shatter

I have been using one these for the past month. Been working flawlessly for me so far! Even used it on the wife's car when she left an interior light on all night! I used the permanent connector to the battery too.

MCK3125

Had mine in the dealer just yesterday to have them check the battery (Died while on vacation, again) CD play (Died once I jumpstarted) was giving me a "CD ERROR". Would not play the CD's in it or eject them... Luckily, my service manager knew how to take the unit apart and retrieved my disc. Based on the error they "think" this is what has been causing my battery drain... I.e. as the battery gets low on voltage the CD player would start cycling through the all the loaded disk, which has to put a load on the battery and killing it quicker. Of course I told them this on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd visit. So I'm getting a new head unit.

I'll let you know if it fixes my issue. ETA on head unit unknown… sigh
But I think I’ll be unloading all my disk from now on when leaving the car for any length of time…

MustangLynda

Anyone have any recommendation as to what solar charger works the best?

m05fastbackGT

Personally. I wouldn't trust anything that requires using the cigarette lighter as a major power source. Especially when it concerns keeping a 12V battery fully charged.

theedge67

A solar panel would only produce like 5-10 watts though. It's not a major power source or anything, just enough to keep things topped up.

Deric

I noticed that when I had the stereo out for my LED mod. As soon as power was supplied it would cycle through all the CDs to reset the system. Interested to see if this stops the issue.

m05fastbackGT

Steve, I'm not referring to the solar panel itself as being a major power source. It's using the cigarette lighter as a major plug-in, which concerns me.


So here's my suggestion. Rather than using the cigarette lighter as a power source. Why not just use the 12V power supply, in the dash instead

metroplex

Rocky: The cigarette lighter draws quite a bit of current, and is actually designed to withstand the heat from the heating element. However, our S197s do not come with a cigarette lighter unless ordered as a fleet option. What we have instead are 2 12VDC power points, both of which are more than capable of handling the dismal current output of a solar panel.

Since many battery maintainers operate at a max of 2A DC, I do not see any problems with hooking up the maintainer to the power point. The question is, how do you plan to route the wire through the window/door seals with the maintainer? I would be more concerned about rodents and insects living inside the car.

MustangLynda

The ones I have looked at don't connect to the battery itself. The solar panel sits on the dashboard or in the back window and then connects to the 12v power point. I'm looking at these because I need a solution for long term airport parking, which is a reality for me whether I like it or not. I have found many of them for car batteries that have a variety of specs, most of which I don't even understand really. I was hoping someone here had used one they could recommend

m05fastbackGT

Charlie: I totally agree that our S-197's don't come with cigarette lighters.

However. the ash cup/coin holder with lighter element, can be purchased through the Ford accessories website. Just click on the downloadable catalogs link. Then click on the 2008 Mustang accessories catalog link. Scroll down to page 11 of the catalog, and look for item # 30. It's called the smoker's pack and ash cup/coin holder.

Although the 07/08's have the 2 12V power outlets. The 05/06's only have the single 12V power outlet in the dash.

But then again. I was able to find, what appears to be a plug-in for a cigarette lighter, located inside the center console.

Or could that also be the 2nd 12V power outlet.

theedge67

The 05-06's have 2 power points. One in the center of the dash, one in the center console.

m05fastbackGT

Hi Lynda : I've also heard others mention, there's certain solar panel models that don't require being connected directly to the battery, but connect into the 12V power outlet. I just can't recall which brands or particular models they were referring to.

But if you can locate any, that connect into the 12V power outlets.

I'd also be very interested in purchasing one as well.

m05fastbackGT

It sure looked more like a cigarette lighter port to me, Steve

So what is the 2nd power outlet used for anyway

theedge67

Whatever you want I guess. Cigarette lighter, sure. Ipod, sure. just about anything that you don't want wires running down the center of the dash getting in the way of the radio and climate controls. It is the same amp-wise as the dash mounted power point.

I've plugged in my cell phone a few times to the center console point. I used it when I had to leave the phone in the car charging while parked somewhere. (since it was totally dead) I didn't want to leave the phone or charger out in the open and the console let me hide it while still charging.

m05fastbackGT

Good point. As I overlooked that a power point can be used for much more than just a cigarette lighter. Although when I first noticed it. That's the first thing it reminded me of. So at that point, I really wasn't sure as to what other purpose it was designed for.

MustangLynda

Here's a few I found:
http://store.sundancesolar.com/trchforcatrr.html
http://www.siliconsolar.com/automoti...r-chargers.php
http://www.batterystuff.com/solar-chargers/SE-2.html
http://www.batteries.com/productprof...p?appid=378172

They are a variety of wattages and I'm not sure what that means in terms of function etc.

zaghloul

This will probably pi$$ off some of the more hardcore Ford fanatics. Switch to a GM ACDelco dry cell battery. I had all the horrors discussed here with the stock battery. I have the shaker 500 plus mine is a convertible which requires a lot of power to close the top right before i switch the car off. Now that I've gone with AC Delco I dont have any issues. I was out of town for 13 days last months and when I got back she started like a charm. The AC Delco is also lighter than the stock, and its not that expensive.

m05fastbackGT

After looking over the links you provided. IMO. I would select either the SOLAR BATTERY SAVER SE 2/12VOLT BATTERY SAVER SE 2.0 WATT. Or the SUNSEI SE-135 2 WATT PORTABLE SOLAR CAR TRICKLE CHARGER, as your best choices.

As I intend to contact both manufacturers, for further product info.

bradzpony

Well, my '06 GT has a dead battery after sitting in my garage for 6 days.
This is the second time in a year that this has happened. I know this has been discussed many times before on this forum.
Has anyone taken theirs to the dealer about this problem?

DoctorQ

There are a number of thread on the dead battery issue. Many theories about the primary cause (cheap crappy battery, leaving your Shaker system on after you turn off ignition, then open door (as some say amp still draws power), PCM is still drawing power, etc). This happened to me at 11K miles and 14 months. Car is always garaged and I'm in CA, so cold weather not an issue. I only drive it 3 days a week, so after a 4-day hiatus, Pony was dead. Took it to the dealer and it was replaced under warranty. They also did a complete electrical test and said alternator and electrical system were fine.. just a dead battery. Get a new battery (under warranty if still within your limits) and get a Battery Tender Plus to keep to topped-off when not in use.