Car battery - Trickle Charger

[vetran]

Yes, a proper trickle charger will not over heat the battery but it must not do in situ otherwise it will mess up the programming on the modern crap cars.

BTW: Next week I am doing a friend a favour by driving xxx miles to start his Mercedes that has been left for a few months. The garage wants £2,500 to come out and change the battery and re-programme.

They should have homestart! AA have come out and restarted me and the wife a couple of times of 30 years of motoring.

Might be worth asking them, etryres or kwik fit how much they will charge, I wonder if manufacturers will be able to continue to create ECUs that can only be reprogrammed by them after a flat battery with the new self repair laws.

[ladymuck]

They should have homestart! AA have come out and restarted me and the wife a couple of times of 30 years of motoring.

After last year's battery shenanigans, I now have my own jump starter. It's a bit of a beast of one but it will also pump my tyres up too.

[malvolio]

Any bare metal on the bodywork/chassis should be ok but personally I'd just try connecting it to the negative of the battery.

Hopefully the charger you've bought will give an indication of battery condition/charge level. Maybe even the voltage. Fully charged is about 12.6V. Anything much under 12V can cause starting or other problems.

To be fair the battery on the motorhome, a Fiat Ducato chassis, is under the passenger seat, so under the bonnet there is a positive connection point and a bolt you can use for the negative connection. But yes, I agree you shouldn't use the negative terminal directly if at all possible. Any bit of exposed engine metalwork will do.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Stone me.

Talk about overcomplicating tulipe as much as possible.

Just add random microcontrollers & similar crap everywhere you can think of, then get it to talk via a can bus.

My mate's alternator talks to the ECU which adds levels of deep joy to changing the battery.

[Great Parks]

I had a flat battery back in the cold snap and had the same problem as you - didn't have a clue what sort of battery I had & discovered that there doesn't seem to be a one size fits all solution for such matters as there used to be. Bit like getting a roofrack, but don't get me started!

So I peddled down to my local DIY store and picked up a smart charger. Plugged it in and connected it and it worked everything out for me e.g. the ampage, what kind of battery, whether it was still chargeable and 4 hours later it was done.

Best £50 I've spent.

I an give you the make and model if you want - can't remember off the top of my head & it's sat in the garage at them moment.

[ladymuck]

Do solar trickle chargers work if the solar panel is inside the car? I wonder if I should get something but, as I'm parked on the street, it can't be external to the car.

[BR14]

Do solar trickle chargers work if the solar panel is inside the car? I wonder if I should get something but, as I'm parked on the street, it can't be external to the car.

yes, they work fine if the battery's in good nick.
you've got a sports car? wide parcel shelf, flattish rear screen? should be perfect.

[Paddy]

Do solar trickle chargers work if the solar panel is inside the car? I wonder if I should get something but, as I'm parked on the street, it can't be external to the car.

After testing a number of solar chargers I found that you will need a fairly large one to trickle charge a car battery plus it becomes a temptation for thieves

[BR14]

After testing a number of solar chargers I found that you will need a fairly large one to trickle charge a car battery plus it becomes a temptation for thieves

it's not for charging from empty. it's for maintaining full charge on an already charged battery.
and it's a <>£30 black mat on the parcel shelf, not worth nicking.

[ladymuck]

I've had a bit of a poke about and it would seem the 12v sockets (I have two) inside the car may not remain live when the ignition is off so I'm looking at having to trail cables from under the bonnet to inside the car. Not sure how to achieve that and not end up with a car full of water after the next downpour.