Trickle charge without mains power?
Discussion
Morning all.
I'm going to be keeping my F430 in a car park away from home, and I'm a wee bit concerned about the alarm & Navtrak running the battery down if I don't use it for a number of weeks. Is anyone aware of a trickle charger or any kind of battery boost that works from a secondary battery (that I would take home and charge) to keep the security systems running, and avoid the risks of jump starting?
Many thanks - Happy Monday
TH
I'm going to be keeping my F430 in a car park away from home, and I'm a wee bit concerned about the alarm & Navtrak running the battery down if I don't use it for a number of weeks. Is anyone aware of a trickle charger or any kind of battery boost that works from a secondary battery (that I would take home and charge) to keep the security systems running, and avoid the risks of jump starting?
Many thanks - Happy Monday
TH
Buzz84 said:
Thanks Buzz. Is should have added that it's an underground car park... And actually, I have one of those for my Elise, and I've never had great results with it (I'm just a bit more willing to leave that unalarmed than I am the 430...)TH
If you are after a device with a built in battery that you are able to take away to charge, could you not just use the battery kill switch, and switch back on and run the engine for a bit after a couple of weeks? Navtrack has its own guilt in battery anyway So will still function with the power off. Aside from the solar powered devices I haven't seen anything available that may be suitable...
Cerbieherts said:
If you are after a device with a built in battery that you are able to take away to charge, could you not just use the battery kill switch, and switch back on and run the engine for a bit after a couple of weeks? Navtrack has its own guilt in battery anyway So will still function with the power off. Aside from the solar powered devices I haven't seen anything available that may be suitable...
Thanks Cerbie - interesting. I'm not sure where the insurer would stand on not having the alarm working, but it's worth a look. Would the risk to the ECU of having a second battery to "piggyback" the main one when it's parked - and so double the time it can stay parked - be too great, do you think?
Thanks
TH
I think you could put a second battery in passenger footwell and connect it to cars battery using a neat push/pull connector (like the one supplied with CTEK trickel charger) I have 430 and have this connector permanently connected to car battery terminal and then hanging over the foot rest panel in front of car battery.
I do this to use CTEK so don't know for sure if extra battery idea is safe etc....
I do this to use CTEK so don't know for sure if extra battery idea is safe etc....
Trev450 said:
I think your point regarding your insurance cover with the security devices disabled would be sufficient to not go down this route.
Alarm siren also has back up battery. Usually lasts around 3 weeks. Immobiliser will also be energised so it will not start, even with the key...
Cerbieherts said:
Trev450 said:
I think your point regarding your insurance cover with the security devices disabled would be sufficient to not go down this route.
Alarm siren also has back up battery. Usually lasts around 3 weeks. Immobiliser will also be energised so it will not start, even with the key...
What about something like this
http://www.maplin.co.uk/ring-professional-40ah-pow...
It's a portable power pack with a normal UK power socket outlet.
John.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/ring-professional-40ah-pow...
It's a portable power pack with a normal UK power socket outlet.
John.
steelej said:
That's a great call - thanks John.Would you be comfortable that the risk to the ECU isn't too great when using this as opposed to jumping from another car?
TH
If you have an inverter and run trickle chargers on them you get about 30% efficiency at best. So if your car battery dies in a month, you'll need at least 3 batteries the same size to keep pace.
And then every month you have to lift those batteries somewhere to charge them.
No, kill switch is the only real long term storage option. I've been there myself!
And then every month you have to lift those batteries somewhere to charge them.
No, kill switch is the only real long term storage option. I've been there myself!
thr32 said:
That's a great call - thanks John.
Would you be comfortable that the risk to the ECU isn't too great when using this as opposed to jumping from another car?
TH
If your trickle charger is plugged into the standard 240v socket on this I wouldn't have thought it would be any different to having it plugged into an actual socket, so wouldn't have thought there would be any danger to ECU, but i'm not an electrician Would you be comfortable that the risk to the ECU isn't too great when using this as opposed to jumping from another car?
TH
John.
steelej said:
What about something like this
http://www.maplin.co.uk/ring-professional-40ah-pow...
It's a portable power pack with a normal UK power socket outlet.
John.
I tried running a trickle charger from one of these for my 355 and the powerpack was flat within a week. http://www.maplin.co.uk/ring-professional-40ah-pow...
It's a portable power pack with a normal UK power socket outlet.
John.
I leave mine with the battery disconnected and it's been fine for up to 4 weeks (the longest I've left it).
I'm in a similar situation - how about a Power Pack that you can charge indoors every week or two that has a 3 pin socket on it (e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/station-Emergency-jumpstar... coupled with a trickle charger? Would that work?
xox1t said:
I'm in a similar situation - how about a Power Pack that you can charge indoors every week or two that has a 3 pin socket on it (e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/station-Emergency-jumpstar... coupled with a trickle charger? Would that work?
No, for the reasons I posted above. Also looking at the specs of the jump starters their battery is usually about 1/3 the capacity of a car battery at best. I'd guess it'd run a charger for a day maybe 2 at best.By using a power pack with an inverter to drive a trickle charger you converting 12V DC to 240V AC and then back to 12V DC again. As said above, the losses in such a needless transformation are huge.
You'd be better off with two small car batteries and hooking one up into the car whilst the other is charging in the house.
You'd be better off with two small car batteries and hooking one up into the car whilst the other is charging in the house.
Looked into this as well, went into Maplins and they said the same, converting the voltage uses so much power it will only last a week like someone else has mentioned. They suggested getting hold of some leisure batteries and piggy backing them. My situation slightly different as I have a garage but no electric in it. Batteries in the footwell of a car pigged backed not a good idea.
Looked I at the price of lesuire batteries (caravan ones) and in the end put my 355 in storage for £100 quid a month instead on a trickle charger.
Looked I at the price of lesuire batteries (caravan ones) and in the end put my 355 in storage for £100 quid a month instead on a trickle charger.
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