Charging through the cigarette lighter

[HRG]

I know you can run an Accumate or similar through the cigarette socket but is there any reason not to run an ordinary trickle charge through it? It's a PITA trying to get to the battery in the footwell in a single garage and there's a fair chance of shorting something.

It'd be much easier to use my charger through the ciggie socket. It can't have that much oomph on low as the leads are only 1mm2.

Yay or nay?

[V8 GRF]

It all depends on the size of the wiring but I imagine a 'normal' charger will be too much for the cig lighter and it's wiring
Why not attach an Anderson plug or similar to the battery permanently so you can connect to that easier than faffing around with the terminal

[Ballistic Banana]

You can buy flying leads for most the chargers, just wire up to battery and run to a convenient place to attach charger too.

[D14 AYS]

I use the cig socket to trickle charge, cant fault it

[steve-V8s]

Should be fine to trickle charge via at the lighter socket but probably best not to connect a proper big boys charger, particularly if the battery is flat. As said the wires are fairly feeble but also a weak point will potentially be the connection in the socket itself. They really are fairly poor connectors and if the contacts are dirty / corroded there may be a risk of things getting warm even at fairly low currents.

One tip however is rotate clockwise when plugging in that way you are doing up (rather than loosening) the fixing nut. If you don’t do that eventually it will drop inside the door which causes the back of you hand and arm to bleed the following weekend.

[HRG]

Steve, you sound like you know what you're on about

I don't mind fitting an Andersen and it'd be handy for jumping but where do people generally put the take off? I don't like the thought of large amounts of unfused directly connected cable running about the car.

[V8 GRF]

I'd just leave it behind the panel in the footwell or perhaps just popped up above it and held in plave with some velcro or a standard TVR construction fastner (tie wrap)

[HRG]

V8 GRF said:

I'd just leave it behind the panel in the footwell or perhaps just popped up above it and held in plave with some velcro or a standard TVR construction fastner (tie wrap)

That whole footwell area is a nightmare, I was trying not to add to it

What about connecting a short spur from the alternator feed, does anyone have any thoughts on that?

[Loubaruch]

If you are not concerned about disabling the alarm/immobiliser while the car is in the garage a possible solution is to completely isolate the battery through Anderson plug/sockets under the bonnet. I secured mine to the inner wing top. Charging is then both safe and convenient and it avoids cluttering up the passenger foot well. Another bonus is complete isolation of the battery from the car electrics so the battery is not drained during a lay up.
Cons,your insurance policy may requie the alarm/immobiliser to be permanently connected.

[Uncle Fester]

Not having power to my garage, could I plug another battery in so that there was twice as much capacity available and the normal battery went flat only half as quickly?

Assuming that both batteries were fully charged and therefore at very similar voltage when you connected the external battery, would just plugging into the cigar lighter be ok? If there is no voltage difference then the only flow should be the drain of the clock, alarm, etc. Or would a dedicated socket be required?

[Loubaruch]

I would be very wary of connecting a second battery to the lighter socket.

Dont forget a fully charged battery in good condition could deliver in excess of 100 Amps if a short circuit occurs. Lighter sockets are not renowned for their reliabilty and the wiring is only relatively low current capable. Perhaps some sort of Solar panel charging your single battery would be a much better option

[ruaricoles]

D14 AYS said:

I use the cig socket to trickle charge, cant fault it

+1

Why bother doing it any other way? Just check it doesn't get too hot if you're concerned about dodgy wiring.

Ruari

[roy e6]

steve-V8s said:

One tip however is rotate clockwise when plugging in that way you are doing up (rather than loosening) the fixing nut. If you don’t do that eventually it will drop inside the door which causes the back of you hand and arm to bleed the following weekend.

Your not joking either!! I remember doing just that on the way back from Le Mans last year.

[steve-V8s]

I have an Anderson connector attached so the business end just appears under the carpet at the highest point possible before the door pillar disappears under the dash. I stuck it in place with lots of epoxy resin Basically if you pull the carpet away you can run the cables down to the battery and then stick the carpet back. To make the cables easier to deal with I got a cheap set of flexible jump leads and ran two lengths + /- from the connector to the battery rather than struggling with single thick lengths. At the battery end I got some new connector clamps ( well from the scrappy actually) and modified them to take the existing cables and the new ones.

I run a small RedTop 15 battery in the car so if I let it go flat I can start it by plugging in another battery to the Anderson. Using a smaller ( much smaller is not for everyone but it gives a lot more room in the footwell and saves lots of weight) I keep another Redtop in a Tesco child’s lunch box with the matching Anderson on the end of the rest of the jump leads for just that. If I need to take the battery out of the footwell the spare plugs into the Anderson to keep the alarm happy.

[Simon.b]

Not sure what the Cig Socket is fused at, if it is. If your trickle charger output is less then 1 amp max you should be fine. Mine is rated 0.8 amp max and I’ve been using it for years that way no problem.
Cheers,
Simon.