Solar Powered Trickle Charger For My 430

lexusls4302001 · November 22, 2008

Hi guys

Ive had my 430 for 3 months and I do on average 20 miles a week in it - mostly short journeys. I know its not great mileage but thats how much I travel. I'll drive it a couple of times a week for a local run around. Coz the Battery is not getting charged up properly, it is draining and stays weak. Often I have to jump start it. The alternator is fine.

I need your ever helpful advice. Im considering getting one of those solar powered trickle chargers (£10-20 from Maplin kind of thing). What does anyone think? They mostly have adapators so they charge your Battery through your cig lighter. Is this ok? Does anyone know if this will damage my electrics? If you recommend I change my Battery, what type / make would you suggest?

Any advice would be great to prevent me from being left stranded!!

Thanks

ROYT · November 22, 2008

I bought one of these for the same reason,but I was not very impressed,

Think it might be OK on a tiny Battery,but even with this in the windscreen the Battery will slowly go flat.

I like the idea but feel the £10-£20 models haven't got the clout.

May be worth getting a better quality one.

Also check if your cigarette lighter socket is live with the ignition off, on my LS 400 it's not,

so you have to use the croc. clips direct on to the Battery.

[traiilng wires from engine to panel in car}

RichieRrich · November 23, 2008

I understand that most bettery drain is caused by the alarm.

If your car is kept overnight in a secure place ....

why not just use your key to lock the car.... only use the alarm when left somewhere vulnerable.

Does anyone know if the LS has an imobiliser?

I have an S2000 fitted with a cobra alarm....if you manually lock this the imobiliser still operates.

If this is the same with the Lex alarm, maybe safe enough without setting.

saves all the hassle of Battery drain and lockout!

Rich.

chris vince · November 23, 2008

I understand that most bettery drain is caused by the alarm.
If your car is kept overnight in a secure place ....

why not just use your key to lock the car.... only use the alarm when left somewhere vulnerable.

Does anyone know if the LS has an imobiliser?

I have an S2000 fitted with a cobra alarm....if you manually lock this the imobiliser still operates.

If this is the same with the Lex alarm, maybe safe enough without setting.

saves all the hassle of battery drain and lockout!

Rich.

I had one in my Mk3, but it couldn't keep up with the alarm, and other permanent equipment drain.

I don't think the cigarette lighter is permantly 'live', it definitely wasn't on my car, so I had to adapt the charger with a couple of crocodile clips directly onto the Battery.

A bit of a drag removing all of this every time, so I found a hidden route for the wire and left it in place, just unplugging it from the charger when I used the car.

IMHO I think they are a good idea, but go for the best/biggest output you can afford, otherwise all you will do is to delay an inevitable flat Battery.

From memory I think my solar charger put out 8 watts, which was no where near enough to keep the Battery up.

Regards,

Chris Vince

chris vince · November 23, 2008

I understand that most bettery drain is caused by the alarm.
If your car is kept overnight in a secure place ....

why not just use your key to lock the car.... only use the alarm when left somewhere vulnerable.

Does anyone know if the LS has an imobiliser?

I have an S2000 fitted with a cobra alarm....if you manually lock this the imobiliser still operates.

If this is the same with the Lex alarm, maybe safe enough without setting.

saves all the hassle of battery drain and lockout!

Rich.

I had one in my Mk3, but it couldn't keep up with the alarm, and other permanent equipment drain.

I don't think the cigarette lighter is permantly 'live', it definitely wasn't on my car, so I had to adapt the charger with a couple of crocodile clips directly onto the Battery.

A bit of a drag removing all of this every time, so I found a hidden route for the wire and left it in place, just unplugging it from the charger when I used the car.

IMHO I think they are a good idea, but go for the best/biggest output you can afford, otherwise all you will do is to delay an inevitable flat Battery.

From memory I think my solar charger put out 8 watts, which was no where near enough to keep the Battery up.

Regards,

Chris Vince

Sorry I had a MK4, DOH!!!

Matrixabc · November 24, 2008

Hi,

Is the Battery in good condition? if not it would be better to replace rather than charge up.

the short journeys do cause a huge drain on your Battery, normally it take around 20 mins to recharge after a start.

but of your doing several journeys a week and only doing 20 miles then the Battery will be struggling to cope. also you're engine will be suffering as the oil and engine will never get up to temperature.

it would be a good idea to go for a long ( 30/40 mins) drive once a week.

as a last resort A good quality Battery charger with low ac ripple, a 3 amp charger should have enough power to feed the standing load of the alarm system and charge the Battery, but you should really charge the Battery out of the car, which can be a pain.

ManicMark · November 24, 2008

Hi an optimax charger should do the trick, as long as you can run a lead to the car that is, outherwise you are looking at a fairly large solar panel, my panels i used on my motor caravan were about 4 by 2.5 foot and only produced 3.7 amps max (direct sunlight in Greece)

hope this is of help Mark

lexusls4302001 · November 24, 2008

Thanks guys for the advice.

Can I ask, by using the actual key in my fob to lock the car (instead of pressing the button on the door / key fob), will that way of locking it use less Battery power to secure the car?

RichieRrich · November 24, 2008

Yes ! B)

Matrixabc · December 2, 2008

If you use the key you are still operating the door solenoids and activating the immobilizer etc? are you not?

lexusls4302001 · December 2, 2008

If you use the key you are still operating the door solenoids and activating the immobilizer etc? are you not?

Yes from what I see when I use the key, it still operates the central locking and I persume the immobilizer, however, it does not switch on the smartkey facilities and in the interior alarm - which are the ones that really drain the Battery

csansom · February 2, 2015

Hi - new here.

Just wondering how much of the above (I'm guessing probably all) applies to my IS300.

Chris Skelton · February 2, 2015

Try it and see?

Certainly on my Ser 4, I never used to 'plip' it shut, for the alarm drain reason.

(And no one ever stole it-no taste these villains!All after Fords and hot rods)

csansom · February 2, 2015

This is all very interesting. We are very intermittent users of ours, and have run into Battery trouble a few times. I was LED to believe the on-board computer was to blame - no-one mentioned that it could be anything so simple as the alarm system. We'll try that and see what happens, but at the same time we won’t want to risk suddenly being without a car when we need it, so I expect we'll go on making a point of giving it a good spin every couple of weeks. <sigh>

royoftherovers · February 2, 2015

Hi guys

Ive had my 430 for 3 months and I do on average 20 miles a week in it - mostly short journeys. I know its not great mileage but thats how much I travel. I'll drive it a couple of times a week for a local run around. Coz the battery is not getting charged up properly, it is draining and stays weak. Often I have to jump start it. The alternator is fine.

I need your ever helpful advice. Im considering getting one of those solar powered trickle chargers (£10-20 from Maplin kind of thing). What does anyone think? They mostly have adapators so they charge your battery through your cig lighter. Is this ok? Does anyone know if this will damage my electrics? If you recommend I change my battery, what type / make would you suggest?

Any advice would be great to prevent me from being left stranded!!

Thanks

Posted 04 March 2014 - 03:49 PM

i posted this in March last year.Hope it helps......I returned to my GS450h THIS AFTERNOON following six weeks away in Spain.

I had left it with a 12 volt, 2.4 watt Solar Powered Trickle Charger (purchased from the AA) connected to the OBD Port beneath the Steering Wheel and lo and behold it fired up instantly.

I hope that this information is of some use/ comfort to fellow 450H owners particularly as I understand that the UK has not had much sunshine whilst I have been away.!

Regards

John

AKY-B · February 3, 2015

i always key lock mine.Also i have i bigger more powerful Bosch Silver plus battey wedged in.It fits but the terminals are at the bottom of the Battery tray as you have to put it in 'upside down'.Battery is available for same price as a standard Lexus one from Costco.

lex - eleven · February 3, 2015

Interesting reading all this as I have stated that I don't do many miles on my commute but as yet not had any issues at all. I used to use a trickle charger on my bike as I only used it in fair weather. The charger was for all types of vehicles including caravan batteries and my leisure Battery for my caravan is on the trickle charge now. One point about not alarming the car is that the insurers would question that point if the vehicle was stolen wouldn't they? If they can get out of paying out they will for sure. Probably cheaper to buy another Battery in the long run and for peace of mind.

Chris Skelton · February 3, 2015

Interesting reading all this as I have stated that I don't do many miles on my commute but as yet not had any issues at all. I used to use a trickle charger on my bike as I only used it in fair weather. The charger was for all types of vehicles including caravan batteries and my leisure battery for my caravan is on the trickle charge now. One point about not alarming the car is that the insurers would question that point if the vehicle was stolen wouldn't they? If they can get out of paying out they will for sure. Probably cheaper to buy another battery in the long run and for peace of mind.

...only if you TELL them! Send them this link to explain why it got nicked?

(And thanks for giving me a reason to view it again!)