Solar charging

The TVR let me down yesterday (had to happen sooner or later). If I don't use the car for a week it won't start due to the battery being drained. I bought a solar trickle charger ages ago for the SD1, but never got round to using it so hooked this up to the TVR, it's only a crappy cheap one (maybe

1W) but thought it was worth a try. Went to take the car out yesterday to fill up with petrol and again, battery was dead. So jump started it with my power pack and took it out for a drive to charge it. Filled up with petrol, and again it wouldn't start, damn. Luckily I took the power pack with me so fumbled around getting it connected (battery is in the passenger footwell) and just got the car started again, but driving off the forecourt it stalled and refused to start again, even with the power pack connected. So almost 2.5 hours later a breakdown truck turns up and jumps me and off I go for another blat to charge it. Very annoying.

Ideally it needs to be connected up to a battery conditioner (this is what the previous owner did), but my garage/driveway has no power and is about 30 metres from the house so it's not particularly easy to get it out there. Eventually I'd like to get it hooked up to the house, but for now that's not happening.

So clearly the little 1W solar charger isn't man enough for the job. But there's quite a few others on the market which churn out a bit more power and might be better equipped to deal with the Chim's drain. For example, I'm looking at something like this:

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I wanted to measure the drain on the battery today, but I've just discovered my mulitmeter is with the SD1, but I guess it'd be a few hundred milliamps, so I reckon a 15W panel should be enough to counteract this. Any thoughts? Sound logic or would I just be wasting my money?

Has enyone else had experience of using these as trickle chargers?

Reply to
Carl Gibbs
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I'd seriously check all supplies off the battery/fusebox. 20-30mA should be more than enough to supply any onboard computer/alarm systems.

My Camaro lasted just 7 days between OK and dead. I found the previous owner had wired a TV control module into the Cigarette circuit and was pulling over 80mA. By wiring this through a switch the car only draws around 20-25mA and can stand for about 4 weeks. I also had an alternator fault which only supplied enough power to cover the load which killed the battery in 12 months.

HTH

Reply to
Terminal Crazy

That was a total guess, but either way it's a common TVR problem which is why most owners (if the car isn't a daily driver) use battery conditions or some sort of trickle charger charger. When the cars were new the TVR dealers even told owners it was something they had to live with.

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

Not really a help, and you may already have one, but Lidl locally had some battery chargers for £12.99 that look suspiciously like the CTEK

3800 in a less sexy case that sells for about £50. Offer started last Thursday though.

I bought one. Even has a special mode for the AGM battery that's in the MX-5.

Turns out I didn't need it, as the MX-5 started on the button (if a little slow) after sitting outside for 4 weeks in the cold, but its a nice 'have'.

Not starting after getting to the petrol station does sound a bit like a goosed battery/alternator, but I guess if they weren't known for having overspecced electrical systems you don't have much to worry about yet.

Reply to
Douglas Payne

There's something wrong if it's more than about 50 mA max - and I'd expect a pretty basic car like the TVR to be less. My SD1 has toys galore on it - most home made - and takes 60 mA. Most of that is the three flashing alarm lights. It will only do about two weeks without being used.

No - but my guess is they'd have to be pretty large to be of use on a dull day. Like too big to fit inside the car.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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The solar ones are useless, you can get them for £9.99 from Maplin. My local one had a huge box of them. The output is 100mA in bright sun. It wouldn't do much. LIDL sold a smart charger for £14 a few months ago which has a trickle charge feature. It sits connected to the battery and tops up as required. It screws to the wall and measures about 6inches by 1inch by 1inch and has various lights and switches. You can leave it on automatic for trickle charging. Unfortuntely a solar powered charge is no use in a garage!

Reply to
IanT

Apparently the alarm/immobilisor saps quite a bit. It's a very common problem

I'd mount one like in the link outside. Supposedly still works well on a dull day which is why I was hoping someone might have had some experience with them

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

Get a new battery. I could leave my Capri for weeks without any problem.

Reply to
Conor

I've got a 50W panel that I use to charge a 110AH battery in Italy. It can (just) charge the battery from 50% over three days. You also need Schottky blocking diodes to ensure that the battery doesn't discharge through the panel at night. Those diodes with suitably low forward voltage drop aren't cheap so cheap panel makers don't supply them.

Reply to
Steve Firth

It's a case of 'they all do it sir', which is why I need some sort of charging system. Besides I think the TVR has slightly more electrical goodies than a Capri!

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

That convinces me I want a Boxster, not a TVR come the end of summer when wifey goes back to work..

Mike P

Reply to
Mike P

It took that? The flat six, comfy interior, not stinking of GRP, working ancilliaries, ABS, half decent gearchange, reliability and the fact it wasn't hand crafted in blackpool should have been enough of a clue.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Meh, I'd still rather have the TVR to a Boxster, but then I enjoy the tinkering. Plus even the top of the range Boxster could barely keep up with my bottom of the range Chim, so no thanks.

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

Well, sort of. My stepdad had a Chimera though, and it was ace. I do like to be terrified on a daily basis...

I like the tinkering, but I'd also need to use it as a daily driver..

Mike P

Reply to
Mike P

You'd have to be brave to buy one as a daily, but saying that I bought mine knowing it needed a bit of spannering so little niggles are to be expected. Plenty of people do use them every day and have very few problems, you just need to buy the right car in the first place, then keep it uptogether. And at least the battery would stay charged!!

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

Is it new enough to have this integrated with the engine management? If not change it for a decent modern one. I've got a Viper on the SD1 which can do just about anything.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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Chances are you have deep cycled the battery and it's rooted. I use a C-Tech battery charger on my bikes and have only read good things about them. Solar in the Uk???? You must be taking the piss. : )

Fraser

Reply to
Fraser Johnston

You weren't the only one yesterday, a neighbour got towed by in his Chim :)

Reply to
fishman

No, I think it's a standalone system. But the problem is that it's very integrated into the car itself which makes it difficult to remove. I read that one guy had a quote of 2 days labour just to remove the original alarm in order to get a new one put in. A lot of it is hidden away in the depths of the chassis so is pretty much inaccessible. Which I guess is what you want from an alarm TBH, it just doesn't help when they're 10 years old and going wrong!

However the standard alarm is apparently very good - it's a Thatcham 1 alarm and seperate immobilisor with a microwave sensor so you can leave the car with the roof off. Mine's also had the optional automatic window lift module added. No where near as clever as a Viper system, but good enough for now.

I'm actually taking it to THE Meta alarm specialist next month, all the TVR dealers sent the cars to him when alarm problems occurred. He's hopefully gonna sort some little niggles I've got and I'll get him to check the battery drain caused by the alarm.

I think I'm going to give the solar panel a go. I've found a 15W panel with an adaptor for the ciggy socket (and croc clips) and a charge regulator for £70 which I think is what I'll go for. If it works, great, if it doesnt I can use it for some other 12v stuff thats not as demanding. Or just buy more panels and link them up ;)

Reply to
Carl Gibbs

trouble is that the rated output is almost always for full solar constant; i.e. facing the sun at the equator. If you incline it away from normal, live somewhere of significant latitude (and thus have a thicker layer of atmosphere), with notable humidity (and hence scattering of sunlight) and most significantly cloud cover, then the real output will be anything from maybe 20% (if you are lucky) to well under 1% of the rated output.

Putting it behind glass (e.g. inside the car) also removes the UV, which is a good thing from a skin health point of view, but is also the region of the spectrum containing the high energy photons from which a god fraction of the energy you net comes from.

Furthermore, as Steve F mentioned, the silicon panel itself, in the absence of light, will actually drain the battery slightly (the better ones have the diodes to prevent this); if the weather is against you, then it is quite definitely possible for the nighttime drain to exceed the daytime charge, and leave you worse of than you are without it!

If I were you, I'd fit a battery isolator switch somewhere inconspicuous.

Reply to
Albert T Cone

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