Solar Battery Maintainer through Batt B+ post
 

Evening all,

I’m going on business in the summer for a month and the X5 will be parked up at work with no one to keep her ticking over.


Ideally I’d plug in a battery conditioner to the mains and leave that on but that’s not an option.

My father in law though has a solar panel with a voltage regulator on it for his Motorhome. And he said I can borrow it. Problem is the X5 has darkened windows on the rear so it needs to go on the dash, and the panel has shortish cables (it’s designed for a battery in the engine bay) so would I be able to hook it up to the B+ Post in the engine bay and find a suitable earth for the negative?

I know the alternator charges through this loop and the current for the starter flows through it. But my main concern is the negative terminal. Where do you think I should hook that up to? Just any Earth I can find under the hood?

I should say the panel/regulator is a designed for purpose thing! Reading that first post makes it seem like we are Jerry rigging something! It’s a Ring 600 solar battery maintainer.

I know there is an OBD2 adaptor for this unit as well so that’s also an option but I’m being cheap and trying to use what he’s got!

Why not connect it to front cigar lighter connector? It's connected via 25 A fuse to continuous (terminal 30) voltage rail and the charger seems to output max 343 mA.

Ahh is the e53 lighter a constant 12v? I thought it ran through a ACC relay so was only energised when the key was in the ignition?

If it’s a constant live than that makes it easy as he’s got the cigarette lighter one.

It's constant voltage.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...nation/nui5fgi

I have a solar maintainer that I plug directly into the 12V cigarette lighter socket and I just leave it on the dash for good. Been working well for me.

Cheers guys that saves me a lot of hassle! I just assumed the lighter must be on the ACC circuit to stop people draining their batteries by leaving so
Thing plugged in!

I would remove the battery and store it somewhere I could plug in a battery maintainer

I would then cover the X5 with a breathable car cover or other and not leave it in the sun in the same position for a month.

He's in the UK, I'd be surprised if he'll get enough sun to use the maintainer...[emoji1787]

Sent from my SM-A730F using Tapatalk

Haha I was just thinking this. I think you may just be getting sun damage to you 1990s car if your unlucky! With the 6W panel In the UK I’m hoping to get 1-2W lol just enough to cover any parasitic drain from the alarm!

Yeh a battery maintainer would be ideal but it’s not really an option as there isn’t somewhere to leave the battery plugged in for a month. Plus I don’t want to get back and have to refit the battery, I just want to jump in and get home.

And the cover is out of the question as the car is parked on an airfield so no chance I would leave one on for a month unattended in Cornwall with the wind we get!