I have a 2004 X3. Will this charger work through the cigarette lighter? Can the charger be left on continually from April through January (garaged)?
1276501
Good afternoon, I apologize for the delay to my response. This charger will work on your 04 X3. Thank you, Steve
2259137
Your battery is probably dead and you need a new one. If you leave your car battery discharged for long periods of time, it will no longer hold a charge. This charger is meant to keep the battery conditioned and charged when you don't use it for long periods of time. You would normally leave this charger hooked up to the battery while your car is not in use.
1100902
It should not drain your battery while your car is off unless you cigarette lighter socket is wired to your battery instead of a accessory fuse. Many cars before 1992 were like this. You could get it rewired, probably for under $20 depending on your location, or DIY, if this is the case. It shouldn't drain the battery very fast though unless you have an already bad battery.
1241489
The charger works great for me on a standard 12 volt automobile battery. The car doesn't get a lot of use and I use the charger to keep the battery topped off.
2185049
yes some newer cars the cigarette lighter won't work with the battery tender, but it does work great by connecting directly to Battery
1368125
It would matter what fuse you hook it up if it would stay on with the car off. Mine is hook up to the same circut as the cigarette lighter. It uses so little power it would take week for it would take weeks to kill the battery.
504160
I think it depends in the wiring of circuit in car, I.e. Like. A seat belt warning tome or ur radio it can be managed to stay on or off .I have a 2012 VW it stops charging when car is off.
2220582
I generally charge mine once a month. It only looses a small amount of charge in the month, generally less than 5%. I keep mine in the trunk of my car just in case. Great tool!!
1781219
Most, but not all, vehicles have the cigarette lighter wired to the battery circuit so that they're "on" no matter if the car is or not. This is the "Batt" connection in your fusebox. If it's wired to the Accessory circuit, then the circuit will only be available when the car is running or the key turned to Accessory. This is the "Acc" connection in your fusebox. It's simple enough to tell before buying this solar panel, just push the lighter in when the car is off and the key out of the ignition. If the lighter gets hot then this will work for you. If not then you'll need to do something else, wire a plug into the fusebox, clip this right on the battery, something else. This comes with both the cigarette plug and alligator clips. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, this won't "pop" out and shut itself off like a cigarette lighter does. That's done by heat in the lighter, not a timer or anything like that.
158709
No, it will stay charged for a for a good 6 weeks without being used in moderate weather. For the first 2 years I owned mine, I left it outside in the cab of the truck during the winter (which I think I should not have done) now this third winter I find it not hold a charge very well left outside during the winter months. It has a charger for the vehicle but that charger will not automatically cut off when fully charged which could overcharge the booster pack -- may hurt the rechargeable batteries; the AC wall charger will automatically cut off when the booster pack fully charged. Now last summer I was able to do 2-3 vehicles before having to recharge the booster pack. I hope I have answered your questions
649577
I've been using this charger for about 6 months. I put it on when I'm not going to be using the car for a while. When the light is green, the battery is fully charged. You can leave it on the car, and it will keep a trickle charge going to keep the battery charged if your not planning to drive the car often. I'm using this on a 2005 645Ci. My mechanic said that I should make at least a 20 mile trip per week to keep the battery charged through the alternator. I figure that if I'm driving less than that I should leave the charger on the car.
1526144
The car needs to have a battery that you can draw power from consistently. If you can run chargers, you can likely run this. It's connected directly to the battery, so it shouldn't be any issue. Mine is hooked from the battery, with the cord threaded under the hood through the dash area up by the steering wheel, on the farthest left side. I mounted it there, and I got a better switch for mine. In fact, mine can be run even with the car off, because batteries can power things if they are directly tapped in.
1412388
I keep my bike in an unheated garage, but then I live in the high desert..elevation around 4000 feet. I haven't used the charger during the coldest part of our year yet...that's coming around the corner. Right now our night temps are around 40 to 50....not too bad...and the charger works like a champ. The true test will be late Dec to late Feb. I'll be able to answer your question after I've had the charger for a season.
2013790
Hello Brad, I live in northwest Indiana and gets pretty cold here too. Charging in my garage also. The maintainer is operating according to the manual. Charging both 12v and 6v batteries. This is my first year in use. I say go for it. Merry Christmas! Jeff
1958030
I wouldn't. When your car isn't running it doesn't charge and I would think there's a possibility it might discharge. You can get a good, full charge by plugging it into a USB port on your computer for about 3-4 hours and the charge should last about a month
1196243
it will but wont last as long, a slow charge is better for that type of battery, I got mine an charged it jumped 1 pickup [completely dead] an 2 cars [lights left on] a month later an still is half charged, I liked new type of battery in this, have gone thru a lot of other jumpers because left on battery I jumped to charge it, good luck, mines working ok. that's why it didn't come with cig plug, just usb plug.
1116233
A 10Watt Solar Panel with the charge controller will definitely keep a car battery charged, and can do so through the cigarette lighter. You can either make up a cig lighter plug, or buy an adapter. Ideally, I would say park the car (if you can,) facing in a South by South West angle, and run the wire to the solar panel outside the car (you can lean it on the windshield and use the wipers to hold it.) I can't say for sure how long it would take to charge the battery from a deep discharged condition. Usually a panel like this is meant to keep a battery "topped off" in long term storage. Believe it or not, it will work with the solar panel on the dashboard of the car, but will take twice as long. Again, for a long term "keeping the battery topped off typ of charge," it should be fine. The idea of the charge controller, is that it senses when the battery reaches a full charge and it dissipates the voltage so the battery doesn't cook. I hope this answers your questions.