries are life and death. He said lead acid batteries should always be discharged and recharged to maintain top performance. The batteries may be different in a submarine, but i think they are similar to car batteries.
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"The batteries may be different in a submarine, but i think they are similar to car batteries"
I'm sure you are right in principle, RF, but there are different construction methods, and lead-acid batteries designed for motive power would be pretty useless if they couldn't stand being discharged! Indeed, you can buy batteries that look like car batteries for use in boats and caravans that are designed for just that, but the ones in cars are mostly made to a price, and lose longevity and deep discharge ability in the process.
I seem to remember (I'm just about old enough) that batteries used to last a lot better than they do now - in fact, I don't recall my Dad ever buying a new one!
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Thank you R - that makes sense. Now educated.
DVD
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Does this mean that I can plug my Peltier effect coolbox into the socket in the boot and a charger to the cigarette lighter in the dash and extend the length of time the coolbox can run for without draining the battery ?
Matthew Kelly
No, not that one.
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Does this mean that I can plug my Peltier effect coolbox into the socket in the boot and a charger to the cigarette lighter in the dash and extend the length of time the coolbox can run for without draining the battery ? Matthew Kelly No, not that one.
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Only if it just consumes a few milliwatts!
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The website of the company that makes these things is
www.icpglobal.com
and I know they make much larger and more powerful units but you'd need to check and I'd guess they'd be much more expensive too.
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