4x4 Action Group

if its the cranking battery you are talking about then fit a battery isolator switch. Park and isolate the battery. Or just disconnect the battery when you park it. Battery should stay charged for three months if not longer. If he drives the car less often than this he needs to give it to me.

Mad Manny wrote: ↑

Wed May 28, 2025 11:23 am

Yes, disconnecting the battery is an option, but then he has to reset the clock & radio each time.
But certainly a cheaper & simpler option.

I had one of those on my old One Ten V8. Perfect solution.

You can buy a 20A 12v solar charge controller for around R500. Add a 100W panel for R560. That will be good for between 5 and 8 amp charge. You can add another panel if you need more charging power.

On gensets we use 1 amp trickle chargers. The keep the 24V batteries full when not in use.

Putting solar panels in an area that is not secure won't work long term. The panel will relocated to charge a battery in a shack very soon after installation. Affirmative shopping is a reality that I'm sure you will have heard of.

I think I've got a small panel and PWM charger at home he can hav mahala. Let me check and see if the option will work.

I would do same as Grips have suggested


I have seen 150W panels charger a battery on the roof of a kombi standing inside the workshop with alot of outside light
No direct sunlight

So first avoid Paul's shopping and attaching a panel on the roof rack with the 20A charge controller

i keep 180w panel permanently on roof rack and battery inside load bin with victron in between.this is my HAM radio setup
that is used monthly so i need to keep battery charged.

in my experience:
panel can be hardly seen due the ridge of the roof rack.
black trunking/sleeve camouflages wires nicely.(i learned this with ham radio.best camouflaged antenna is black wire.human eye thing.)
victron reads current under shaded carport plus building shadow at work place
at home it reads current under IRB galvanized roof that is 300mm above panel.

Cheap R200 PWM controller 12 V - https://www.takealot.com/20a-lcd-dual-u ... lsrc=aw.ds

Any small 40-100W panel that no one wants, bolt it down, run cables that are lying around (Old 2.5mm house wires will also work), tuck the PWM controller away safely and there you go for R500-R800...

Nice thing with this is, you can achieve 4A power, thus really no need to worry. I have used similar PWM controllers on longer stays, and really convenient, as it has USB outputs to charge up phones as well...