Battery trickle charger - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

ebbers · 19th November 2007, 14:10

Well the inevitable happened....

Battery died although to be fair looking at the previous bills I was going to have to buy a new one soon anyway.

Regardless I was wondering if anyone has used one of these solar powered trickle chargers?

Something like this:

http://www.bridgwater-electronics.co...le+Charger.php

Sounds good in theory but I was wondering how good it would be on a heavy duty battery or a big car like the M5 that can cause a big drain when parked up.

ebbers · 19th November 2007, 14:41

Or is an Optimiser better?

http://www.thegreenreaper.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=761

I was also reading that the M5 has it's own recharging point under the hood.
What sort of connector would I need for that?

I'm stuck at work at the moment and am "hoping" to pick something up on the way home.

shuggy47 · 19th November 2007, 15:30

I have used a solar powered trickle charger for a few months now but it just seems to delay the inevitable i.e. battery dying.
As for the optimiser, i havn't used myself but my father swears by them for his motorbike throughout the winter when it gets little use.

ebbers · 19th November 2007, 15:55

Cheers for the reply Shuggy47

Looking at the leads the trickle charger could be a set it and forget it item.

The optimiser works off a mains lead, not sure how I would be able to connect that up and leave it as the car is on the drive, not in a garage.

Hmmmmm.....

MY BUD · 19th November 2007, 16:47

I'd be interested to know what the best solution is, the M5 seems to go through batteries quite quickly and i normally use it only on weekends which does'nt help. A guy at work uses a solar charger on his Elise and is happy with the result, reading the previous reply however makes me doubt them. I've tried a standard battery charger with extended leads but the volt drop renders it useless. If it was my car on the drive i would put the optimiser in the boot and run an extension lead into the house or garage. With regards to the recharging point under the hood, i would have thought you are talking about the + nut you use for jump starting.

MIKE.

dronfieldm · 19th November 2007, 19:19

Over the last 3 years I've only done about 1500 miles each year. The car is normally in a garage, and connected to a Halfords charger that also maintains, cutting in and out as required. I connected a lead direct to the battery and ran it into the boot with one of those "kettle lead connectors" on the end. (see attached pic). I put the opposite connector onto the charger lead and simply connect up, shutting the boot gently on the wire.......works fine.

I'd imagine you could connect the charger wires to the battery under the rear seat and run to the solar panel on the rear shelf perhaps ? if that's the way you want to go......

Obviously a 240 volt mains powered charger solution is a better long term prospect I'd have thought.

Mark

ebbers · 20th November 2007, 00:09

Nothing like a bit of overkill.

Bought a 12v solar panel charger to see how it copes.
And a Ctek XS3600 charger and conditioner.

Now I've just got to find a decent supplier of a 100aH battery

legacy260 · 20th November 2007, 02:53

CTEK 9000 for me....does a great job.