battery isolator switch

[Smeeagain]

anyone fitted one of these? I will be leaving my car for 4 weeks without being able to connect it to a charger so dont fancy my chances of it starting after so long

[Denis O]

If your battery is in good condition then 4 weeks will not be a problem. I used to leave my 2004 car for up to 3 months and it always started. First time I left the 2006 for that length of time the battery was completely flat. Changed to a BOSCH silver and all good for at least 2 months.

I did by a maintainer after that just to be sure though.

If you're concerned why not invest £20 in one of these solar chargers.

[Smeeagain]

well that was going to be my next point - anyone got any good experience of the solar chargers?

Smee

[Denis O]

I'll tell you this time next year Smee. Had lots of issues with the boat battery this year. Too much rain and the bilge pump running the battery flat. Fitted a new Varta last week and then promptly took the boat out of the water for the winter.

When it goes back in next April there will be a solar charger to keep the battery maintained.

[CondorX5]

Smee, I found the portable solar chargers woefully inadequate to keep our motorhome battery charged -and it is only an 85aH Varta - I ended up having a 100W permanent solar panel installed with a controller, which does the job well.
I think if a battery is already fully charged a suitcase type solar charger might help keep it topped up, but bear in mind that anything bigger than 13W will need a separate regulator or,you,could cook the battery. 

The ebay type solar charges are usually 4-8w types, they were pretty useless for our application.