On Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 11:38:55 AM UTC-5, M. L. wrote:
Could you elaborate on that solar cell setup? Where can I buy one?

This one will keep a charged battery topped up, but does not put out
enough to charge a flat battery:

https://www.harborfreight.com/15-wat...ger-62449.html

Thank you for your prompt response. While I'm excited about the prospect
of using a solar panel to maintain a trickle charge, the solar solutions
I've come across so far have problems for my usage:

1.) My cigarette lighter outlet doesn't stay on after the ignition is
turned off, so my only recourse is to permanently connect the solar
panel to the battery posts.

2.) The alligator clips for the battery posts are too obtrusive and
would interfere with my current battery post connectors. There needs to
be a solar trickle charger with better integrated battery connectors.

3.) The instructions to these devices state that in order to prevent
damage to the trickle charger, it's supposed to be disconnected before
starting the car and while driving. So how am I supposed to disconnect
it from the battery before starting the car? Others have said that it
works fine while starting the car.

I use one on a car that sits a lot where there is no power outlet to
run a conventional battery tender and it works well.


Why not fix the actual problem? As Bowman pointed out, the sun doesn't
shine at night, so the solar panel is of very limited help. It would
allow you to leave the car with the battery connected during the day,
when it's sunny. That's about all I see it doing.

Put an ammeter on each fuse circuit. You can take a fuse, modify it
to add wires, maybe solder them on, to have a test jig. Then find
the offending circuit. Then get a circuit schematic and see what's
on that circuit, disconnect components to narrow it down. Even if
you can't find the actual problem, if you then take it to the dealer
and say it's the climate control circuit or the locking system circuit,
they can then focus in on that, swap parts, etc. It's also very possible
if you tell them what circuit it is, they will have seen that before
on other cars and know what it likely is. That's one big advantage
to the dealer, they see the same models all the time. It's also possible
something is draining it that's not on a fused circuit, but that's
unlikely. When you do the testing, put the meter inside the car where
you can see it, then close it up as you would normally and wait about
30 mins to see what it reads. Modern cars have all kinds of modules
and some take 5, 10 15 mins to power down and go to sleep. You can
keep an eye on it and if you see it only takes say 5 mins to go down to
~50ma or so and it doesn't go lower, then you know you can shorten
your wait time down to just 10 mins or so. I'd much rather do that
than fiddle around with kludges.