p38 fitted a solar battery charger

fed up with a flat battery,as i don't use it every day,so i have installed a solar powered trickle charger to keep it topped up,it will not over charge the battery.
not bad for 19.99

Does it work ok..?? Does it indicate charged state of battery?
If it does I'm interested.
Where can you buy them?

ice said:

Does it work ok..?? Does it indicate charged state of battery?
If it does I'm interested.
Where can you buy them?

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it is not very informative,but it does work,it shows a blue light to show it is active,hey what do you expect for £19.99 lol
it is not a battery charger as such,it just trickle charges it to keep it topped up,it will not overcharge it,and cannot drain it as it has a diode that only allows one way current flow.
works fine for me,available from maplin.
you could always fit in a gauge to show state of battery.

There ok! They do work just! Make sure the battery is fully charged beforehand & it will keep the battery healthy. Sorry but I bought mine for £12 on tbay it is the same one with dog clips & fag lighter adapter with suckers to stick it on the glass!

20 quid - how much juice does it chuck out ?

50ma when in the middle of summer when the suns out ?

you get small solar panels from machine mart for trickle charging car batteries,not to expensive,check them out on their website(machinemart.co.uk)my brother bought one for his disco a few years back think it gives out about 3 watts,it is fitted on the inside of his sunroof,every little helps i suppose

Solar chargers over 5 watts (and occasionally the actual 5 watt) need a solar controller to manage the output, and stop overcharging.

If its UNDER 5 Watts then NO it WILL NOT overcharge yer battery

Sean said:

20 quid - how much juice does it chuck out ?

50ma when in the middle of summer when the suns out ?

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many come and take ****,but i have last laugh when mine worky,
but seriously it does work,even overcast it is still putting in a charge.
except at nighty,even bangs it in under artificial light.

so what's the average car battery trickle charge value ?

roddy4 said:

many come and take ****,but i have last laugh when mine worky,
but seriously it does work,even overcast it is still putting in a charge.
except at nighty,even bangs it in under artificial light.

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has your landy got an alarm ?

A word of warning. I have one (from Maplins) and my daughter spotted it and asked me why I had left a laptop on open view in my car. If she can mistake it for a laptop, then so can a thief.

I put mine in the sunroof now, not so much power but hidden from view.

Sean said:

has your landy got an alarm ?

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yes this is what drains it down,which is why after about 3 days i had to start it to keep the battery in good order.

I've got a 20watt unit on 2 x 105Ah batteries. The only time it doesn't charge is when it is raining and at night. I also run it without a regulator.

phillh said:

A word of warning. I have one (from Maplins) and my daughter spotted it and asked me why I had left a laptop on open view in my car. If she can mistake it for a laptop, then so can a thief.

I put mine in the sunroof now, not so much power but hidden from view.

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that is where i put mine still does the job,you must of bought the bigger one.
mine is only a trickle charger

I fitted one of these about 3 or 4 months ago and thought at a measly 1.5 watts it would make no difference at all, but since then flat batteries are a thing of the past , so let everybody mock Roddy4 but as you say ours now start when the other are getting the charger out again.

do you leave it plugged in all the time? or take it off at night?

tommo138 said:

do you leave it plugged in all the time? or take it off at night?

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Tommo ..They all have a "Reverse Charge Di-ode" ..so you don't Drain yer battery when its dark

So Leave it connected 24/7 mate

Sorry but somebody has got to ask the obvious question.

Why don't you fix the basic fault?

Sometimes I don't get the chance to drive my P38 for over a week but one cycle of the glow plugs and she starts, even in the recent freeze.

solar chargers about 15 watt for a 50amp car battery (mine is 15 watt) and the trickle is about 1.5-2watt its only made to slow down the natural deterioration of the battery.
a battery will naturally loose charge anyway which the trickle will stop unless the alarm draws to much.

Take about 44 hours to charge fully in direct sunlight with a 15 amp solar charger.
Trickle wont charge only top up.

It's the BECM not the alarm the uses the juice, 30ma if it goes to sleep properly. So you really need a solar charger that puts out more than 30ma to keep things in balance. I have a 12 watt (1000ma) on mine with a regulator that I put in when I'm leaving the car for more than a couple of weeks. Even on very cloudy days it still puts out 100ma.