My SK has not been used for 4 or 5 weeks due to eye surgery and the battery had gone too low to fire her up yesterday. (11.2v) The AA was out within 20 minutes and the guy was truly first class. He informed me my battery was not in the best of health and seeing the battery is only a few months old that surprised me. I was then given a lecture on modern battery design and informed they relied on regular use and long periods of no use deteriorated the cells. He said it might be a good idea if those sort of periods were to happen I use a solar trickle panel, noticing I had a second car. There must be plenty of you who only use your beauties in the summer, any opinion.

 

I use a trickle charger, I think the finger is usually pointed at the UK alarm but the S drains the battery fairly sharp ish ime. I only use my S in nice weather atm tho it has winter tyres so if it does snow....

Mine is garaged so has power nearby so it's easy

I have no exp of solar ones though

 

A few threads on the solar charges on here. I have a maplin one and it didn't work. However it could be the output wasn't enough as the battery was ok at the time.

 

That AA bloke may know about cars, but sod all about chargers. Solar are useless especialy this time of year when most needed. Get a decent mains one, at that voltage a cheap Lidl one would be OK anything above 3.5A. (You would NEVER get that from a solar).

For general use as well as trickle

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...egoryId_255205

This ctek is the one the Lidl one copied, at a quarter of the price and would do.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...egoryId_255205

Thats just from halfrauds.

EDIT - The only (solar) one from Maplin I'd use is £250.00!!! they do a version of the first halfords one as well.

 

Solar chargers aren't very good if your car is garaged, either.

 

I wouldn't say 11.2v was irrecoverable. The deterioration of the cells in lead acid is normally caused by a build up of sulphate crystals which happens when discharged,so can happen before you even buy the battery whilst it's in transit/storage.

A pulse charger is really the only way to break these crystals down again - so it might be worth looking at the Lidl C-tek copy (or a meatier genuine c-tek that has more functionality) as this has a pulse charging mode (between 7.5v and 10.5v so you'd need to discharge it further first)

I've messed around with recovering dead batteries and I've tried making a Bedini pulse motor/charger (not very successful, but fun), Epsom salts (maybe got another 6 months from the battery) - I've yet to try and recover a "dead" battery with something that was made for the job so let us know how you get on.

 

Especilly with the doors closed, unless you leave the light on.

 

I'm surprised after 5 weeks that it's gone down so much it won't start anymore.

Mine's always just fired up after periods like that and my battery is 8yrs old

 

I use the headlights. But you have to shine them via a mirror, to overcome the second law of thermodynamics.

 

I use the headlights. But you have to shine them via a mirror, to overcome the second law of thermodynamics.
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What this one-

Second Law of Thermodynamics - Increased Entropy
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. While quantity remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy deteriorates gradually over time. How so? Usable energy is inevitably used for productivity, growth and repair. In the process, usable energy is converted into unusable energy. Thus, usable energy is irretrievably lost in the form of unusable energy.

"Entropy" is defined as a measure of unusable energy within a closed or isolated system (the universe for example). As usable energy decreases and unusable energy increases, "entropy" increases. Entropy is also a gauge of randomness or chaos within a closed system. As usable energy is irretrievably lost, disorganization, randomness and chaos increase.

Second Law of Thermodynamics - In the Beginning...
The implications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics are considerable. The universe is constantly losing usable energy and never gaining. We logically conclude the universe is not eternal. The universe had a finite beginning -- the moment at which it was at "zero entropy" (its most ordered possible state). Like a wind-up clock, the universe is winding down, as if at one point it was fully wound up and has been winding down ever since. The question is who wound up the clock?

The theological implications are obvious. NASA Astronomer Robert Jastrow commented on these implications when he said, "Theologians generally are delighted with the proof that the universe had a beginning, but astronomers are curiously upset. It turns out that the scientist behaves the way the rest of us do when our beliefs are in conflict with the evidence." (Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, 1978, p. 16.)

Jastrow went on to say, "For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." (God and the Astronomers, p. 116.) It seems the Cosmic Egg that was the birth of our universe logically requires a Cosmic Chicken...

Or in other words "it won't work".