Battery Fighter's Guard Slips - Other Trickle Charging Options?

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

I am currently running a Battery Fighter unit. What solar panel or otherwise based trickle maintenance charge options are there for a N70Z battery?

I have had a brand new N70Z battery which has only been used for starting a Series 3 Land Rover occasionally over the past 6 months. Each time battery has then been removed from the vehicle and immediately placed back onto a Battery Fighter charger. When I went to use the battery today the green light was flashing - meaning 80% charge. Once the battery was installed it only had enough charge to click the starter solenoid over. The starter motor did not turn a whisker. NOT HAPPY JAN!!!

During the same time I had another battery sitting in my Series 2A shortie which has a Toyota diesel motor in it. The battery has just been sitting with a battery isolator fitted to the negative terminal. The 1B motor is a pig to start cold. Each time the battery has been able to easily start the engine and the vehicle has been driven around the paddock for a couple of laps; then it has been parked up again. This battery has not gone near a charger in this time. Yet, it had more charge stored in it than the other battery which has been continuously hooked up to the ... cough splutter "Battery Fighter". No and having a chocolate and counting to 10 will not make me say - "No worries Jan!"

What alternatives are there to the Battery Fighter? I might as well save bench space and electricity in the shed and go down the route of a solar panel maintenance charger and leave the battery sitting in the vehicle. The trouble is I do not know much about these solar panel versions.

Any sound advice would be most keenly received.

Kind regards
Lionel

[DiscoMick]

If a battery had 80% charge it should be fine to start something, assuming it's big enough.
Any decent solar panel with a regulator should be able to trickle charge a battery and keep it charged.
I have an 80 watt panel on the roof of the Defender feeding to a regulator next to the starting battery and it works fine.
Maybe the battery charger has failed? Or the battery has died?
I have two Projecta chargers which work fine, but other brands should also do it for you.

[Lionelgee]

If a battery had 80% charge it should be fine to start something, assuming it's big enough. (N70Z Battery)
Any decent solar panel with a regulator should be able to trickle charge a battery and keep it charged.
I have an 80 watt panel on the roof of the Defender feeding to a regulator next to the starting battery and it works fine.
Maybe the battery charger has failed? (Most Likely Option - the green flashing 80% capacity light is a hoax) Or the battery has died (Battery was newly purchased less than six months ago?
I have two Projecta chargers which work fine, but other brands should also do it for you. (Yes using my old Projecta to recharge one of the batteries now)

Hello DiscoMick,

Thanks for the reply.

What brand/capacity/size solar panel are you using?

Kind regards
Lionel

[DiscoMick]

Just an 80 watt cheapie off EBay. From memory it was under $200.
It charges the standard Defender starting battery, which is linked by a Traxide DBS to the second battery, a 120 amp AGM, which has a 30 litre Evakool fridge attached. We have camped for a week and run the fridge on 3 the whole time and not had a problem.
We also have a camper trailer which charges fine off solar.

Many panels have the regulator fixed to the back, which is fine, and usually limits to current to 10 amps. However, a trick is to have the regulator placed right next to the battery. The panel will often make more than 10 amps and that can flow to the regulator, overcoming voltage drop.

Really, solar is easy. Don't over complicate it. Even if the EBay panel underperforms a bit, it should still do enough to charge a sitting battery. Some trickle chargers are only 10 watts and they do enough.