Supplementary battery charging

[Morrisminormo]

Now that winter is here I want to make sure my battery doesn't run flat. I use my car every day for work, I have my headlights on, wipers, heater and radio all same time ( depending on weather) so I must be discharging more than I put in sometimes. My question is can I connect a battery charger straight to the terminals on the battery with out disconnecting any thing?? On my other cars that have alternators I have always done it but being this is a dynamo I'm not sure if I can damage the regulator some how.
I don't want to fit a alternator.
I also have a spare 60amp battery charger (victron of my boat) that I plan to use. I don't think the size of the charger should be a issue? ( on my boat now I have a 150A mastervolt charger and that charges a starter battery, and never blown any thing up )
Thank you

[bmcecosse]

A solar charger will be ideal - as long as the car sees daylight. But if you use the headlights sensibly - ie switch them off when in town/traffic there really won't be any problems with the battery. Same with wipers - don't have them dragging on the screen when you don't need them - switch off when stopped, and perhaps fit an intermittent wipe to save you constantly switching them on/off. A 60 amp charger is ridiculous and will boil a battery dry - you want a MAXIMUM 4 amp charger - and actually a 1 amp charger used overnight would be plenty. I think either Aldi or Lidl have one coming up in the next few days. And yes -no harm leaving it connected to the battery all the time.

[MarkyB]

It mostly depends on the nature of your commute, if you spend a lot of it stuck in traffic you may have a potential problem, otherwise the dynamo should be fine.

A lot of bikers use Battery charger and conditioners, Optimate is a good though expensive brand.
They come with leads you can leave permanently attached and a plug to join to the charger.

[Morrisminormo]

A solar charger will be ideal - as long as the car sees daylight. But if you use the headlights sensibly - ie switch them off when in town/traffic there really won't be any problems with the battery. Same with wipers - don't have them dragging on the screen when you don't need them - switch off when stopped, and perhaps fit an intermittent wipe to save you constantly switching them on/off. A 60 amp charger is ridiculous and will boil a battery dry - you want a MAXIMUM 4 amp charger - and actually a 1 amp charger used overnight would be plenty. I think either Aldi or Lidl have one coming up in the next few days. And yes -no harm leaving it connected to the battery all the time.

Good idea bmc
The car sees daylight as it's parked outside in the day

I know 60A charger is a little excessive, it's just I have it surplus to requirements, but it is a very sophisticated charger, only puts in what it needs so I can't see it boiling a battery

[Tiny]

Im with Marky B on this one.
There are a range of Motorcycle Trickle chargers (optimate being one of the better ones), that can be hard wired to a plug hidden in the grille.
Unlike a conventional Charger these things have a degree of intelligance, My Optimate on the bike does a voltage check every 45 mins, then if the battery requires a charge, trickles charges until its next check in 45 mins. If the battery doesnt require a charge it just continues to monitor keeping your battery at an optimum..

As an added bonus the plug is the same as a remote control car type, so is readily available at maplin. Ideal to adapt your airbed pump when camping, or a 12v inspection lamp etc...

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

You might not even need to go to the trouble of doing this if the engine spins over easily on the starter when starting from cold.

Could always use the starting handle with a cold engine and give the battery a refresher charge at the weekend.

[lambrettalad]

Starting handle is best left to "needs must" especially on a cold wet miserable morning

best change to alternator to ease the worry ,if not plus one for optimate

[MarkyB]

This is the Aldi offering;
https://www.aldi.co.uk/en/specialbuys/t ... y-charger/

I have my doubts about how "intelligent" it is, I'd go for something more mid range personally.

When used on motorbikes the reason is to keep the battery in usable condition even if the bike isn't used for ages.

[bmcecosse]

It won't need any charging if you keep the headlight use to a minimum - in any case - it's extreme bad manners to sit in town traffic with headlights shining on the car in front, and don't sit with foot on the brake pedal either - with brake lights blinding the driver behind..........

[MarkyB]

don't sit with foot on the brake pedal either - with brake lights blinding the driver behind

This is so prevalent now I suspect it's actually being taught as best practice
Do we have any driving instructors here who know?

[bmcecosse]

The Aldi charger looks fine to me.......

[lambrettalad]

I've just got a bleeper,for my vespa, that signals when the battery voltage drops below 12.2 v,sort of early warning ,only cost £12

[MarkyB]

From;
http://www.aldiwarranty.co.uk/pdf/1817.pdf

If the battery voltage is lower than 3.8 V or higher than 15 V, the battery is not
suitable or defective. The error message „Err“ appears for 3 seconds on the display
before returning to the standby mode

It sounds clever enough to be a pain in the bottom.

[Trickydicky]

Hi,

For the past year I have been using one of these, http://www.maplin.co.uk/solar-powered-1 ... rger-98358.
and I also use a Quick Disconnect Battery switch to prevent any slow discharge of the battery while the car is not in use, the switch is also one of the multiple security devices fitted.
The car is running on a dynamo and I have had no problems. As part of my routine when garaging the car, security is activated and the switch removed.