During the covid problem, I, like probably thousands of others suffered a flat battery due to not being used very often. So I decided to invest in a solar panel which gives out about 14.45V at around 1.2A. This is connected to a 'live' 12V supply in the car. The Volvo V50 has three 12V sockets and the only one live (with the ignition off) is the one at the rear. Is there any way of converting the front 12V (near the gear lever) to a live connection? The reasoning is that I can put the solar panel in the windscreen area and only have a short cable reducing any voltage drop.

P.S. I have tried to find a wiring diagram for my 2009 V50 but cannot find one anywhere

Thanks

Brian

 

The easiest way to do that would be to install a solar (only) connection to an always hot lead on your fusebox, rather than plugging it into the cigarette lighter plug. I believe most of the solar battery tenders come with a quick disconnect for the cigarette lighter and another with alligator clips, and you could just cut the clips off and hard-wire it. The other option would be to just re-wire the cig lighter plug to a hot lead (making sure it's fused appropriately). The down side to this is that if you leave something like a GPS plugged in, it's going to never shut off and could leave you with a dead battery in short order (quicker than even COVID could do it). ;-)

 

Thanks for your reply. Funny that you mentioned hardwiring the solar panel in. I have just ordered some piggy back fuse holders for another job. I think I will do as you suggest and hard wire it. Thanks very much.

Brian

 

Does anyone know if there is a convenient earth connection near the 'in car' fuse box on V50? I thought that there would be an earth connection in the fusebox but I cannot find one!

Cheers

Brian

 

Probably no ground on the fusebox itself - just look for any bolt that goes into the body, anywhere in the area, and use that as a ground connection.

 

An investment such as this varies WIDELY according to the particular circumstances.
Traps include government discounts and limits, overcapacity for selling, installation costs, damage insurance, annual maintenance, lifecycle performance, true real-life performance versus "quoted performance" plus much more.
You can use a "pakete" of solar panels, but has it supplied all the hardware and software necessary for installation and costs for installation? Not every solar panel is equal.
I've got more than one hectare of commercial roof and can't justify placing solar panels yet. And the building's electricity bill is considerable.

 

Ummmm.... methinks you're overthinking this...

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