[Soul_Glo]

I went away for 3 weeks and decided to give this a try. The last time I went away for 4 weeks I had to call on the breakdown services due to a dead battery.

I connected up the solar maintainer to the battery. The cable is quite long so I placed the unit on the arm rest. That way it had light from the sunroof and surrounding windows.

The result? I come back to Heathrow Business parking and unlike last time the car starts up without any hesitation.

Dislikes: If you want to use it outdoors you need to invest in some silicone sealant to properly weather proof the unit. Some might dislike the idea of no battery charge indicator.

Things I like about this product: it doesn't have an LED light drawing power so in low light conditions it is not counter-productive to leave it connected. Reverse polarity protection. A diode prevents it drawing current from the battery. There is a decent length of cable. Comes with required fixtures and fittings e.g. Clips to attach to battery terminals. It has a claimed 2.4w rating and that is fairly accurate.

With a multimeter connected I conducted some home testing:

Voltage: 20 volts in direct sunlight and good light.
Wattage: 2.4
Amps: 0.12

Considering the average vehicle has a milli amp draw of 0.5-0.10 and this unit is sufficiently capable of providing a charge of 0.12 that is welcome news.

More testing. When I returned the first thing I did before placing the suitcases in the boot was to disconnect the maintainer and test the resting voltage of the battery.

Resting voltage? 12.8v

Not bad at all!

[JJ0063]

You certainly shouldn't need it after just 4 weeks!

I have an old diesel Peugeot 306 which can be left 5 months and still start first turn.


I'd be looking at the condition of your battery and finding out if there's a drain on the battery when locked up/not in use before buying things like this.

[Soul_Glo]

My car has a Viper alarm package:

- shock sensor
- glass break sensor
- proximity sensor
- tilt and motion sensor
- back up siren
- flashing viper logo
- smart start
- viper immobilised

On top of this:
- JL amp: although not in use when audio is off I have noticed when I unlock the car it powers into standby and turns off after 5 minutes or so if not used.
- Dash cam: if the car is hit then this will start recording
- Tracker

Believe it or not out of all the above the flashing logo has the most current draw. The system goes into sleep mode after 7 days of no use and no sensor being set off but the logo is flashing away. If any sensor is tripped then the rest of the system wakes with it.

This is why my battery that is fairly new (at about a year old) is more susceptible to discharge than most people out there.

I still don't think the maintainer is a bad investment. The way I see it is that you could either let the battery discharge or you could give it a helping hand and slow down any discharge. Even without aftermarket add ons it still makes sense to me!