Solar battery "charger"
 

Hi Peeps,
Having two ZT/TT`S (greedy) and only using one at a time I have just bought a solar charger from Halfords (6.0 W) to keep the redundant car ready for action. I have put it under the sunroof and would like to know how to check that it is keeping the the battery sufficiently charged, tips please folks.
Neil

Check the battery voltage every week and see if there is any droop over a month, two months etc.

I purchased a Lucas solar charger which plugs into the OBD port
I’ve been using it for my Wedgewood which is sitting idle at the moment but it still needs a proper charge using the Cetek after a few weeks.
To be fair it’s winter time do not much sunshine. Solar panel sits of rear shelf and facing to the south.

I was researching this myself a week ago as I only use my 75 a couple of times per week at most and that's only for a couple of miles per trip so ... not ideal really. I believe in order for the charger to be effective it has to be capable of producing a certain amperage or so I've been told.
What the amps have to be to successfully trickle charge a 12v car battery is a mystery to me so far so research continues.

I've been using one for years. What it does is supply just enough power to offset the losses through the ECU and also the slight natural losses of the battery itself.

It won't charge up a partially discharged battery.

It will however hold a fully charged battery in a fully charged state.

I have monitored my battery over several seasons now and it does work.-:D

Could you supply a link to the unit you bought or a make 'n' model.
Cheers.

I've had the unit for quite a while now so I'll have a look tomorrow to see if the makers sticker is still on it.--:D

If not, I know there are quite a few for sale on the market. You need one with a reasonable output that will give some kind of a charge even on dull days.

I see your point, just need to know what the 'reasonable output' needs to be.
There's literally squillions out there it's a job to know which one to go for, if you could post up the specs of the unit you have (when ready) I may be able to find something similar if not the same.
Cheers.

A lot of these solar panel chargers can become faulty very quickly, they in fact drain the battery instead of charging it.

My large one I bought from Maplin killed my battery, the built in reverse blocking diode failed which then reversed the energy flow back through to the solar panel, its quite common.

Hmmm ...Not good ! was hoping it was going to be a decent idea tbh.
Surely there must be a decent item out there that does what it says on the tin?