Battery Maintainer / Trickle Charger

[Harrier Man]

Given the not infrequent occurrences of flat batteries and an anticipated period in the New Year when my car will be left unused for 6-8 weeks, I want to take some preventative measures. I have a NoCo pack but recall reading about solar powered chargers on this forum that I think will be a better option.

Christmas is coming up and I want to add a suitable bit of kit to my Christmas List but I'm unclear as to what will work best. My research comes up with 'Battery maintainers' and 'trickle chargers' - do these do the same thing? I've looked at the CTEK website but their range confuses me and appear expensive compared with, say, the AA Battery maintainer. The car will not be garaged so solar appears a good idea but it would also be possible to connect to an external socket if the leads were long enough.

Any information, advice and/or recommendations would be welcomed.

[stepppy]

I purchased the below smart charger from amazon during the first lockdown for my Prius and it worked perfectly and at a very good price too.

It analyses the Battery type and charges the Battery and then maintains it at the correct level.

Smart Charger

I use it on my NX now when I go away on holiday. Although they are designed to be left running continuously, I have mine hooked up to a smart plug and have it come on for 8 hours a day twice a week. 

It comes with the usual crocodile clips, but also  another lead that enables permanent connection to the Battery with a plug on the other end for easy connection to the charger.