Trickle Charge

1728 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Qzyn, Apr 23, 2007

patrickc

Discussion Starter · Apr 21, 2007

Hi!

Here in Canada we got a 'free' inspection of our aging MLs by the stealership and I was told that my battery was getting weak after 7 years of ownership, everything else checked out fine even though they refused to tell me why my truck was vibrating at idle. I have been relatively happy all through these 7 years and am more than willing to spring for a new battery, but while i was shopping at the local hardware store (Canadian Tire), I chanced upon a solar powered battery charger. It looks kinda small but it might work and plus it was on sale at $9.99 from $39.99.

My question is - which socket should I plug it into? the one near the ashtray or the one at the passenger side? I know one stays on all the time whereas the other is on only when the car is on.

Any suggestions, ideas from the technical gurus here?

Thanks!

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Kajtek1

· #2 · Apr 21, 2007

There is a reason why those chargers are sold for 75% off.
They do help keeping good battery charged during storage, so it might help slightly, but don't expect a miracle. Beware that in those cars with low voltage the computer cuts the starter off without a warning. Have jump cables with you.
In our ML only the rear socket is on with ignition off. Take a probe and test.
BTW the battery in our 99 ML will soon celebrate its 9-th "birthday".
Hope it will last couple more months.

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Kajtek1

· #8 · Apr 22, 2007

The trickle chargers can run up to 16 V, while battery maintainers will stop at 13.5V.
There is no worry about mentioned solar charger to boil the battery. The output on it is so small, that all it can do is slow down natural discharge.

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