Testing a inexpensive 12 volt solar battery maintainer for the car
Posted By RichC on December 8, 2024
Our 2002 Honda Odyssey van sits outside in Florida for a longer period than usual and a few times the battery didn’t start the car. At first I replaced the battery thinking it was just old. Then I started to disconnect the battery when leaving it covered in our condo parking lot … but it wouldn’t run correctly when I reconnected???
I suspected even back in 2002 the computer monitoring the engine parameters needed to readjust after the battery was fully discharged or disconnected. So a year or so ago I bought an inexpensive 12 volt solar battery maintainer since the cover never held up to the sun and wind anyway. So far, even leaving under a tree with the panel in the front windshield … and in the shade most of the time … it has started without disconnecting the battery.
Now after struggling with my 2010 BMW X5 35d’s battery on and off for years AND a bad experience leaving the 2010 Acura RDX sitting in airport parking for a while in October/November 2024 (even though it has a relatively new battery – 2023), I’ve decided to try another inexpensive 12 volt battery maintainer when leaving cars outside for more than a couple weeks. The active security and always active power-locks or computer must be a drain on batteries?
I’m doing some preliminary testing to see just how many volts the panel is delivering in the December sun, and it looks as if this small TopSolar 10-watts panel should trickle charge our batteries (although I’m tempted to order a 20-watt just for fun)? 😊
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