Renters Dilemma..... Charging the battery... Need help!

[Trax]

Guys thanks soooo very much for all the help! The solar charger might actually work! Although I always try to cover my car when not is use I'm sure I can hook something up. I was hoping that there was a lithium battery that you could charge in the house and when it's done you just plug it into the cigarette lighter socket till it drains out. Wash/rinse/Repeat.

I think i'll give that solar panel a try. I'm hoping our cig lighter allow for the reverse charging while the key is not in the ignition.

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by Trax

Guys thanks soooo very much for all the help! The solar charger might actually work! Although I always try to cover my car when not is use I'm sure I can hook something up. I was hoping that there was a lithium battery that you could charge in the house and when it's done you just plug it into the cigarette lighter socket till it drains out. Wash/rinse/Repeat.

I think i'll give that solar panel a try. I'm hoping our cig lighter allow for the reverse charging while the key is not in the ignition.

I have tried this as simple solution. You need a diode in that cord otherwise the charge will eventually go the other way.....and blow your cig light fuse. If your car battery is really low you may blow the fuse right away anyway. So this did not work for me. I have a gel cell though

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by Trax

Guys thanks soooo very much for all the help! The solar charger might actually work! Although I always try to cover my car when not is use I'm sure I can hook something up. I was hoping that there was a lithium battery that you could charge in the house and when it's done you just plug it into the cigarette lighter socket till it drains out. Wash/rinse/Repeat.

I think i'll give that solar panel a try. I'm hoping our cig lighter allow for the reverse charging while the key is not in the ignition.

I didn't a think a solar panel under florescent lights would have enough umphhhh to counter act the parasitic drain so i didn't try it. A car cover complicates this aswell...someone may walk by and snip snip your panel is gone

What i did try:
Locked a plastic tool box to the car
Placed a heavy duty computer back up module in the box
Cut plug sized hole in box
Plugged a ctek into the computer back up box through the hole
Plugged the ctek into the cig lighter
Rotated charged battery backups (2) into the box often enough to maintain some sort of trickle charge

This might work for a regular lead acid but i have feeling that this sulphated my gel cell. Not sure but they really need a high amp charge.
For winter storage i pull the battery and plug it into a wall

Inverters are already built into these power pack devices

[Trax]

Yeah i'm looking on amazon and a few questions pop up all the time.

1. Can we use the cig Lighter as a charger without the key in the ignition.

2. I'm struggling to find a alternative to the solar solution. A battery pack that the car can draw from. I keep reading discriptions on amazon, but none of them say you can use it like that. They all look like you need the wall socket to draw from. Basically all I want is to charge a battery pack in the apartment via wall socket then when it's charged you bring it down to the car and charge it from the battery pack.

3. 2010 boxsters I believe use a Wet battery.. So, i have no clue what charger would be okay for that. A lot i see are just lead/acid based.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Trax

Yeah i'm looking on amazon and a few questions pop up all the time.

1. Can we use the cig Lighter as a charger without the key in the ignition.

2. I'm struggling to find a alternative to the solar solution. A battery pack that the car can draw from. I keep reading discriptions on amazon, but none of them say you can use it like that. They all look like you need the wall socket to draw from. Basically all I want is to charge a battery pack in the apartment via wall socket then when it's charged you bring it down to the car and charge it from the battery pack.

3. 2010 boxsters I believe use a Wet battery.. So, i have no clue what charger would be okay for that. A lot i see are just lead/acid based.

#1: Yes.
#2:Forget finding an alternative to solar, you are slowly turning this into physics experiment for no apparent reason.
#3: Correct, you have a flooded cell lead acid battery, so just about any maintainer would do the job.

Here is one I found in about 10 seconds on Amazon.com for about $20:

[Trax]

Totally agree with you JFP. I'm definitely looking into the solar route. I did want to keep the car cover on. Also, my car is under a car port. So getting sunlight could be difficult although I hear it gets decent power on a cloudy day so maybe it'll work it's worth a shot. If there is a batter pack alternative though. I think that would fit the bill better. I'll try the solar though for sure.

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Trax

Totally agree with you JFP. I'm definitely looking into the solar route. I did want to keep the car cover on. Also, my car is under a car port. So getting sunlight could be difficult although I hear it gets decent power on a cloudy day so maybe it'll work it's worth a shot. If there is a batter pack alternative though. I think that would fit the bill better. I'll try the solar though for sure.

You put the solar panel outside the cover, where the sun can hit it (it has an extension cord for the purpose). With enough extension wire, you could put it on the roof of the house.

Solar is not perfect; it produces lower power on cloudy days, and of course none at night; but it at least is supplying power part of the time, which none of the other "solutions" is going to do.

[husker boxster]

I would suggest having your battery tested. It's approaching 4 yrs old and factory batteries can die anytime after 4+ yrs.

Also, do you lock your car when you leave it during the week? May seem like a silly question, but your car will go into hybernation mode after a period of time with it being locked vs staying in "awake" mode if it's unlocked. Awake mode will draw more power from your battery. And back to the silly question - a member on P-9 always left his car unlocked in his rear driveway with the key "hidden" under some stuff on the passenger seat. Until it was stolen.

[Trax]

Thanks Husker.

Yeah I just had the battery tested at the dealership. It's a good battery according to them. A good thing since and are you sitting down? The price for a new OEM porsche battery is.............

$480.00 installed. Not covered under warranty

My old lotus was half that cost lol. Even when i had my cheapo Mercedes it's was half that.