Solar battery chargers

Soldato
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My car passed it's MOT yesterday but they said that the battery was knackered which is annoying as the battery is only 2 years old. No surprise really, my car has only done 7000 miles in the last 18 months and only about 500 in the last 6.

Mechanic mentioned solar chargers as a possibility of keeping them topped up, so are they any good and if so, can anyone recommend one?

Cheers.
 
Hi,

I have one for my car. I got the AA approved one.

Can't prove it made a difference but my car always fired up even though it had been on the drive, not moved or started, for over a fortnight each time.

The charger was from Amazon and cost about £30.

Of course, this was in the summer, not sure how useful it would be in the Aut/Winter.
 
Hi,

I have one for my car. I got the AA approved one.

Can't prove it made a difference but my car always fired up even though it had been on the drive, not moved or started, for over a fortnight each time.

The charger was from Amazon and cost about £30.

Of course, this was in the summer, not sure how useful it would be in the Aut/Winter.
Surely most cars would start first time after only 2 weeks of inactivity? Otherwise holidays would be a right pain.
 
Hi,

I have one for my car. I got the AA approved one.

Can't prove it made a difference but my car always fired up even though it had been on the drive, not moved or started, for over a fortnight each time.

The charger was from Amazon and cost about £30.

Of course, this was in the summer, not sure how useful it would be in the Aut/Winter.

I have got one myself seemed to work ok in the first shutdown, doesn't need full sun to charge although it will be lower
 
My car passed it's MOT yesterday but they said that the battery was knackered which is annoying as the battery is only 2 years old. No surprise really, my car has only done 7000 miles in the last 18 months and only about 500 in the last 6.

Mechanic mentioned solar chargers as a possibility of keeping them topped up, so are they any good and if so, can anyone recommend one?

Cheers.

2 years old....surely still under warranty?
 
Also not sure why they're checking the battery with an MOT too, unless it was obviously slow to crank over or something. But yeah at 2 years old it should be under warranty. If not it may just need a good charge if not being used a lot lately.
 
Thanks for all the replies and sorry that I took so long to respond!

The garage is owned by a good friend and it went in for a service as well, so they checked everything. Unfortunately, I don't have mains near the car either, so can't plug it in to give it a proper charge.

I'll have a look at the AA approved one as advised above.

Cheers.
 
Also not sure why they're checking the battery with an MOT too, unless it was obviously slow to crank over or something. But yeah at 2 years old it should be under warranty. If not it may just need a good charge if not being used a lot lately.

Yeah sounds like bull poo. Why would they check the battery? They don't even open the bonnet.

Has it ever struggled to start OP. Could be just need a good run now and then if it does.
 
Yeah sounds like bull poo. Why would they check the battery? They don't even open the bonnet.

Has it ever struggled to start OP. Could be just need a good run now and then if it does.

As I said before, it's a good garage managed by a good mate, so he checked everything during the service. It is getting a distinct lack of mileage and has done all year as I have been working from home since Feb. 08 plate and only 62K on the clock. 700 miles in 18 months. I can't really run it regularly as I've got nowhere to go apart from the local shop.

It turns ok but is definitely slower.
 
As I said before, it's a good garage managed by a good mate, so he checked everything during the service. It is getting a distinct lack of mileage and has done all year as I have been working from home since Feb. 08 plate and only 62K on the clock. 700 miles in 18 months. I can't really run it regularly as I've got nowhere to go apart from the local shop.

It turns ok but is definitely slower.

Sounds like it just needs a good run rather than knackered. Not that expensive to swap tho.
 
As I said before, it's a good garage managed by a good mate, so he checked everything during the service. It is getting a distinct lack of mileage and has done all year as I have been working from home since Feb. 08 plate and only 62K on the clock. 700 miles in 18 months. I can't really run it regularly as I've got nowhere to go apart from the local shop.

It turns ok but is definitely slower.

Check it with a multi meter. Easiest way of checking for a duff battery.
 
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