sssssteeeee

are these any good? replaced battery 2 wks ago after my old one died in a 24 hour period ! . new one seems ok but checked it other morning to find voltage had dropped to near 70 % so took car for quick drive 10 mins, checked again with engine off all was ok back to 100 %. so alternator seems fine battery not getting hot so no over charge. so am thinking to get a solar charger to keep topped up.

FMJ

iTrader: (2)

You killed a new battery in 24hrs? Sounds like a fault with the car of just a duff battery.

I am also interested in solar charges as you see them for like £20-£30 on ebay. Surely they can't be that great?

riiidaa

iTrader: (2)

never had any luck with mine


bought an Optimate in the end, but that's mains powered

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Few things to point out here:

Firstly, how do you know the battery was fully charged when you purchased it?...i.e how long has it been sat there on the shelf, and was it topped-up useing a crap charger?

Second, the alternator will never fully charge a depleted battery, and not in ten minutes either. It will "Bulk charge" pretty quick which is about 80%, but it will not equalize it. As the current taken by the battery during the absorbtion/equalization stages is so small that you need to be running the engine for hours or even days to get the battery up to 100% state of charge.

Thirdly solar panels are ok to counteract parasitic loss (radio, alarm etc). But bear in mind they don't work well behind a glass screen, due to the UV filters. So a 10watt panel is de-rated to 5watts at best, average of 300-400milliamps on a clear day which is quite pathetic, but enough to counteract alarms and trackers etc. The cheap 2watt panels are useless (130milliamps in direct sun...60milliamps behind glass).

Not one to overdo things...I have a 80watt panel on the roof of my garage keeping the Jag and bikes in order, which puts out about 5amps. Its portable, so I take it camping to run the mini-fridge.

sssssteeeee

hi chaps thanks for above feedback, the battery died , so was then replaced with new one from a well known car parts outlet. indeed its true battery could of been a non fully charged unit. I did check with my gunsons tester before fitting , it seemed good. 100% but surprised wk later the new battery was showing 50% , so as I say I took car for a whirl round the block then re tested voltage back up to 100% though im sure this would of been for only a short time as the car was then not driven for a day. so far things seem ok but , im not convinced. why would old battery of 3 years old die so fast!! ??? I went to start and relays all clicking alarm going off ??? what could cause this I had only used car 24 hours prior to this and all wa good. I checked boot light theres no bulb in the holder, interior light I leave off.radio I always disconnect, very strange indeed. will have to see how the new one goes, now on week 2 .