Sprinter RV - Battery Tender Solar through Lighter?

[femike99]

Hi,

I searched the forum and found a thread about Battery Tender and Solar, but no one mentions if they are connecting their solar through the cigarette lighter.

I have a 2018 Roadtrek Agile with a 2017 MB chassis.

I've found some info on the Sprinter Source forum, but there seemed to be a couple of gotchas that would make me worry.

Is anyone using their cigarette lighter to keep their Sprinter chassis battery charged?

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Mike V

[mikeehlert]

Many vehicles turn these off after a while. I connect my solar tender to the under hood jump points on my Ford Transit as a result.

[femike99]

Originally Posted by mikeehlert

Many vehicles turn these off after a while. I connect my solar tender to the under hood jump points on my Ford Transit as a result.

My RV is in outdoor storage. I guess I could mount the panel to the inside of the windshield and run the wires out the side of the door jam and then under the jam for the hood, but that would not be optimum. I'd much prefer to use the lighter.

Thanks!

[avanti]

Originally Posted by femike99

My RV is in outdoor storage. I guess I could mount the panel to the inside of the windshield and run the wires out the side of the door jam and then under the jam for the hood, but that would not be optimum. I'd much prefer to use the lighter.

Thanks!

Sprinters have several rubber gaskets in the Firewall. It would not be hard to route a wire behind the dash and out through a gasket to be connected to the red charge port under the hood.

You can also get a route under the floor covering at the driver's feet to either the EK1 connector under the driver's seat or else to the battery itself.

I really don't think the lighter socket is a very good idea.

[Windrat]

Not sure about the newer models but my 2008 has two 12volt cig style plugs one in the pullout ashtray cup holder this one turns off with the ignition but there is another below that which is on all the time. I plug my solar tender into that one

[Porsche911]

Originally Posted by Windrat

Not sure about the newer models but my 2008 has two 12volt cig style plugs one in the pullout ashtray cup holder this one turns off with the ignition but there is another below that which is on all the time. I plug my solar tender into that one

I agree with Windrat, I also have a 2008 Sprinter and I use the bottom 12v socket to use my solar battery trickle charger which works very well.

[Moonmanvt]

It depends if your lighter works while key is off (hot). Ours was "hot." We used to leave our BT plugged in to lighter socket in Roadtrek, while Tender was plugged into 120v outlet in RT. And the RT was plugged into 30a outlet outside my workshop. Batteries were always charged.

[Porsche911]

Originally Posted by femike99

Hi,

I searched the forum and found a thread about Battery Tender and Solar, but no one mentions if they are connecting their solar through the cigarette lighter.

I have a 2018 Roadtrek Agile with a 2017 MB chassis.

I've found some info on the Sprinter Source forum, but there seemed to be a couple of gotchas that would make me worry.

Is anyone using their cigarette lighter to keep their Sprinter chassis battery charged?

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Mike V

I use the lower plug to top up my engine battery with my solar trickle charger. It works really well on my 2008 PW Sprinter.

[woodbri]

I have a 2017 RT SS Agile with solar on the roof and I installed a Trik-L-Start between the Kicker battery under the hood and the chassis jumper point under the hood. That way the solar keeps the Kicker charged up and the Trik-L-Start keeps the chassis battery charged up via the solar also. This is a common set on RT and works very well.

[ChicagoTom]

I have the dash solar trickle charger, and it works great. Do a search on Amazon, simple solution.