Can I trickle charge battery this way?

[AV8R4AA]

My red 4.6 is taking entirely too long to finish.
Can I hook up a trickle charger to the ground and
the red clip to the jump start bolt?

Keys are out of it and it's just sitting waiting for parts.
I wanted to freshen up the battery.

I don't want to dig through the tail gate because my tool box is
right in the way.

Thanks in advance.

[dkl]

That's how I do it if I don't use the cigarette plug

[Qsilver7]

Ditto...that's how I keep my e38's battery from discharging since I don't drive it much during the winter months...I hook up a simple float charger to the jump start terminals in the engine bay. Been doing this for over a decade. I've also done this to the e53 if I know I'm not going to drive it for multiple weeks:

[upallnight]

Anyone ever uses one of those "Solar" charger to keep the battery charge on a car that is seldom driven?

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by upallnight

Anyone ever uses one of those "Solar" charger to keep the battery charge on a car that is seldom driven?

Not on the X5, since it is driven enough.

But yes, I've used them on other cars over the years, with great results. An old VW Vanagon camper that might not be driven for weeks at a time used to always start weakly or require a jump. Or I would go out of my way to drive it when I did not really want to. Then I put in the solar panel in the front window and it was always strong after that. Made the batteries last longer, too.

Helps to position the panel in a window that generally faces South, and hopefully not behind dark tint.

Easiest electrical interface is through a cigarette lighter port, as long as they remain powered when the car is off.

For the X5, I would be at least a little concerned with this causing problems with the car going into sleep mode, but that is mainly a fear out of known ignorance.