popotla Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 My 110 Td5 (2005) is parked in storage, overseas, til next August (2017). Is it a good idea to remove the battery and charge it regularly during this period, or does this risk causing a problem with the electrics? (A solar charger is a possibility, I think, but the man taking care of my vehicle doesn't have one, and I don't think I can ask him to go looking for a suitable one. (He and my vehicle are in Uruguay, where such things are expensive, and I'm in Germany.) The battery was new two months ago. What to do for the best? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Most solar chargers are a waste of time - and many even do more damage than good! Just disconnect the battery (unless you are using it to power the alarm / tracker?) and put it on charge for a couple of hours every few weeks as they do naturally discharge. If you do need to keep the battery connected, removing & charging each week or two is your best option. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris113 Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Appreciating you need a mains powered connection for this solution, but I leave the 110 permanently connected to a C-tek charger whilst abroad (8 weeks at a time). Previously it was driven once every couple of weeks by my father but if it was left for a while the battery would go dead and that stopped the tracker/alarm so this is by far a better solution. I have a C-tek connector besides the passenger seat which the charger plugs into so no need for pulling the seat bases out either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 As a minimum, remove one of the leads to the vehicle to prevent it being drawn down (there is always something pulling power). Then charge up. If it is a good battery, it will last a long time charged as long as there is no drain. A good automatic charger, as mentioned above is best, but not always practical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 For long term I'd remove the battery purely so that if the charger or battery should go faulty you don't burn your truck down. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deep Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 On 2/18/2017 at 2:53 AM, simonr said: Most solar chargers are a waste of time - and many even do more damage than good! Just disconnect the battery (unless you are using it to power the alarm / tracker?) and put it on charge for a couple of hours every few weeks as they do naturally discharge. If you do need to keep the battery connected, removing & charging each week or two is your best option. Si Gosh, that is a long way from my experience! We have a handful of remote installations at work, all running off solar power. None have ever needed a battery replacement and some have been going for well over five years. The only solar chargers that are a waste of time are the type you get out of a cornflakes packet that need a lot of sun to produce anything! To trickle charge a car battery, most solar chargers will cope easily. The key is to get a good regulator and not attach the charger straight to the battery. However, we have established it isn't easy for the caretaker to get a setup like this, so the advice above seems good. Personally, I wouldn't want the drain of a security system on the car's battery for such a long time without a permanently attached and well-regulated charger. That new battery won't stay new for long if the voltage drops too low for too long, or if it stays over-charged. Disconnected, it could easily go a month or two without a charge. The spare battery I carried on my Australian epic adventure in 2004 only got two charges in eight months when it was new but it's actually still going strong in my friend's (cough, cough) non-LR vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 37 minutes ago, deep said: Gosh, that is a long way from my experience! We have a handful of remote installations at work, all running off solar power. None have ever needed a battery replacement and some have been going for well over five years. Simon is referring to the low cost stuff you normally see in the retail market. The installations you will have for work will be properly engineered industrial components and not be cheap. Go find out the cost of one of your work installations. You can certainly get a proper solar charging system. You need an adequate panel size and a real charge controller. Then it needs to be mounted and wired properly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Deep, that's a fair comment re solar chargers. It's just when most people say 'solar charger' they mean the ones out of a cornflakes packet! A solar charger with a proper charge controller (more than just a regulator) is good. However, trickle charging a battery over a long period leads to sulphication of the plates. The best option is for the charger to do nothing until the voltage drops below a threshold (80% ish DoC) then charge at a decent current (ideally >= Ah rating / 20). If the battery is being used (Delta V measurement above another threshold), charger just dumps everything it's got into the battery. For a panel to even be able to supply current as fast as the battery self discharges - it needs to be bigger than most of the 'toy' chargers. I have a 240Ah Standby battery with a 100W panel connected through a Victron MPPT Charger (https://www.leadingedgepower.com/shop/store/solar-panels/solar-charge-controllers/mppt-charge-controllers/victron-blue-solar-15a-mppt-charge-1049292.html?pid=1049292&gclid=CJLZo4eLn9ICFc8W0wodi2UJBg) Which works OK - but still it's nowhere near the C/20 most days in the UK. When possible (on grid), it's connected to CTEK M200 charger which again is the bare minimum for that capacity of battery! All of which makes most solar chargers look a bit pathetic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Also a proper solar setup like that is more money than a new battery and waaay more money than a maintenance charger, even a flashy CTEK one. If you intend to re-use it by bolting it to your LR for overlanding or something then it has more value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deep Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 On 2/21/2017 at 5:32 AM, Red90 said: Simon is referring to the low cost stuff you normally see in the retail market. The installations you will have for work will be properly engineered industrial components and not be cheap. Go find out the cost of one of your work installations. You can certainly get a proper solar charging system. You need an adequate panel size and a real charge controller. Then it needs to be mounted and wired properly. I'll take this as a compliment, seeing I put the early ones together! They weren't particularly expensive to make, apart from the pole needed to get the panel above the trees - not that that is called for here. Solar power is very common in New Zealand and available setups vary wildly in cost/capability. You can do well if you learn what you need and shop around. The fact the batteries are lasting so well, outside in all conditions (albeit protected in a thin, galvanised steel box), suggests we have done it right. Or at least good enough! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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