Battery Charger/Conditioners

[TVRThomo]

This might be a stupid question but do these need to be plugged into the mains somewhere i.e electrical socket if you car is kept in the garage ? Mine is kept outside in the drive and it's not practical to connect to the mains in the house ??

How do they work

Sorry for being

Neil

[tvrchutney]

Neil
yes you have to plug them into the mains! How else could they get their charge!!?
How they operate is that they closely monitor the current in your battery and when a loss in charge is detected they gently top your battery up. Well worth sorting out a way to do this, as once a battery has gone completely flat they are never the same again. Bear in mind a Chim battery is about the hardest in the world to fit!
All the best
Max

Edited by tvrchutney on Tuesday 19th December 16:40

Edited by tvrchutney on Tuesday 19th December 16:51

[TVRThomo]

tvrchutney said:

Neil
yes you have to plug them into the mains! How else could they get their charge!!?
How they operate is that they closely monitor the current in your battery and when a loss i charge is detected they gently top your battery up. Well worth sorting out a way to do this, as once a battery has gone completely flat they are never the same again. Bear in ind a Chim battery is about the hardest in the world to fit!
All the best
Max

Edited by tvrchutney on Tuesday 19th December 16:40

Cheers mate! I knew it was a stupid question but I have just fitted a new battery today and yes your right it was a b*stard to replace, hence the question

[aaandy]

Believe that you can get solar powered ones. Just plug into the cigarette lighter. They will not be as good (in fact not sure if they are any good at all) but may be better than nothing.

[biggiles]

I have the Accumate in the boot.

It's great- I know the battery is always going to be in good condition, and whenever I am somewhere else and flatten the battery by leaving something on, it's far easier to run out an extension cable and leave it for a couple of hours than faff around with jump leads.

[m3evo2]

I also use an Accumate the M3 goes away for the winter, battery always in tip-top condition.

[Red V8]

Accumate, top piece of kit,

Never used solar powered one myself (living up north and all) but you might try this one...

www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=98358&criteria=solar&doy=17m12

[Whizz65]

Hi

If your using a solar panel make sure you have some sort of contol box to prevent over charging the battery, they are about £30.

[K4TRV]

Whizz65 said:

Hi

If your using a solar panel make sure you have some sort of contol box to prevent over charging the battery, they are about £30.

A bit OTT ( in my very humblist opinion)when the Maplin solar array at £9.99 can only supply 1.5 Watts at 17.5 volts. Or in other words, you would have a job keeeping the battery from self discharging even with this Solar Array in full sunlight as it only produces 86 Milliamps, repeat 86 mA !!!

The relative discharge current for most "resting" TVR's will be around 150 to 200 mA (the clock/alarm/interior light electronics/bad earths) etc.

Using 2 of the Maplin jobbies might just keep a TVR battery alive, just !!

Seasons Greetings.

Trev McM

[siobe]

Why not keep the charger indoors and extend the lead from the charger to the car outside, i.e. no mains power outside?

[Wacky Racer]

www.thegreenreaper.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=973

[BoyzToyz]

Recently had an accumate hard wired into the boot and whilst I can plug her into the mains socket in the garage, it would be easy to run an extension cable out from the house to the car.

[-JUT-]

I know a lot of people are naysayers when it comes to the solar chargers, but if you get one with a high enough output they do help. I've had one in my car since July, it is barely being used at the moment (maybe 5-10 miles a week) but every time I get in it starts on the button, no hesitation at all. The charger I've got is 5 watt I think, these tend to cost a bit more but at least you don't have to run a power cable around to the front of your house!

[blitzracing]

Do some simple maths. If the battery is 40 AH, and it discharges at .2A (200ma) it will last 40/.2 hours or about 200 hours or a week and a half if you dont use the car. (Mind you 200ma sounds a tad high for a stand by current...). A solar charger is only any good if its VOLTAGE produced is higher than the actual voltage the battery is at so it can "push" some charge into the battery. You would never get 17 volts when the unit is connected, as the battery starts starts to gas at around 14 volts and will absorb any excess power (ie excess current at 14 volts) by producing hydrogen. This causes the battery fluid level to drop so it needs a top up. You wont do any harm by running 2 or 3 solar panels together, but if the battery level drops on a regular basis take one out. This is very dependant on the amout of sunlight available ( the power output shoots up in BRIGHT sunlight) and lead acid batteries are pretty tough as long as you dont let them go totally flat !! So give it a go.