easy charging of a battery.. asking for a friend

[grazuncle2]

LOL

yes really asking for a friend... though I'd be interested in your thoughts for myself.

an elderly lady (73) who is not very mobile has a Ford (spit) Kuga. due to covid restrictions and not being out much in her vehicle anyway her car has let her down more than few times lately and her garage advised her that unless she can keep the battery charged up (they suggested driving it for 40 miles every other day) it will carry on letting her down. She can't and doesn't want to have to do that. Car is parked close to her house on her drive and not garaged. It seems an easy task to just put it on charge but she could not get the bonnet up herself. Neighbours useless and I'm not local.

options or ideas that if she could get a lead/charger to the car (bearing in mind it is out in the elements) that she could just plug in from the outside perhaps? much like she could with an EV car which would have the same advantage?

I have googled 12v external socket etc but nothing comes up that is weather proof useful.

appreciate any ideas.. someone must have come across this need .. she is thinking of getting rid of her car and not replacing it. Her independence would disappear with it too.

OTT would an EV stand being not driven for a week or more and not drain out like lead acid batteries do- though I'm guessing she'd have such a charger fitted with it anyway? an option for her perhaps as she does not drive much distance?

[Harrihealey02]

Sounds more work than it’s worth plugging in the battery especially for an elderly lady. Imagine her lifting the bonnet, removing the battery cover and terminal protectors, putting the cables on the correct side and then closing the bonnet carefully without damaging the cables. Then would need a waterproof socket installed outside (cost and labour) and to store the cables after removal each time the car is taken out. Sounds much easier to take the car on a short run every once a while. You only need to drive 10 minutes for it to be charged enough to keep it healthy.

[grazuncle2]

Thanks

She doesn't get out much of it would probably do her ok, normally.

I didn't get much further in my thoughts.

Someone said you can charge via the cigarette socket..

A lead through the window.. On dry days.. getting desperate for ideas now
Feasible ?

[Steve_2019]

Have you thought about trying a solar panel charger. Plug it into the cigar lighter and it help top up the battery using the sunlight.

Never used one myself so don’t know they any good but just a thought.

[grazuncle2]

Now that's worth looking into!

Thanks for the thought!

Perhaps others here have tried it or know.. even caravan owners with with a modest panel might know what's possible to generate from one?

[MikeDO]

Might something like this help:

https://www.ctek.com/uk/battery-charger ... u-terminal

Though you would need to find something like the above that could be left permanently connected to the battery, while somehow making access easy for the lady to connect a charger to the other end.
It obviously doesn't help that the car is not garaged.

Not sure there is a simple solution to your problem.

Good luck.

PS. Or GOOGLE "solar battery charger". Not sure how good these are though.