Solar Battery Top Up Charger

[N55GUS]

I am thinking of buying one of those Solar powered (4w+) Battery chargers which you position above the passenger air bag. Just a quick question.

If the charger is plugged in to the cigarette lighter socket, will it still top up the Battery with the ignition off?

My own guess is No, because the ignition has to be on at least ACC for the lighter to work, if this is the case I could probably connect the two crocodile clips to the Battery with the wires going through a gap in the bodywork via the passenger door.

TIA and A Happy New Year to all Board Members.

[Chris Skelton]

I raised this point a few days back.....somewhere!

Audi used to have a trickle charger in their sunroof!

I share your view that it WON'T work in a Cig lighter; am happy to be proved wrong!

[plexus914]

I would recommend 6W or 8W solar charger connected via trunk light.

[Foulsbane]

I have one that I bought for use when we went away for a few weeks.

It sits nicely on the dash , passenger side, and connects to the Battery.

Workso a treat.

[Chris Skelton]

I have one that I bought for use when we went away for a few weeks.

It sits nicely on the dash , passenger side, and connects to the battery.

Workso a treat.

Yes, but .....how, was the original question.

certainly a good idea to keep Battery topped up, especially in the chill.

clear skies here tonight!

[Foulsbane]

It obviously only generates power in hours of daylight.

I routed the cable as you suggested , running the cable in the gap between the wing and the screen pillar, then the hood can be closed as long as the cable clips are fitted snug to the Battery top.

[Malc]

........ seems daft to me that the Mk1, 2 and 3 never had this discharge problem yet on the Mk4 new technology has failed !

dopey if you ask me

Malc

[Foulsbane]

I thought my car had a discharge problem , turns out the Battery was decaying.

[ls400lpg]

Just like to mention that my LPG mechanc said NEVER charge your dead Battery with jumping leads from another car with the ignition turned on. As this will damage your ECU.

A bit of advice

[ambermarine]

When I bought the Mark 4 the previous owner had wired the cigarette lighter (front) to a switch fitted to the blanking plate insert above the handbrake,This enabled the solar charger to be used with no ignition requirement.

The wiring was indirect to Battery,I did'nt like this arrangement and have taken it out replacing the blanking plate with a new one.

The wiring principle on the Lexus is precise to within a miliamp and adding these kind of arrangements is not advisable.

The intelligent charger I use is wired direct to the Battery via clips ,as your Battery is the voltage regulater on the car then that is illiminating any spikes that may occur through uneducated wiring.

[Chris Skelton]

Uneducated wiring! I love it!

Great info.

[N55GUS]

As the OP many thanks for your inputs on this matter, I was just trying to decide if a Solar Powered top up charger or one of those Jump Start units would be better for my needs, I think the cost of the charger would be about 50% of that of the Jump start unit.

For those BMs with good memories I hadn't used to have a metal key so entry to the car when the Battery was flat was a major problem. After speaking to the main dealers in the past the cost was going to be £120+ for a new keyless entry key including the metal part. When speaking to a different person at the main dealers almost a year later they said if you don't mind having 2 keys you can have a seperate metal key for £32, this has just helped me enormously having returned from a six week holiday.