solar trickle chargers

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RobC
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My Cars: 1991 Citroen BX 16v
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solar trickle chargers

Post by RobC »

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.
1991 Citroen BX 16v
mds141
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Re: solar trickle chargers

Post by mds141 »

Try Maplins, their stuff seems to be decent quality, or try Go Outdoors - they have a good range of solar chargers.
Mark Smith

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Tim Leech
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Re: solar trickle chargers

Post by Tim Leech »

I bought one off ebay for not very much, seems to work ok!
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RobC
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

Post by RobC »

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.
1991 Citroen BX 16v
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