Battery maintainer

[jac-in-a-box]

Point me in the right direction if possible please!

Son is working abroad and is leaving his car on the driveway of my F-i-L. Unfortuantely it's not practical to connect up an Accumate type charger with an extention lead. Occassionally the car needs to be moved and the battery is drained from alarm /immob' system.

I see there are a few solar charging type of battery maintainers available, but reviews are mixed.

The battery is an 12v/80Ah capacity - any advice on a fit & forget standalone solar type charger that might suit would be appreciated (and save me having to drag the battery out every 2 or 3 weeks to recharge!)

Are any units that might suit sophisticated enough to avoid overcharging?

Links to supply source would be good too. Thanks

[Jerkins]

Would it hurt to take the battery out and put it on a maintenance charger in the garage? Is it essential to move the car regularly, or is it a rare event (e.g. could the battery be put back in for an occasional move?).

[jac-in-a-box]

Jerkins said:

Would it hurt to take the battery out and put it on a maintenance charger in the garage? Is it essential to move the car regularly, or is it a rare event (e.g. could the battery be put back in for an occasional move?).

It's more for the convenience of F-i-L...the battery is in the boot, the boot lock won't operate manually (only open with CL working) Car really needs to have alarm operational, when battery drains - means crawling through fold down seats in rear to access battery - too much for the old fella (and me!)

The need to move is occassional and I'm in for a round journey of 25 miles to sort the battery issues out when it does need moving.
A suitable and reliable solar charger (if there is such a beast) would be the ideal answer.

[snowmuncher]

CTEK XS7000

My XS7000 has already paid for itself, having restored 4 batteries to full working order

[jac-in-a-box]

snowmuncher said:

CTEK XS7000

My XS7000 has already paid for itself, having restored 4 batteries to full working order

Thanks - that needs a mains supply and is not practable in this case!

[Jerkins]

In that case, I wouldn't bother with the cheap and cheerful solar panel things you can get from Halfords & Maplins, as they're not very effective.

It might be worth looking in your nearest yachting suppliers/chandlers, as they use that sort of thing to keep their boat's batteries in trim. You might find something that actually works! I don't think that a mini wind generator would look too good though...

Might be best to get the FIL insured on the car, and get him to take it out for a run every few weeks...

[snowmuncher]

jac-in-a-box said:

Thanks - that needs a mains supply and is not practable in this case!

sorry, very early in morning when I wrote my post, and brain not functional

I tried a whole bunch of the generic Maplins/Halfrauds/ebay solar panels in my VW T25. Covered one rear window in panels ( fair enough a random mix of maplins/halfrauds/fleabay specials ), only managed to get about 3amps charge, not enough to even scratch the surface tbh

Came to the conclusion it was easier to accept the fact I'd have to carry on recharging it. By getting a charger that keeps the battery in top condition, I could extended the length of time between charges. I have found this to be the case.

If you can't get mains power anywhere near where the car is parked, the other simple solution would be to buy another larger capacity battery, keep that topped up, and when needed hook it upto your cars battery with jupm leads, let it trickle charge it, should be enough to start it ( effectively a DIY jump pack )
tbh, if the car where in a garage, you could leave a second battery hooked up for an extended period

[jac-in-a-box]

Well, thanks to all for your replies...I think my question has been answered regarding the ebay and elsewhere cheapy solar panel chargers - not worth it.

Got a another large capacity battery kicking around that'll I connect up with jumpers and hopefully that'll sort the issues...or at least reduce the frequency to visit to sort out starting problems.

Cheers guys.