Bought two of those solar panel trickle chargers one for the MH and one for the wee car that gets towed behind it , although not a great deal of sun , still says they would work during daylight hours ......

, both batterys flat after a couple of days of leaving the solars plugged into the cigarette lighters switch .........

Ah well back to the drawing board as they say ........... solar panels in the Bin ...........

Just as well i bought the " Off" large battery jumpstarter ........

Rant Over ........

I don't know the answer to this without knowing what vehicles you have but are your cigarette lighters permanent live?

Battery chargers need to be plugged into a permanent live socket or they wont work with the ignition switched off... 06MY 4.4 V8 Autobiography Cairns Blue with Navy & Parchment Interior

So.....for a pre 2010 - in the boot or in the cubby box.....neither much use for a solar panel  Land Rover Addict
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@stevegt

The Motorhome is an Autotrail Arapaho , and the small towing car is a Fiat Punto 1.2 Active.

From memory the Arapaho is based on a Fiat Ducato chassis. I don't think that Fiat use permanent live cigarette lighters but I may be wrong. To check easily see if you mobile phone charger will work with the ignition turned off.

With the motorhome ensure that you use the cigarette lighter in the cab as the other 12v sockets are probably connected to the leisure battery. 06MY 4.4 V8 Autobiography Cairns Blue with Navy & Parchment Interior

Cheers for the reply , better check the wheelie bin ..............

How about an aerogen? These are the small wind turbines many boat-owners mount on a handrail to keep the boats engine and house batteries charging during the week when they are not using their boat. 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

Think a Match would be better ..........

Hi Mick,

I use them on our MH and they are superb - especioally as we keep it at a storage site & battery on the ducato is under the floor.

Had to wire direct from the battery as cig light is not permanent feed - I think your MH might be the same base vehicle.

Run a wire under the floor into the battery box to the side of the windscreen - Connect when not in use / on site, storage in locker when being driven.

so far so good  Paul
L405 now sold

Cheers pjb will give that a go once it stops peeing from the heavens .......

Aerogen makes all sorts of kit from nebulisers through to solar panels so trying to find their own website isn't easy but here is a link to some of their marine turbines http://www.shop.solar-wind.co.uk/acatalog/...rogen.html

Only one problem I have encountered with them was that during the passage of a hurricane while we were sailing in the Chesapeake Bay in the Eastern USA we had to de-mount the generator as it was cooking the heat sink and the batteries - it was making too much lecky! Easy to do - we have first to turn the fan off the wind and then stop the blades turning, tether it off the wind and then drill holes in a couple of blades to put some rope through the holes as a brake! Shouldn't be a problem you would encounter in Central Scotland too often. Great thing is that even now when the boat is out of the water for the winter the batteries still get charged by the wind, no need to take them home and trickle charge them in the garage. 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

Last edited by Tim in Scotland on 22nd Oct 2010 10:50am. Edited 1 time in total

Mick, no solar trickle charger is going to keep up with a battery discharge over two days - unless its a solar panel the size of a house. You either have knackered batteries or a huge drain on them.

Trcikle charges are meant to prevent natural wastage and drain caused by small electrical use such as an alarm being on over extended periods.