Solar powered battery charger

Has anyone any experience of the Maplins solar powered battery charger for keeping batteries topped up. Sticks on inside windscreen with enough cable with croc clips to lead to battery.Thinking about the cold weather predicted and that this could help with the battery. I park my Disco under carport which is southfacing and according to Maplins website this charger will charge on a dull or bright day. Any thoughts guys. Also reasonable sale price at moment £12.99.

Jim Anderson
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)

janderson41 said:

Has anyone any experience of the Maplins solar powered battery charger for keeping batteries topped up. Sticks on inside windscreen with enough cable with croc clips to lead to battery.Thinking about the cold weather predicted and that this could help with the battery. I park my Disco under carport which is southfacing and according to Maplins website this charger will charge on a dull or bright day. Any thoughts guys. Also reasonable sale price at moment £12.99.

Jim Anderson
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)

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Buy it and let us know the outcome

I bought one to keep the battery topped up whilst the car was parked up in Sweden.

The disco (TD5) started and I was also able to run some charge into iPhone battery.

Don't know if it made any difference or not, but I felt better knowing it was connected.

Remember to disconnect before you start the engine.

you'll not get much juice out of a 13 quid cell - maybe 100ma, on a good day - combine the low output with a general lack of sun, shading etc you'd be better off plugging a proper 4A ish battery charger in once a week to keep it topped up

or spend about £80 on a proper cell, of the type popular with caravanners - that's output a couple of amps at least

I tried one on my other car and it was next to useless save yer money IMO

I have used one similar to keep the car topped up whilst using the company car, never had a problem!

hi i have had the mapplins one for a few years only use disco
few times a week bin stood for a month and cranked
over stright away if any help

Thanks for the replies so far.
Have started looking further into this and find you can get them in lots of places. Amazon do a 4W solar charger, Ebay also.
Next question. is 2.4 enough or 4w too much, also as cigar lighter in Disco switches off with ignition is it possible to change this to a live circuit, or does that defeat the purpose of keeping your battery charged.
cheers

jim A
1996 300 Tdi auto(Jap reimport)

they are a waste of money !

I've been using em on my landys for the last 4 years and the only time I've had a flat battery is when I accidently turned the urn on when I got summit out of the boot.

The first one I have was only 1.5w. It worked but I did have one instance in winter where the landy only just started after being left for 3 weeks. The one I have now is 4w and I've not had even a hint of a flat battery.

I read a previous thread on here, as you do and one post suggested that a trickle charge wasnt healthy for the battery and there was a link to show why and as previously posted top up once a week with a decent charger was better in the long run?

Unless your battery is in very good condition that little thing will do nothing at all and if your battery is good you probably don't need it anyway.

2.4w is the maximum output so in winter you will maybe get 25% for at most 8 hours a day so that's 0.6w / 12v = 0.05A

And 8 house a day gives 0.4Ah per day, or about 0.57% of a 70Ah baterys capacity.

As mentioned before the large ones for about £50 to £100 are supposed to be much better but if you have power near by see If Aldi have any of the charges left they had a few weeks ago for about £15 which can be left connected long term and even when the car is started and plug it in.

IanFiTheDwarf said:

Unless your battery is in very good condition that little thing will do nothing at all and if your battery is good you probably don't need it anyway.

2.4w is the maximum output so in winter you will maybe get 25% for at most 8 hours a day so that's 0.6w / 12v = 0.05A

And 8 house a day gives 0.4Ah per day, or about 0.57% of a 70Ah baterys capacity.

As mentioned before the large ones for about £50 to £100 are supposed to be much better but if you have power near by see If Aldi have any of the charges left they had a few weeks ago for about £15 which can be left connected long term and even when the car is started and plug it in.

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So what you are saying is that replacing the residual draw that is taken by the ecu and memories on a vehicle is not going to keep the battery topped up? I live on a footpath so plugging into the mains isn't an option for me.

I'm pretty sure my charger is only 4w (it's about 30cm x 40 cm).

I used to get flat batteries on my landy pretty regularly before I started using solar chargers and since then I've have only had the one (my own fault) in the last 4 years or so.

To put it in perspective I have a 7 year old truck battery on my landy. It gets heavy draws on the charging system as it is often used for jump starting, running a 12v urn, 300w ceramic heater, etc. It gets left ticking over for long periods at the roadside while attending jobs. My also landy gets parked up for long periods (it did just 300 miles between the start of january when the snow cleared up and the start of Glastonbury festival at the end of june this year). After approx 8-10 weeks of not being used it started on the button with no signs of a low battery.

i have one and used it on my caravan with great success , now use it on my disco with the view that every little helps as i only travel aprox 10mls daily in the dark and as my disco has air'con i can only have a standard size battery

Update. Have just ordered a 4W solar charger from Amazon. You have to keep a close eye on Amazon, charger was priced at £35.99 yesterday , have just paid £16.39 inc postage.
Have found this before with Amazon. Will keep in touch once it arrives and has had a chance to work..

cheers

jim A.
1996 300 Tdi auto(Jap reimport)

ratty said:

So what you are saying is that replacing the residual draw that is taken by the ecu and memories on a vehicle is not going to keep the battery topped up? I live on a footpath so plugging into the mains isn't an option for me.

I'm pretty sure my charger is only 4w (it's about 30cm x 40 cm).

I used to get flat batteries on my landy pretty regularly before I started using solar chargers and since then I've have only had the one (my own fault) in the last 4 years or so.

To put it in perspective I have a 7 year old truck battery on my landy. It gets heavy draws on the charging system as it is often used for jump starting, running a 12v urn, 300w ceramic heater, etc. It gets left ticking over for long periods at the roadside while attending jobs. My also landy gets parked up for long periods (it did just 300 miles between the start of january when the snow cleared up and the start of Glastonbury festival at the end of june this year). After approx 8-10 weeks of not being used it started on the button with no signs of a low battery.

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Your charger will be 4 amps not watts, That is about 50 watts.

It all depends on the condition of your battery and what drains there are on it. If your battery is good and there is little drain on it then a small solar charger might cover what is being drained but it would only cover a drain which would discharge your battery to about half capacity in about four months anyway.

If I was buying one I would go for something like this 10W, 12v, AKT Solar Battery Charger, with Plug, for Car Lighter Socket. on eBay!

IanFiTheDwarf said:

Your charger will be 4 amps not watts, That is about 50 watts.

It all depends on the condition of your battery and what drains there are on it. If your battery is good and there is little drain on it then a small solar charger might cover what is being drained but it would only cover a drain which would discharge your battery to about half capacity in about four months anyway.

If I was buying one I would go for something like this 10W, 12v, AKT Solar Battery Charger, with Plug, for Car Lighter Socket. on eBay!

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It's definately WATTS. I lied though, It's 4.8

Solar Battery Charger 4.8 Watt - Keep Batteries Charged | eBay