# Solar Battery Chargers, Long Term Parking



## PC Dave (Nov 29, 2001)

*How long between starting to avoid draining the battery?*

I don't have secured parking right now, so I'm moving the Phaeton to the extra garage space in a friend's house, and I'll use it for occasional long trips for the foreseeable future while using another car as my daily driver. I have access to this garage when necessary, and I'm currently planning to take the Phaeton out once a week for a 50-70 mile round trip, mostly highway, to keep the battery charged, etc. Does anyone know if this will be sufficient to keep the battery charged? Any other problems with this approach that anyone can think of? I thought there was a similar thread a few months back and searched for it to no avail.


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## rmg2 (Jan 23, 2004)

*Re: How long between starting to avoid draining the battery? (PC Dave)*


_Quote, originally posted by *PC Dave* »_I don't have secured parking right now, so I'm moving the Phaeton to the extra garage space in a friend's house, and I'll use it for occasional long trips for the foreseeable future while using another car as my daily driver. I have access to this garage when necessary, and I'm currently planning to take the Phaeton out once a week for a 50-70 mile round trip, mostly highway, to keep the battery charged, etc. Does anyone know if this will be sufficient to keep the battery charged? Any other problems with this approach that anyone can think of? I thought there was a similar thread a few months back and searched for it to no avail.

Hard to really say.
My personal experience was that leaving my car in the garage unlocked caused a battery drain. Of course I was able to initialize the backup battery but still had to take the car into service to remove all the fault codes.
I was told by VW that the Phaeton is designed to be locked in order to put it into hibernation mode and shut down most of the systems.
Others on the board say they have left their Phaeton unlocked for a week with no repercussions.
My best guess with Phaeton and BMW experience is that you should drive the car at least once a week for about 30 mins. in order to maintain the battery.
Others here may have additional suggestions.
Sorry, I can't be more specific as it really seems as though this is one of those gray areas on the Phaeton.



_Modified by rmg2 at 5:07 AM 4-6-2005_


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## dcowan699 (Nov 22, 2004)

*Re: How long between starting to avoid draining the battery? (rmg2)*

As rmg2 has brought out, this is a topic that seems to have no established answers to it. Some Phaeton owners have had quick battery drainage and many have not. I personally have had no sign of battery issues and I have gone several days of no driving with no sign of problems. I would think that IF you have not had any of the battery issues mentioned in several threads over the past months , then you probably are safe and won't have any problems as long as you get it out on that drive you mentioned. No doubt, more than a week and you will probably get a fault message suggesting that you crank the engine (or something like that). It's telling you that it needs charging. Again, like rmg2, I can't give you any secure answers but just an idea.
Would a battery tender work? I know motorcycles use them during winter months to protect the charge. If you do have loss of battery from week to week , you may want to hook one up if it's compatible.
David C.


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## Theresias (Feb 11, 2004)

In principle, the car will start even after years if the battery management works as it should, so if you have not yet had problems with it, keep it as it is.
But if you allready experienced problems, let your dealership update the control module firmware, this should solve the existing issues.
So don't worry too much about this topic and don't start making panic, only a very few cars have those problems and as always with problems they are pushed in forums like this one!


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: How long between starting to avoid draining the battery? (PC Dave)*

We did have quite a long discussion of this topic some months ago, I have posted the link to that thread below.
My own experience is that the car can be left alone for up to 10 days and no problems of any kind will develop. As Sebastian said, you should be able to leave it alone for much longer - months, in fact - without any problems. I do suggest, though, that you make an inventory of all the 12 volt plug-in outlets on the car - in the trunk, in the back seat, and especially the one in the little compartment between the two front seats (at the very bottom, on the front face), and make sure nothing such as a cell phone recharger or a radar detector is left plugged in. Such a device could cause a constant battery drain over a long period of time.
If you plan to leave your Phaeton unattended for a very long period of time (months), there is a special little transportation device that you can get from your VW dealer, free of charge. It is the device that is installed at Dresden when the cars are shipped to North America by boat. This device connects to the vehicle power supply battery at the rear of the car, and does a major shutdown of all power except for the power available from the starter battery to start the car. If anyone has a need to store their Phaeton for more than a month, let me know, and I will make a more detailed post about this device.
Michael
Here's the link to the original discussion of this topic: Battery Discharge when Phaeton not used for several days? It is interesting reading, but make sure you read the whole thread all the way to the end. It is one of our early threads here on the forum, and it is kind of interesting to look at it in retrospect and see all the incorrect assumptions we made at the beginning of this post, and all the red herrings we were chasing. I guess it shows you that we are all still learning.


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## PC Dave (Nov 29, 2001)

*Re: How long between starting to avoid draining the battery? (PanEuropean)*

Thanks, everyone, it sounds like a week without driving isn't a big deal - I haven't had any charging issues to date, and I don't plug anything into the 12v outlets. This better not go on for months - I'll hopefully get it resolved before too long. In the meantime I'll just build up a backlog of "allowable" miles under the lease for a few road trips, and put some needed miles on my ancient 525i 5 speed which (heresy!) is actually a bit more fun to drive on our mountain roads than the Big P.


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## digifant_gli (May 14, 2004)

*Re: How long between starting to avoid draining the battery? (PC Dave)*


_Quote, originally posted by *PC Dave* »_I don't have secured parking right now, so I'm moving the Phaeton to the extra garage space in a friend's house, and I'll use it for occasional long trips for the foreseeable future while using another car as my daily driver. I have access to this garage when necessary, and I'm currently planning to take the Phaeton out once a week for a 50-70 mile round trip, mostly highway, to keep the battery charged, etc. Does anyone know if this will be sufficient to keep the battery charged? Any other problems with this approach that anyone can think of? I thought there was a similar thread a few months back and searched for it to no avail.

I'll drive the car for you every few days if you want!


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: How long between starting to avoid draining the battery? (PC Dave)*

Here is another possibility: Go to your VW dealer, and ask them to give you one of the solar panels that ships with some (not all) Golf and Jetta products, to keep the battery fully charged in these cars during the voyage from the factory to the dealership. Volkswagen directs the dealers (in writing) to give these panels to the purchasers of the Golfs and Jettas free of charge at the time of new car delivery, but some owners don't need or want the panel, and for that reason, there is usually a small pile of these sitting around in one area of the dealership. If for some strange reason your dealer does not have one available to give you, you can probably order one through the parts department - the part number is visible in the photos below.
Once you have this panel, find a 12 volt outlet in your Phaeton that is still connected to the battery when the ignition is off. I think some of the outlets are switched and some are not (in tech-speak, some are connected to terminal 15, the switched ignition circuit, and some are connected to terminal 30, which is the hot battery bus). Once you have identified a connector that connected to the battery, plug this solar panel into it, and then stick the solar panel to a south facing side or rear window. Don't stick it on the windshield - Phaeton windshields have a solar reflective coating in them, which ain't what you want if you are trying to use a solar panel to generate energy.
If you need to extend the cable to reach one of your house windows, you can probably just cut and splice the cable, but don't make the extension longer than you actually need, and do a little engineering research to make sure you use the correct gauge wire for the length of the extension (Ohm's Law, remember?). If you use too thin or too thick a wire for the extension, you will greatly reduce the efficiency of the panel.
Be aware that not all Golfs and Jettas ship with these panels - I think the factory is kind of selective, if they think the car will be sitting in port for a while, they include a panel, if they know the car is going straight to a waiting customer, they don't include a panel. So, if your dealer does not have one in stock when you ask, you might have to wait a few weeks until a shipment of new Golfs or Jettas arrive, and one has a panel in it.
Just one little safety warning:  Any time the panel is exposed to sunlight, it will generate electricity, and the electricity is delivered to the two fully exposed pins on the *male *plug. That's quite opposite from normal practice, which is that live pins are only present on the female plugs of electrical connectors. So, if you get one of these panels, make sure that the panel is always stored face down (as in the upper photograph) at all times except when you actually want it to generate electricity for you.
Michael
*Solar Panels that are used to keep Golf and Jetta batteries charged during shipment*


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## PC Dave (Nov 29, 2001)

*Re: How long between starting to avoid draining the battery? (PanEuropean)*

Thanks for the idea, Michael, that's a very cool product! Unfortunately (or fortunately, from a security standpoint), the garage has no windows, and I think that a cord permanently strung from the garage, through the house for the 8-10 meters to a window (not to mention the solar panel attached to the living room window!) probably wouldn't excite my friends, who are doing me the favor of letting me use the garage space - they'd rather see me once a week for a brief excursion.
I might get one anyway, it's very cool and I've never seen one before. This may be a naive question, but given that it goes through a 12 volt outlet, could this be used for other (non-VW) cars, in the way a Battery Tender tends to be fairly generic?


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: How long between starting to avoid draining the battery? (PC Dave)*

I suspect that it would probably work for just about anything that uses 12 volts - in other words, you could take it camping with you, and use it to power a 12 volt transistor radio if you wanted. But, that is just a guess on my part. I don't know if there are any special electronic components inside it that cause it to switch off the power output once a certain charge level is reached.
Michael


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## Paldi (Sep 4, 2004)

*Solar Battery Charger*

I picked up one of these a while back. Wonder if it will work on our car?


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## W126C (Jan 27, 2005)

*Re: Solar Battery Charger (Paldi)*

My daughter's Jetta came with one. I think you need _sun shine_ to make it work. My car sits in the garage, locked up for a week at a time, so the battery charger is my choice. If I left my car at the airport for a while , it might be good option.
Regards,
Brent


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## swa5000 (Jun 14, 2004)

*Re: Solar Battery Charger (Paldi)*

I don't see why not...
I saw a dealership use something exactly like that in some Passats.


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## PC Dave (Nov 29, 2001)

*Re: Solar Battery Charger (Paldi)*

Michael discussed that accessory in a thread from early this year (8th post in the thread):
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1920856


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## Paldi (Sep 4, 2004)

*Re: Solar Battery Charger (swa5000)*

You need a 12V receptical that's alive 24/7. I don't know if ours shut off.


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## car_guy (Aug 19, 2005)

*Re: Solar Battery Charger (Paldi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Paldi* »_You need a 12V receptical that's alive 24/7. I don't know if ours shut off.

None of the four in my 2004 V8 shut off, ever.


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Solar Battery Charger (Paldi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *Paldi* »_You need a 12V receptacle that's alive 24/7...

... and, does not have a diode somewhere in the circuit between the power outlet and the comfort battery (vehicle power supply battery) that would prevent the charging current from flowing back to the battery.
In theory, the solar panel charger should work. In theory. I can't imagine any harm could be done by plugging it in. The challenge, though, is to find out whether or not the power generated by the panel makes it back to the battery or not. I had a quick look at the wiring diagrams, and it appears that the power would have to flow back through the central electrical controller (09) and the battery management controller (71) before it would reach the battery. I don't know if either one of these controllers are set up to block a reverse current flow.
If you have a diagnostic scan tool, then you could open up controller 71 - the battery management controller - and watch to see if you observe any difference in the voltage indicated in measured value block (MVB) group 001, block 3. That is the voltage present on the vehicle power supply battery. Block 4 of group 001 is the voltage present on the start battery.
Michael
*PS to Fred:* Is it OK with you if I merge this in with the existing thread about the solar charger that has been referenced above?


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: Solar Battery Charger (PanEuropean)*

Oh, yeah, one last thing about these solar battery chargers (this is funny): You have to keep them in a brown paper bag, just like a bottle of cheap wine, when you are not using them. This is because the things will generate an electric current anytime they are exposed to sunlight they have no on-off switch. Because of this, the little pin on the end of the plug will be 'hot' with 12 volts anytime the panel is exposed to sunlight. If the pin on the end gets shorted to to the negative DC side of the circuit, something that is fairly easy to do, the panel could be damaged, or, you could get a bit of 'arcing and sparking' taking place at the plug.
Michael


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## W126C (Jan 27, 2005)

*Re: Solar Battery Charger (PanEuropean)*


_Quote, originally posted by *PanEuropean* »_ You have to keep them in a brown paper bag, just like a bottle of cheap wine, when you are not using them. This is because the things will generate an electric current anytime they are exposed to sunlight they have no on-off switch.... or, you could get a bit of 'arcing and sparking' Michael

Michael,
Where do I buy this cheap wine your talking about?








Reagrds,
Brent


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## Paldi (Sep 4, 2004)

*Re: Solar Battery Charger (W126C)*


_Quote, originally posted by *W126C* »_
Michael,
Where do I buy this cheap wine your talking about?








Reagrds,
Brent

Available free at you local VW Service Department. Ask for the expired vat of "lifetime fluid"


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

Photos re-hosted.

Michael


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