Car Solar Charger

Blue_Lou

Are they any good? I dont use my car for long periods of time and I was thinking about getting one so that I don't find my battery dead when I want to use the car.

fender

I have one and I think they do save significant power. Worth it.

Cardew

fender wrote:

I have one and I think they do save significant power. Worth it.

How do they save power?

navig8r

Cardew wrote:

How do they save power?

I don't know about saving "significant" power but a good one with a decent out put ( charges the battery at a greater rate than it is discharging) would save tiny amount of fuel...When a vehicle is parked the battery discharges to keep certain equipment in the car going ..clock ,radio code etc so when it is restarted this loss of voltage has to be replced by the alternator..The more the battery has been discharged the greater the effort needed to turn the alternator so the engine uses more fuel until it is fully charged again. FWIW all those who go driving around with all lights blazing ...Its costing you money.

Edit: but the main purpose of a solar charger is to keep the battery topped up.


Dave

Cardew

Exactly - a tiny tiny amount of fuel.

Like most of these things they are just a gimmick.

Firstly modern batteries hardly ever need topping up, I have a 5 year old car(with original battery) that isn't used for weeks at a time and there is never a problem with starting.

Secondly if it does go flat what is wrong with a conventional battery charger - it will cost about 0.1p to charge a battery!

greyteam1959

Yep I agree with Cardew total gimmick and a right waste of your hard earned cash

br1anstorm

Cardew wrote:

Exactly - a tiny tiny amount of fuel.

Like most of these things they are just a gimmick.

Firstly modern batteries hardly ever need topping up, I have a 5 year old car(with original battery) that isn't used for weeks at a time and there is never a problem with starting.

Secondly if it does go flat what is wrong with a conventional battery charger - it will cost about 0.1p to charge a battery!

Not sure I agree. It's true that modern batteries are quite good at holding charge. I have some classic cars which I tend not to use over the winter. If left for weeks or months, their batteries can discharge. Starting a car anyway makes a heavy demand. If the battery is already run down, such a load could shorten its life, if not kill it off. And letting it go totally flat, then recharging it, isn't particularly good for battery life either (unlike eg marine batteries, car batteries are not designed for what's called "deep discharge" cycles). So keeping a car battery's charge topped up, with solar panel or other type of charger if you aren't running the car regularly, helps to preserve and prolong your battery's life, which has to be sensible...

navig8r

I looked at one of these chargers in Maplins today..they have reduced them from £19.99 to £9.99 The output was pretty poor though..1.5w .17.9 v

Dave

Cardew

br1anstorm wrote:

Not sure I agree. It's true that modern batteries are quite good at holding charge. I have some classic cars which I tend not to use over the winter. If left for weeks or months, their batteries can discharge. Starting a car anyway makes a heavy demand. If the battery is already run down, such a load could shorten its life, if not kill it off. And letting it go totally flat, then recharging it, isn't particularly good for battery life either (unlike eg marine batteries, car batteries are not designed for what's called "deep discharge" cycles). So keeping a car battery's charge topped up, with solar panel or other type of charger if you aren't running the car regularly, helps to preserve and prolong your battery's life, which has to be sensible...

My comment was really about the claim that they saved "a significant amount of fuel" which of course is nonsense.

I don't in any way disagree with the need to keep the battery topped up. I was just disputing that a solar charger with an output of a few milliamps made any financial sense when a conventional charger is so much more efficient and cheaper.

I know a couple of people with classic cars and, if their cars are laid up for any time, they usually remove the battery and trickle charge from time to time in a garage or trickle charge on the car.

Sid's_a_gardener

mervyn11 wrote:

Yep I agree with Cardew total gimmick and a right waste of your hard earned cash

I was given one of these chargers as a free gift. The words above represent my opinion perfectly.

Jamp

I work abroad so leave my UK car standing for long periods. If in my garage with no windows the solar panel does not work well so I use a mains trickle charger with the battery in the car. If on my mum's drive I leave a solar charger on the dash. Both solutions keep the battery topped up, whereas leaving it with nothing will flatten the battery within 6 weeks, mainly due to my alarm I suspect. The 'intelligent' mains charger which won't overcharge the battery, was about 30gbp and the solar one was 12gbp but I needed both solutions because of where I leave my car.