I don't use the BX much, and what with the clock, radio memory, and alarm fitted there's a parasitic drain of around 50mA which I can't lessen.
So I bought the basic solar trickle charger from Halfords. It stopped working eventually - and I was also dubious about the voltage regulation because there was evidence of overcharging due to crusty white deposits around my battery.
Can anyone recommend a decent one that won't fry my battery yet will keep it topped up? I guess I could fit my own voltage regulator to a cheap one too.
solar trickle chargers
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- BXpert
- Posts: 582
- Joined: Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:15 am
- Location: East London
- My Cars: 1991 Citroen BX 16v
- x 26
solar trickle chargers
1991 Citroen BX 16v
Re: solar trickle chargers
Try Maplins, their stuff seems to be decent quality, or try Go Outdoors - they have a good range of solar chargers.
Mark Smith
Is it just me or is everything shit?
1989 BX GTi 16 valve. Blanc Alpine. Completed the Citroen Classic Challenge Ecosse and 1337 miles without a hitch.
2000 XM VSX 2.1 td Auto. Rouge Magenta.
TGD saloon many years ago.
1990 Swift 'Corniche' 12/2 aka BXClub HQ.
Honda Firestorm. Gone, but not forgotten.
2015 Triumph Tiger Explorer XC.
Is it just me or is everything shit?
1989 BX GTi 16 valve. Blanc Alpine. Completed the Citroen Classic Challenge Ecosse and 1337 miles without a hitch.
2000 XM VSX 2.1 td Auto. Rouge Magenta.
TGD saloon many years ago.
1990 Swift 'Corniche' 12/2 aka BXClub HQ.
Honda Firestorm. Gone, but not forgotten.
2015 Triumph Tiger Explorer XC.
- Tim Leech
- Over 2k
- Posts: 15565
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:12 am
- Location: Derbyshire
- My Cars: Various
- x 141
Re: solar trickle chargers
I bought one off ebay for not very much, seems to work ok!
Lots of Motors, mostly semi broken....
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- BXpert
- Posts: 582
- Joined: Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:15 am
- Location: East London
- My Cars: 1991 Citroen BX 16v
- x 26
Re: solar trickle chargers
Thanks guys - I went for Maplins in the end: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/solar-powered ... rger-n59fu
Testing it out of the box it seems to put out about 17-18v in direct sunlight. Is this not too much for a 12v battery? Or is it more about the current rather than voltage?
The cig lighter socket is always live in a BX, so I plugged it into that. However, measuring voltage at the battery it was only showing 12.8V (i.e. the same voltage as the battery). Could BX wiring be so crummy that it loses that much voltage just travelling from the lighter socket to the battery? I could hook it up direct to the battery but that's a bit more of a faff.
Testing it out of the box it seems to put out about 17-18v in direct sunlight. Is this not too much for a 12v battery? Or is it more about the current rather than voltage?
The cig lighter socket is always live in a BX, so I plugged it into that. However, measuring voltage at the battery it was only showing 12.8V (i.e. the same voltage as the battery). Could BX wiring be so crummy that it loses that much voltage just travelling from the lighter socket to the battery? I could hook it up direct to the battery but that's a bit more of a faff.
1991 Citroen BX 16v