Trickle charger / battery conditioner

[dss123]

In view of the increasingly crap weather I can see my car going a week or two (or six!)without an outing.

Can anybody recommend one of those trickle charger thingys. I could do with a "fit and forget" type that is not going to shaft the battery or set fire to the car.

As the car is garaged away from my home, I could do with not having to constantly connect / disconnect, take battery out etc.

Cheers guys and girls


DSS

[zebedee]

I have a Draper battery conditioner from Halfords - £20, clip it on, plug in, switch on - I left my car over-wintered for 3 months and it started on the button. Fantastic bit of kit and too cheap not to have!

[jhamshaw]

Can recommend the Accumate :-

www.accumate.co.uk/

With a late S2 (battery in the boot) the £2.35 optional extension cable will fit through the grommet with the number plate light cable, and dangle neatly inside the square clam cutout, where the boot drain tube exits - makes for a very neat solution but I have to hang a duster over the steering wheel to remind me to unplug before driving off ....

[timh]

Can also recommend the accumate charger.

If its on an S1, I have the crocodile clip on the battery and tread the connector end through the cap loop of the washer bottle so it's easy to get to.

[aberry]

I have an Airflow which works great. It is the one supplied and re-branded by Lotus. It comes with a fag lighter connector which can be plugged direct into the socket on an S2 as there's no relay. Not sure about S1. Also comes with croc clips etc and an fag lighter socket for easy connection if the car socket is not permanently live.

I bought mine from Calamander (www.calamander.co.uk/batteryconditioners/airflow.htm). Currently £40.

[jig]

Another vote for the CSI Airflow... I bought mine direct from CSI at Goodwood, it came with a small wiring harness with ring terminals that I attached directly to the battery (in the boot on an S2). So now I just plug the charger into a small connector in the boot and then close the lid.

I've used it to recover the battery from dead flat once.

[foxbat]

Second that vote for the airflow, also from Calamander for me. It charges your battery to 13.2v then switches off until the charge falls below 12v. It's been running on my Elise for 2 winters now without a problem.

I would strongly recommend AGAINST the 20 quid draper thing from Halfords. If it's the same one I bought then it's not a conditioner, it's a constant trickle charger. Over the course of a year it slowly boiled my battery dry.

[zebedee]

nah, the £20 from Draper (Halfords) is ideal - it shuts itself off when it needs to so won't boil the battery at all and it only costs £20 - for overwintering it is ideal, as you don't need to keep accessing and c'ipping/unclipping anyway - if you need to leave a battery device attached to your car for a year you'd be better off selling your car, they do like to be used (and how could you leave it alone for a year!!???!!!