Solar Trickle Chargers for Auxiliary Deep Cycle Battery

[dmason]

I have a '97 Eurovan Camper and would like to use a solar trickle charger for the auxiliary deep cycle battery. I'd like to use the style that plugs into 12 volt outlet on the dashboard allowing me to place the solar panel on top of the dashboard. Can anyone confirm that using this outlet will in fact trickle charge the auxiliary deep cycle battery? In other words does the wiring accomdate this set-up or can you make other suggestions? Any recommendations on which trickle charger to purchase? The auxiliary deep cycle battery says it needs to be disconnected prior to trickle charging. I've never had to disconnect the battery in other vehicles when trickle charging. Can anyone comment.
Thanks in advance for your help!  Dan

[beebrew]

Unless your van has been rewired, the plug in at the dash is most likely connected to your main battery. You need to have a plug for the deep cycle battery added. I do not see any reason to disconnect the battery while charging. This is probably a means of making sure the charger system has no interaction with any electronics sharing the battery. If you had a charger short out or something like that, it could do damage to any sensitive electronics plugged into it.

[CBussin86]

I agree with Beebrew, you need to hook up a outlet which connects to the AUX battery.

We use a trickle solar panel for the Aux battery too. Works ok but I find you have to be careful not to overcharge. We had to do something so as to stop the charging when it toped 12.5 or so volts. And we put an extra 12volt outlet in the cabinet just under the sink of the Westy (in the brown panel with the stove control knobs) right next to the Westfalia label. Looks pretty good. and we wired it to the Aux battery. We connect up the solar charger to it and run the cord through the slider and put the panel up on the luggage rack. Lots of sun up there. Seems to work fine and the extra 12 volt outlet is helpful there too for the 12 volt coffee maker of course

Chris

[beebrew]

I think Chris is on the money. Preventing over charging is important for long battery life. Also, for the trickle charger part, I would get one that will automatically float the battery. There allot of smart chargers out there that can be left on continuously.

[MrLiMBO]

A few years ago, Volkswagen was putting small solar chargers  in their new cars.  It was for the time they would be spending on the lot.  They were great in keeping a battery up to snuff without overcharging the battery.

 They used to plug right into the cig lighter.  Later on they changed the design so they would plug into the OBD plug. I'm not sure if VW still sends them with the car or not.

The dealer was supposed to offer the new owner the panel at the time of the sale.  Most of the time they did not.

Point of my tale here is, I grabbed a couple of these for myself.  I keep them plugged into my motorhome all the time.  I'm lucky there is a separate plug for the coach battery as well as the engine.  They put out less than three watts.  If you leave the radio or interior light on, the panel wouldn't keep up.   But for long term storage, like my RV, its great.  I go out in the middle of winter and crank the 460 V8 over like it was summer time.

Occasionally they pop up on the net and the panels are cheap, 10 to 25 bucks.  Well worth it in my book.

[JimPearson]

I have a '97 Eurovan Camper and would like to use a solar trickle charger for the auxiliary deep cycle battery. I'd like to use the style that plugs into 12 volt outlet on the dashboard allowing me to place the solar panels on top of the dashboard. Can anyone confirm that using this outlet will in fact trickle charge the auxiliary deep cycle battery? In other words does the wiring accomdate this set-up or can you make other suggestions? Any recommendations on which trickle charger to purchase? The auxiliary deep cycle battery says it needs to be disconnected prior to trickle charging. I've never had to disconnect the battery in other vehicles when trickle charging. Can anyone comment.
Thanks in advance for your help!  Dan

I have never faced such problem with my battery.. Were you able to find the exact reason behind it?