Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax S4 Battery Life

I have starting-cables in the car....always...
but what the hack, I'ts the Max
best thing: women love it even more than men

Aeroman, I assume your garage is underground and has lights. If you knew a friendly builder / sparks maybe someone could knock you up a fitting that could be plugged into a light

The alternative is you could leave it in my garage which has plenty of power, and if the battery looks like its going flat I'll take it for a run to charge it up.

That's a difficult problem Brian!

And probably beyond my technical knowledge.

That said one thought comes to mind. I have a battery booster (SIP) which can be charged up using a cigarette lighter adapter. I wonder what happens electrically when you connect a fully charged booster like mine to the cigarette lighter via the adapter - will current flow in reverse and charge the car battery?

We need an electronics whizz to answer!

Regards,

Robert

In a simple classic car 12v system there's no difference between connecting a charger or conditioner to the battery terminals, or to a ciggy lighter socket. The 12v socket is just an extension of the battery terminals.

But I don't know whether complex electronics make a difference to that, and I would ask the factory - just in case.

Portable easy starters? check the manual that comes with the kit. My gut reaction is that it would work better direct to the battery terminals.

For an interesting variation on this theme try using a trickle charger with the ignition key left in situ - not only does the battery run down even faster ~ 24hr, but using the charger triggers most of the dash lights & the indicators!
Very colourful - took ages to work it out.
PS the Aero was in a secure garage.
My guess is that MMC has not got the interface between the BMW & Morgan electrics sorted viz. the problems with water in the electronics under the dash that stopped all the Morgan components working, but not the BMW ones.
Brian - might it be possible to fit a battery isolator switch after the feed for the tracker?

Brian,

Do you have lighting in the garage and if so how often is this on?

Not to sure about installing an isolator and the effect of using this before the ECU has had a chance to start shutting down.

Thanks Guys for all the helpful advice. The problem is that although we have electricity in our communal garage (and in our downstairs store) the electricity is not charged to individual apartments, but is paid centrally and thus is part of the service charge.

One of the other apartment owners put his Lambo on a battery conditioner plugged into a common point and this provoked a row with one of the other owners over whether he was entitled to do this. We then got a circular from the management company entitled "Electricity Theft"! I think these conditioners cost pence per hour to run, but that's the problem with communal living.

Head Office has now been elected to the Management Committee with the sole aim of getting a solution to this problem (at last that's my take!) and I'll let you know how we progress.

In the meantime, we are back later in the month and I know the AeroMax's battery will be completely flat.

Why not make a low mobile charger that can fit under the car. Small metal plate with casters, 2-3 batteries on it in parallel, slide it under the car and leave in place, then whip it upstairs once a week and give it a charge. If you do this then watch for Captain Cock-up....

Make certain the terminals cannot contact the car at all.
Place a sign on the car to remind you when you are in a hurry.
Put a multi-meter in line to avoid flattening the pack and killing it.
Secure the batteries to the plate well to avoid risk of spill.

I used to do this for the race car many years ago as battery trucks were out of my budget in those days.

Thanks Alistair for the suggestion, but not sure how practical it is when we spend time overseas and need to keep the car charged for our return.

Also, not sure what Head Office would think about a mobile charger with casters running across her oak floor.

Brian,

These thing seem to work on the same principle as calculators so should work indoors if the garage is illuminated. Might be worth a go.

solar chargers

I've looked at the charger supplied with my aero and this has a rate of 0.7- 1.25amp. So this may provide you with enough juice if you can place it under a light and the lights are on 24/7.