My parking area is not near a household electrical outlet, so I purchased a solar trickle charger which has a cable to plug into the cigarette lighter outlet to affect the charge. I need to know if in fact this outlet is always connected to the battery. Obviously, if not then it will not accomplish the intended trickle charge. Can someone let me know if I am good or not?

John
near Baltimore

 

It is not on my 2003 and am not sure if it is supposed to be. It seems like it would be using electricity from your car to add electricity to your battery anyway.

 

Just a STUPID IDEA but just press the cigar lighter IN with the KEY OFF and see if the lighter works?

 

Plan b could be just a direct connection to the battery with something like this spliced into the solar charger wiring
2 Pcs 16 AWG SAE Battery Charger Kit, 8 Ft SAE To SAE DC Power Connector Cable And 3 Ft Ring Terminal Harness With Fused SAE Quick Disconnect Plug https://a.co/d/2BTO3X4

 

We have had this discussion in other model threads about CTEK battery tenders which offer alternatives of plug or terminal connections.

The XK and F-Type accessory (formerly known as lighter) sockets are NOT permanently 'live' and cannot be used for charging. I used CTEK's when I had my XK8's and used to connect them to the battery so must have discovered the socket was similarly not 'live' with ignition off.

An alternative to 123go's suggestion of running an adaptor/extension to the battery is to run it to the terminals in the engine compartment:





Thanks to member Paul Pavlik for this frequently used photo of the connections used to charge a flat battery.

Graham

 

I have tried these solar panels for this purpose and its a waste of time ..output too low even with a 20w panel .

 

I have a small solar panel on my boat plugged in via the cigar lighter socket to keep`the battery topped up when not in use, and it works very well. Assuming you have enough sun light for a solar panel to work where you live it would be trivial to rewire the cigar lighter at the passenger side fuse box from an ignition switched fuse, to an always on battery fuse. An auto-electrician could do so very easily if you didn't want to tackle it yourself.

The convenience of just being able to plug the solar panel into the socket when parking up would make the wiring change worthwhile. The alternative would be to keep the solar panel permanently on the parcel shelf and route the cable through to the battery in the boot.

 

Do different types of battery have different charging characteristics? I know my friend with a canal boat has leisure batteries which I think are deep cycle and he uses a solar panel to keep them topped up when the boat is not in use. I would imagine a regular car battery is designed with periodic massive draw and a hopefully quick recharge from a powerful alternator. Or am I once again revealing my ignorance

 

Well yes and no ...you have succumbed to the old wife's tails . The only critical thing to remember is when the battery gets to 14.4v it starts to gas and a large panel on a canal boat will have voltage regulation.
As for large discharges ...operating the starter takes only a fraction of an Amp hour and is put back in less than a minute by the alternator at its max battery charge current of about 15A . The rated 120A is to supply fans,lights and wipers etc " Resistive loads"

 

I didn't even think of using a multimeter to quickly verify that the socket is not connected when the car is not running. Now, can someone guide me to a live wire where I can modify the socket to be on at all times?

John
Near Baltimore

 

The passenger side fuse box should have all the connections you need - the wires are below the glove box. Download the electrical guide for your car and pick a fuse.

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