Roof battery charger...

[jdw1234]

My VW is always having a flat battery as it is left for such long periods of time without moving.

I see you can get solar powered battery conditioners to keep the battery topped up.

Why cant they be designed into the roof of cars at the factory? It could even be incorporated into the sunroof.

[edo]

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?cmd=print&am...

[ZesPak]

jdw1234 said:

My VW is always having a flat battery as it is left for such long periods of time without moving.

I see you can get solar powered battery conditioners to keep the battery topped up.

Why cant they be designed into the roof of cars at the factory? It could even be incorporated into the sunroof.

Pretty useless tech imho, it would first be introduced on more expensive models (expensive tech -> has to be paid for), which are more often than not stored inside.

Also, most cars don't have any problems with their battery, except when they get older. Think of the number of batteries you could buy with the tech this would need...

[Road2Ruin]

I use a solar powered one for my TVR which is often parked up for long periods. It costs about £15 and works a treat. Why not just buy one of those?

[Mr Gear]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12v-Solar-Panel-Battery-Tric...

Cheap as chips. Not designed into the roof of cars for the following reason: It would take lots of design time to add it in properly, It would then cost about £5 to install into each car built, which might be multiplied by 500,000 times for a run of the mill hatchback, which is a huge figure off the bottom line for the manufacturers.

Its the same reason that cars don't have LED indicators (for example) and parts that are out of sight are made of the crappest metal known to man.

Edited by Mr Gear on Tuesday 20th April 11:08

[davidjpowell]

Our 2003 E class has the Panaramic roof with solar panels at the front end and back end. Sadly does not charge the battery but will run the fan for ventilation when parked up.