Battery Expired

[happy diver]

Carport????

That's not a carport, put some ends on it and a family in it.





You could send it to Vanuatu

[stephend]

Originally Posted by baldmosher

I do like car ports. Nobody puts their £10,000 car in the garage these days, they fill it full of worthless junk instead.

Ironically, my 740 lives in the garage, whereas the Toyota lives out on the driveway. The logic is that the Toyota is the daily driver, the 740 is the second car. Mind you, before I got the use of the garage, the 740 lived out on the verge...

[bobthecabbage]

Originally Posted by brickman

I didn't think solar chargers worked, most of them I've seen plug into the cig lighter socket, and surely that has a diode on it?

Think I'm due a fresh battery, alternator woes over winter caused it to nearly flat a few times. Its a 2.5 year old genuine volvo job, loads of money, but even putting it on a 'battery conditioner' at my mates workshop has not seemed to help it.

No diode as far as I'm aware but a lot of vehicles isolate the socket with the ignition. Annoyingly this means running a wire out the door and clamping on to the battery. If you use the car frequently enough then you can always wire in to a permanent live with a hidden connector.

[GaryS40]

Originally Posted by baldmosher

I do like car ports. Nobody puts their £10,000 car in the garage these days, they fill it full of worthless junk instead.

Very true, BM. Most garages along our street are filled with anything other than a car.

My garage isn't outside my house, but along at the end of the street, so I had space to build.

I considered building a garage, before settling on the timber car port, but I would have wanted a double width garage, so I could have my car in it and a row of work benches along one side. Cash was the main decider, as I couldn't have afforded £20,000+ for a garage, but could manage £1,500 for the timber one.

Gary

[GaryS40]

Originally Posted by happy diver

Carport????

That's not a carport, put some ends on it and a family in it.





You could send it to Vanuatu

Oooh, too soon, HD!

It is a big 'un, but I wanted to make sure I could get most regular vehicles into it, even the work's crew bus.

I made the trusses with raised ties, so there was extra space inside the roof, if a tailgate was opened upward.

It does keep the elements off the car and it is great in the winter mornings, when everyone else is deicing their windows and I just drive off!

Gary

[GaryS40]

Originally Posted by bobthecabbage

No diode as far as I'm aware but a lot of vehicles isolate the socket with the ignition. Annoyingly this means running a wire out the door and clamping on to the battery. If you use the car frequently enough then you can always wire in to a permanent live with a hidden connector.

The Ka's lighter socket is permanently live, but I am sure the X40's is disconnected when the ignition key is removed.

Clamps on the terminals would most likely be required, in that case.

Gary

[baldmosher]

My 12V socket stays live. (On both cars. I was going to add a new ignition-switched socket for the hands-free kit in the last car but it wasn't worth the bother.)

[GaryS40]

Originally Posted by baldmosher

My 12V socket stays live. (On both cars. I was going to add a new ignition-switched socket for the hands-free kit in the last car but it wasn't worth the bother.)

Going to check that just now, then order a second solar charger!

Gary

[bobthecabbage]

Originally Posted by GaryS40

Going to check that just now, then order a second solar charger!

Gary

5w charger from cpc

BT0561502

http://cpc.farnell.com/a-life/pa6-00...e/dp/BT0561502

I have one of these but the last car I tried it on ended up totally flat. Might be the panel, could be that the car didn't get enough sunlight.

Also got one of these

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/4w-solar-briefcase-n05hn

Which definitely works albeit with the benefit of a south facing aspect.

[Davey240]

Well there's no way i can get the wife's S40 in the garage as my old 240 is in there and it's much too precious to leave outside! I'll be taxing it at the end of the month, can't wait to give her a good spin. We've had her 17 years this year and has just clocked 65k.