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Hi all

probably a silly question but, when you plug in one of those solar panel chargers to your ciggie lighter socket does it trickle charge the vehicle battery or leisure battery or both? as i am about to buy one of these chargers or should it be two?

thanks mike&liz

 Hi Mike & Liz

                   I have one fitted to my Leasure Battery it works very well, But I think

                   it will be too much for both Batteries. If its the small unit I think you  are buying.   

                                                                                 Gingertom

djt4664

thanks for that, it is one of the smaller ones i was thinking of getting

Mike & Liz

If you plug it into the Cigarette socket on your car and your car is connected to the Caravan (via the aux socket) and its a modern relay and installed kit and nothing has been adapted then yes to the Car Battery, no to the Caravan Leisure Battery if the car is not running.

Make sure your panel has a Voltage Regulator too, you don't wanna over charge your Battery nor do you want it to drain when the sun goes down

Which one you gettin by the way?

mick & tina

not sure of the name of it, it is one being sold by Maplins, in my home town the price is only £10, may go down today a nd buy one if I do I will let you know the name

regards

Hi there,

The battery being charged would depend on which battery the ciggy lighter socket is connected to. Most of the dashboard type are connected to the vehicle battery and some of them are only live/connected when the ignition is turned on, so you may find that a charge may not be getting to the battery.

The little Bar type sold by maplins and several other places are fine to add a small charge to stop the battery going flat but would not be up to keeping a leisure battery charged for use. As has already been said you may also need a regulator to prevent discharge of the battery, although some of the small solar panels do have them built in. Always best to check though.