Print

[oilstain]

Having a series and a Discovery parked on the drive which I dont use to often. The series parked on the road is my daily driver and is maintained with a solar panel. The series one in the garage is easy to drive in, lift the bonnet, plug in the Ctex charger which is left on the radiator panel - no problem
But 2 parked outside on the drive I have a mains cable from a 16 amp blue outside socket, the cable run on the outside floor from the socket under the rear of the Land Rover then up into the engine compartment where the Ctex is pluged in to the cable and battery. All works well but it is a pain when I want to go out and come back to undo and redo all this
I was thinking of fixing a blue input plug perhaps near the tow ball and fixing the cable to the land rover and leave the cable and ctex fixed conected to the battery so when I go out I just unplug the cable at the towball and drive off and plug it in on my return avoiding laying on the wet drive trying to thread the mains cabe up inside the engine compartment to the ctex then conecting to the battery.
From a electrical point of view is this a safe idea

[diffwhine]

What's to stop you forgetting about it and driving off?

This is what we do with blue light vehicles. Not a cheap option but stops people getting fried.

https://ludomcgurk.com/product-category/the-ludo-plug/

[oilstain]

What's to stop you forgetting about it and driving off?

Yes a good point and I did have this fear after almost did it in the past, when the 2 are parked up and "pluged in" I fit a DiskLoc on the steering wheel with a big label on to say "mains cable connected" perhaps not perfect but worked so far

[Craig T]

Not a bad idea.

I keep my P38 Range Rover on an Accumate charger as the P38's are well know to consume power all the time and after a week of sitting still the battery is at the point where it struggles to turn the engine over. As you say, when you need the vehicle I have to unplug it all, open the bonnet, take the charger out then open the garage to put the mains cable back indoors out the rain.

I can see what you mean I think. Keep the charger and mains power inside the garage and have a 2 pin plug through the wall that connects straight into the vehicle via a small external plug.
I don't see any reason for it not to work but yes, maybe make a remove "before flight tag" to attach to the steering wheel when you plug it in and remember to put it on the wheel when you return home and connect up again.

Craig.

[oilstain]

^^^ yes I see what you mean about keeping the charger and all mains items inside.
How long a 12v lead will a cetex charger work with, thinking about voltage drop?
I see this auction: #165163538534 but I need more than 2.5 m

[Wittsend]

Here's what I do ...



My CTEK charger sits on a bracket next to the battery.
I have a standard extension lead from the garage which goes into the engine bay.
In the winter I also have a fan heater running inside the cab to stop condensation and general dampness.

Very difficult to forget and drive off.
I just undo the extension lead and push the socket end back through the cat flap in the garage side door.
I have/had 2 Landys outside each with there own extension lead.

Electrically safe the leads run off a RCCB socket in the garage.


 

[34058]

How about keeping all the mains powered bits indoors and extending the 12 volt wires?  Fix a permanent connection to the battery and run this to a suitable location on the vehicle.  Then use a flex connector from the vehicle to extended leads from the charger.  A flex connector will disconnect if you forget to undo it, leaving a safely shrouded 12 volt supply on the ground.

I have a similar setup on my BMW motorcycle but that uses an auxiliary DIN socket as the connection between charger and bike.


Flex connector  https://www.toolstation.com/flex-connector-10a-2-core/p94584?store=E5&utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed&mkwid=_dc&pcrid=558702669986&pkw=&pmt=&gclid=CjwKCAiAxJSPBhAoEiwAeO_fP67Lfwldln6LAcky-RSnjNf9f1pjtJHGg-PKgpWnHrl6V7DEIZ8XTBoCGGcQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

DIN connector  https://www.carbuilder.com/us/12v-din-plug-and-socket-black

David.

[GlenAnderson]

Use the blue waterproof “commando” type plug and socket, with the plug end cable-tied up near the rear of the wagon, so it doesn’t drag on the ground, and the little latching tag trimmed off so if you forget it and drive away it just pulls apart.

[oilstain]

Thanks for all the advice above, I still like the idea of the charger and all mains items in the house/garage and a 12v lead to the Land Rovers but as my Land Rover are up to 14m from the house and the plugs/sockets. I still wonder about voltage drop, but I'm not sure if this is a proplem or I just think it is

[Alan Drover]

I used a C Tek cordless charger when I was unable to drive my Land Rover after my hip replacement surgery.

[Worf]

With EV's being the coming thing, "wireless induction charging pads" are planned (may even be available now )
I wonder if you could build your own "mini"  induction pad so you can trickle charge the battery wirelessly?
Convert a toothbrush charger or something?

This https://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/article/august2013_Bates

EDIT, This could work, maybe mounted on something you park next to? https://www.dfrobot.com/product-2087.html

[oilstain]

I used a C Tek cordless charger when I was unable to drive my Land Rover after my hip replacement surgery.

What is a Ctex cordless charger

[Alan Drover]

It's a charger powered by an internal battery. It will bring a battery up to sufficient voltage to turn the engine over in about half an hour and is also a maintenance charger. It can be charged from the mains or a 12v battery and it takes about an hour to charge itself fully.
Go to Tayna Batteries site. They sell them. They're not cheap but there's no mains lead or worries about wet mains electrics. I have to remember that it's there that's all.

[34058]

Thanks for all the advice above, I still like the idea of the charger and all mains items in the house/garage and a 12v lead to the Land Rovers but as my Land Rover are up to 14m from the house and the plugs/sockets. I still wonder about voltage drop, but I'm not sure if this is a proplem or I just think it is

According to this site https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Charts/VoltageDrop.html

and using the following values:  14 meters, 12 volts, and 5 amps, you will only need 1.5mm wire, and only get a 1.8% voltage drop.  I don't know if the wire is 1.5mm cross sectional area or 1.5mm diameter, but whichever it is it is not going to be very heavy duty wire.  An orange caravan power lead will be more than adequate.

5 amps at 12 volts is 0.006kW according to this site  https://www.inchcalculator.com/amps-to-kilowatts-calculator/

David

[autorover1]

On the Discovery 3 web site they sell a lead to connect the CTek charger to the vehicle via the permanent live on a 12S or 13 pin Tow socket .