Running electricity to garage

Jeepers_Creepers

binft said:

I just wanted to keep my car battery charged really. I've looked at solar chargers but not sure they would provide enough juice to charge my battery more than my alarm will drain it. I was thinking maybe a slightly bigger solar panel to a small inverter instead...

If that, and say lighting, is all you reckon you'll need, and if running a mains cable is frowned upon, then something like a larger PV panel coupled with a voltage controller and a battery could be ideal. Again, it would be courteous, at the very least, to discuss this with your fellow freeholders, but I can't personally see any reason why they'd be concerned; it should be completely out of sight, and not affect them a jot.

Keep it all 12V. If you wanted to power a 'mains' radio, just use a separate cheap inverter as required.

Something like (I'm not 'recommending' this one, just showing it as an example - but the reviews seem fine): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324251259536? This would require a 12V battery too, and a sealed type would probably make sense. But it should provide wfor what you need, including a PIR-operated entrance light.

Section62

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Again, it would be courteous, at the very least, to discuss this with your fellow freeholders, but I can't personally see any reason why they'd be concerned; it should be completely out of sight, and not affect them a jot.

Won't that depend on the orientation and location of the garages relative to the other properties?

There might be an aspect of the building where a panel could be completely hidden from view, but it won't necessarily generate enough power to be worth the effort and expense. (especially in Winter months)

As per TELLIT01's post yesterday, attaching something to the exterior of the garage almost certainly involves getting freeholder consent, not just a courtesy discussion.

Jeepers_Creepers

Of course.

It was assuming a standard 'flat' garage roof.

Sooorrrreeeyyy I didn't cover every eventuality...

(Darn - you got me all sarky again... :-(  )

binft

I didn't want to go in detail but yeah my car that i'm "storing" is not a generic everyday kind of car, it's a grey import japanese model (1995) so it's not modern by any means and has lots of different electrical gremlins going on. Right now from where i've moved it I used to have it on trickle charge 24/7 so wasn't a problem but now I've moved it to my new garage without power I'm looking at methods to keep the battery juiced up.

It's alarm is very old and dated and if you leave the car two weeks, even with a new battery it will kill it flat because it uses a little LED system etc etc (don't need to go into details but if you know old Japanese cars you know how they like to add all the bells and whistles electrically)

So yeah, not entirely sure a small solar panel like the ones you see on amazon for £30 will provide enough juice to charge it more than the battery will be drained. Suppose I should start by finding out at what rate the battery is being drained then start looking at options from there.

Good point about raising it with the other freeholders though and it being another selling point. I will definitely do that.

Section62

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Of course.

It was assuming a standard 'flat' garage roof.

Sooorrrreeeyyy I didn't cover every eventuality...

(Darn - you got me all sarky again... :-(  )

Hey, no need for every eventuality to be covered, just some of the more important ones.

Like a block of 'flats' being at least 2 storeys, so at least one of the neighbours will have the garage roof at the same level as their windows, or be looking down onto it.

And people do tend to get a bit spiky if they can see something out of their window which they want to take offence over.  Human nature and all that.

Section62

binft said:

Suppose I should start by finding out at what rate the battery is being drained then start looking at options from there.

Absolutely this.  Until you know the rate of discharge you won't know the rate of charge needed to keep the battery topped up.  If whatever solution you use in the end doesn't charge at a sufficient rate then you will still end up having to do something else (e.g. taking the car out and running the engine for a while) albeit slightly less often.

binft said:

Good point about raising it with the other freeholders though and it being another selling point. I will definitely do that.

The best outcome is likely to be if one or more of the other freeholders think getting mains power in their garage is a good idea and want to do the same. Any opportunity to share some of the costs is going to help, as well as in getting agreement/consent.

Jeepers_Creepers

Section62 said:

Hey, no need for every eventuality to be covered, just some of the more important ones.

Like a block of 'flats' being at least 2 storeys, so at least one of the neighbours will have the garage roof at the same level as their windows, or be looking down onto it.

And people do tend to get a bit spiky if they can see something out of their window which they want to take offence over.  Human nature and all that.

Yes, important ones: "Again, it would be courteous, at the very least, to discuss this with your fellow freeholders, but I can't personally see any reason why they'd be concerned; it should be completely out of sight, and not affect them a jot."

If it ain't out of sight, then - yes - they may well care quite a jot.

I really thought I had it covered, tho' - must try harder. I should have realised that "at least one of the neighbours will have the garage roof at the same level as their windows, or be looking down on it." Such impressive certainty.

Darn! Must also stop being sarky...

Nah, it's fun.

Jeepers_Creepers

binft said:

I didn't want to go in detail but yeah my car that i'm "storing" is not a generic everyday kind of car, it's a grey import japanese model (1995) so it's not modern by any means and has lots of different electrical gremlins going on. Right now from where i've moved it I used to have it on trickle charge 24/7 so wasn't a problem but now I've moved it to my new garage without power I'm looking at methods to keep the battery juiced up.

It's alarm is very old and dated and if you leave the car two weeks, even with a new battery it will kill it flat because it uses a little LED system etc etc (don't need to go into details but if you know old Japanese cars you know how they like to add all the bells and whistles electrically)

So yeah, not entirely sure a small solar panel like the ones you see on amazon for £30 will provide enough juice to charge it more than the battery will be drained. Suppose I should start by finding out at what rate the battery is being drained then start looking at options from there.

Good point about raising it with the other freeholders though and it being another selling point. I will definitely do that.

Do you have a multimeter? Do you know how to use it?! Insert 'ammeter' into battery circuit by removing one terminal and adding the meter in series, and starting at a highish setting - 1 or 2A to start with. Let us know what the readings are.

And don't turn on anything like the lights or the starter with the meter connected, or it could be an ex-meter.