Solar Trickle Charger

[snowjoke]

Has anyone successfully used one of these on a RAV4 (in particular a 4.2)?

I think the power sockets aren't connected to the Battery without the keys in the ignition, so is there a way to get one to work without rewiring the car? Or if I did need to do some rewiring is it difficult?

Still don't know why cars don't come with a little solar panel on the roof as standard. It's a bit of a pain having to jump start the thing if I don't use it for a few days...

[bothwell_buyer]

Has anyone successfully used one of these on a RAV4 (in particular a 4.2)?

I think the power sockets aren't connected to the battery without the keys in the ignition, so is there a way to get one to work without rewiring the car? Or if I did need to do some rewiring is it difficult?

Still don't know why cars don't come with a little solar panel on the roof as standard. It's a bit of a pain having to jump start the thing if I don't use it for a few days...

simple thing is to just connect a couple of wires to the Battery terminals and through a switch connect to the charger....switch off before starting car.

[Bodgit-fixit-run]

Has anyone successfully used one of these on a RAV4 (in particular a 4.2)?

I think the power sockets aren't connected to the battery without the keys in the ignition, so is there a way to get one to work without rewiring the car? Or if I did need to do some rewiring is it difficult?

Still don't know why cars don't come with a little solar panel on the roof as standard. It's a bit of a pain having to jump start the thing if I don't use it for a few days...

simple thing is to just connect a couple of wires to the Battery terminals and through a switch connect to the charger....switch off before starting car.

Dont forget the in line fuse.

Some sharges come with internal regualators so you don't overcharge the Battery. If they dont then these are relatively cheap anyway. I use a solar panel on my caravan.

How come you are having to jump start evry few days anyway. Sounds like a dodgy Battery to me. They should last a fair while without the car being run. There isn't much drawing power from them. Just the clock and alarm I think. Not enough to flatten in that quickly. Check nothing else is being left on.

[snowjoke]

How come you are having to jump start evry few days anyway. Sounds like a dodgy battery to me. They should last a fair while without the car being run. There isn't much drawing power from them. Just the clock and alarm I think. Not enough to flatten in that quickly. Check nothing else is being left on.

I'll try an ammeter to see if there's any drain, but I suspect it's a combination of the Battery being quite old and the fact I don't use it that regularly, and when I do it tends to be short trips so the Battery probably doesn't charge up fully.

simple thing is to just connect a couple of wires to the battery terminals and through a switch connect to the charger....switch off before starting car.

I'm a complete noob when it comes to this kind of thing and wouldn't know where to start - so I suppose this means I should take it to an auto electrician to install it. But what would be ideal would be just some way of allowing the aux power sockets to stay on without the keys in the ignition, so I could just plug a trickle charger in and leave it on the parcel shelf in the boot.

[bothwell_buyer]

How come you are having to jump start evry few days anyway. Sounds like a dodgy battery to me. They should last a fair while without the car being run. There isn't much drawing power from them. Just the clock and alarm I think. Not enough to flatten in that quickly. Check nothing else is being left on.

I'll try an ammeter to see if there's any drain, but I suspect it's a combination of the Battery being quite old and the fact I don't use it that regularly, and when I do it tends to be short trips so the Battery probably doesn't charge up fully.

simple thing is to just connect a couple of wires to the battery terminals and through a switch connect to the charger....switch off before starting car.

I'm a complete noob when it comes to this kind of thing and wouldn't know where to start - so I suppose this means I should take it to an auto electrician to install it. But what would be ideal would be just some way of allowing the aux power sockets to stay on without the keys in the ignition, so I could just plug a trickle charger in and leave it on the parcel shelf in the boot.

wouldn't like to comment on the elctrics of an xt4. However, if you can't wire a plug, then you'll be qualified to attach a couple of crocodile clips to the Battery terminals -- you know - those wee clips that look like a crocodiles mouth -

What ! You've never seen a crocodile?

[snowjoke]

Any ideas how I would get the wires from the crocodile clips into the inside of the vehicle so I could leave the trickle charger on the dash?

[anchorman]

Drop the glove box down as shown in the cabin filter change instructions and there is a grommet that leads up into the well under the wiper cowl. On the driver side there is one by the top of the accelerator pedal bracket.