Looking for recommendation on use of Solar Battery Tender

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BerkeleyGirl

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2014
Messages
21
Location
Berkeley, CA
Does anyone have a recommendation (or useful anecdote) to share regarding use of solar battery tenders to keep my RAV4 EV 12-volt battery alive during a longish period of no use? I may have to park my EV for around a month, outside and away from home. It should still have a good charge on the big battery when I turn it off, but it will have to stay unplugged and no one will be driving it. I want to make sure it will still start when I come back. I've never used any kind of battery tender before. It seems the solar gizmos for sale all over the internet may serve, but I'd like some advice from the experts.

Thanks, Lisa
 
I would imagine any of the solar ones would be fine. The cigarette lighter isn't "hot" all the time, so you can't just plug it in there to charge the battery.

Either rewire the cigarette lighter to be hot (12 volts always present) or put in a dedicated 12 volt port from the battery (my preference).

This is what I put on batteries:

Deltran Ring Terminal Harness
Quick Disconnect Ring Terminals–Fused 18 inch DC output lead set made to be permanently attached to the battery. This allows the user to attach the battery charge via the quick disconnect without the trouble of accessing the battery. Made for Battery Tender chargers but this accessory will also work with other product lines as listed on our website. # 081-0069-6 « less
 
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