Another Solar Power update for interested parties.

[royoftherovers]

I connected my Solar Powered Charger on 1 May and disconnected this morning giving just over 8 weeks of vehicle inactivity.

The car started instantly and was showiing 6 complete bars on the Hybrid Battery condition. A good case can therefore be made out for this  cheap and efficient alternative method of maintaining Battery condition during longish periods of absence. Been doing this for the past 3 years. Car facing South and Charger on top of Dash.

Hope this information is of value to  members.

Regards

John

[Farqui]

Now that's good to hear, I guess keeping the small 12v topped up reduced the drain on the bigger traction Battery?

Do you know how many bars your traction Battery had when you put her to sleep?  

Did you hook up the charger directly to your small 12v Battery in the boot or elsewhere?

What capacity solar charger do you use?

On a related note...do I recall a key fob setting that can be disabled during a low period of use?  Effectively shutting down the key fob scanning function. 

[Britprius]

Solar chargers are an ideal way of keeping the 12 volt Battery charged while a car is not in use. Fortunately the high voltage traction Battery is completely disconnected from any load when the car is shut down.

The high voltage Battery also has a very low level of self discharge meaning it can be left for long periods without loosing it's charge shown by the bar display. There are reports of Prius high voltage batteries being left for three years, and still starting the engine.

 

[royoftherovers]

3 hours ago, Farqui said:

Now that's good to hear, I guess keeping the small 12v topped up reduced the drain on the bigger traction battery?

Do you know how many bars your traction battery had when you put her to sleep?  

Did you hook up the charger directly to your small 12v battery in the boot or elsewhere?

What capacity solar charger do you use?

On a related note...do I recall a key fob setting that can be disabled during a low period of use?  Effectively shutting down the key fob scanning function. 

Thanks Lee.

John (Britprius) tells us that there is little or no discharge from the Traction Battery whilst the car is shut down so the number of bars will have been 5/6 on 1 May.

The hook up was via the OBD2 Port under the Dash by the Steering Wheel.

The Charger I used is in this link https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AC1LLQY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sorry,but I do not know the answer to your last question.

Regards

John

[Hangie]

Charging via obd2 - that is new :)

have you checked the current - I guess it must be in the 100 mA area. 

 

Anyway to compensate for the small power loss it might work but to charge the Battery fully you would need like 40 days of full sun ;)

 

[royoftherovers]

5 minutes ago, Hangie said:

Charging via obd2 - that is new :)

have you checked the current - I guess it must be in the 100 mA area. 

 

Anyway to compensate for the small power loss it might work but to charge the battery fully you would need like 40 days of full sun ;)

 

Thanks Kryzsztof. The OBD Port is used as it remains live when the ignition is off. Been common practice I understand for anumber of years and uses a SCART connection.

It is not  the Sun which is needed, rather light which is within the atmosphere, thus even a cloudy day will provide charge to the Battery.

Regards

John

[Hangie]

I never heard about charging it that way. Point is obd is a diagnostic interface with pin 16 being Battery and 4 chassis ground.

someone just got clever idea why not to direct current in the opposite direction which in effect charge Battery rather that supply 12v to a scanner. If you remember that cables for obd are thin and not design for the big load you will be fine. I read somewhere than 1A is max what obd can supply so I assume it will also be 1A what you can send back.

[Britprius]

There are two points to remember here.

A 4 watt solar charger only charges at a maximum of 0.3 amps, and a lot of the solar chargers on sale are only rated at 2watts. This however it is sufficient to put back into the Battery the load of the security, and entry systems of the car, and normal Battery self discharge. The formula to achieve the charge current is wattage of the solar panel divided by the Battery voltage being charged. So 2 watts divided by 12 volts = 0.166 amps (or 166 ma). Remember this is only in daylight hours.

The traction or high voltage Battery does not receive any charge from the 12 volt Battery or Battery charger. When the car is in ready mode the traction Battery charges the 12 volt Battery. Once the car is turned off the traction Battery is completely isolated from the rest of the cars electrical circuitry.

John.