Lidl Maintenance charger on todays special

[BTB 500]

How do people connect these things? Is there an easy way to quickly plug/unplug the unit, without lifting the bonnet?

You can fit a flylead to the battery, routing it somewhere convenient. Then with a matching plug on the end of the charger output lead it's simple to connect/disconnect.

AccuMate supply these leads with their maintenance chargers, but they sell them as accessories too and you could easily use the idea on other makes:

AccuMate & OptiMate Accessories

My R129 has the battery in the boot, so I use a short flylead that exits round a corner of the panelling in there. I just (gently) close the boot on the charger lead - M-B helpfully provide a switch that turns off the boot light

 

[WigeonIncognito]

I've been using an Accumate like BTB 500's on my old Porsche and it's done a fantastic job, again the battery is in the boot which makes life easier.

I also have one of the cheap Lidl/Aldi chargers that I've used to bring a couple of batteries back to life and it's been spot on - well worth the money.

My new problem is that the house I normally keep the SEL at (it's my most frequently used private vehicle so I tend to keep it at my town house) only has a 15' drive and the SEL is a couple if feet longer meaning I have to park it diagonally (the drive is double width) with the boot hanging over some of the lawn. In turn that means an easy connection to another Accumate is difficult.

At first I considered having an outdoor electricity supply sympathetically built into my wall but now I'm thinking of using a solar charger - does anybody have any experience of these/which models are worth investing in?

 

[mikestrivens]

most of the little solar chargers plug into the cigar lighter, which generally goes off with the ignition. You could make up a set of fly leads and route these back through the bulkhead to the battery so that the charger could be left in the car without fear of theft.

 

[BTB 500]

Small solar chargers are OK but don't expect miracles ... typical charge current will only be around 0.1A in bright conditions (1.5 watt panel). That will just about keep a fully charged battery topped up (offsetting normal self-discharge and parasitic drain from the car), but it's not going to help much if the battery is getting flattened due to short journeys etc.

Obviously better than nothing if a mains charger is not possible.

As mentioned, with most M-Bs the lighter socket is only live with the ignition on. So you would need to arrange a direct connection to the battery.