With the car likely to be off the road for the next three months, I have already had to call the AA to a flat battery after only 2 weeks. I have ordered a solar battery maintainer which a connector for the 12v power supply (cigarette lighter), to trickle charge the battery, but this is not live with the ignition off.

How easy is it to make the socket live permanently? Any suggestions?

If the solar battery charger is weather proof and you can park off road on your own property then the easiest solution is to get yourself a 12V socket on crock clips.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=12v+accessory+socket+with+battery+clamps+crocodile+clips&crid=8I8Q8V4N9J6E&sprefix=12V+socket+with+cro%2Caps%2C150&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_19

If you want a more permanent "in car" power socket then personally I would be looking to run a fused feed directly from the battery junction box into the car AND NOT mess around with the rest of the vehicles wiring.

When I fitted my tow bar and auxilary electrics I took the opportunity to fit a 3 way 12V socket (on a flying lead so can be beneath the boot floor out of the way or velco attached to the boot side panel carpet). If your solar charger has a long lead then putting the 12V power socket in the boot would be my preference as getting a 12V feed into the boot area is quite easy as there is already a grommeted cable path for the reversing sensor wiring.

Have not investigated engine bay to cabin cable path possibilities but do seem to recall from when I fitted my tow bar that potential possibilities were challenging. Could be wrong on this as it was 4 years ago.

s130 said:

If the solar battery charger is weather proof and you can park off road on your own property then the easiest solution is to get yourself a 12V socket on crock clips.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=12v+ac...V+socket+with+cro,aps,150&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_19

If you want a more permanent "in car" power socket then personally I would be looking to run a fused feed directly from the battery junction box into the car AND NOT mess around with the rest of the vehicles wiring.

When I fitted my tow bar and auxilary electrics I took the opportunity to fit a 3 way 12V socket (on a flying lead so can be beneath the boot floor out of the way or velco attached to the boot side panel carpet). If your solar charger has a long lead then putting the 12V power socket in the boot would be my preference as getting a 12V feed into the boot area is quite easy as there is already a grommeted cable path for the reversing sensor wiring.

Have not investigated engine bay to cabin cable path possibilities but do seem to recall from when I fitted my tow bar that potential possibilities were challenging. Could be wrong on this as it was 4 years ago.

Click to expand...

The solar panel was supplied with cigarette lighter adapter AND Crock clips. I have no real concerns re security and the panel is described as weatherproof, so it's sitting on the screen, tucked under the wipers. It's also supplied with 4 sucker cups to attach it, but the curve of the screen is just about enough to defeat them.

Thanks for your input [emoji1360][emoji1360]

Just take the car for a blast to the shops....Thats what I do

Indeed. BUT! There are two points/items/issues being addressed here:

1) Keeping a battery charged over extended non vehicle use
2) Fitting a permanent 12V power socket

The "blast to the shops" does not address the fitting of a permanently connected/powered socket.

An important but often forgotten/ignored fact with modern vehicles is that their power systems are extremely sensitive and fussy about "who draws what power and from where". The landscape has go so ****ty that radios, ABS units, Air Bag units and even Batteries have to be "coded" into the vehicles body computer.

For these reasons alone (let alone messing with the vehicles factory shipped wiring) is why it is often preferable to take power feeds directly from the battery as these effectively bypass the vehicles body computer, fuse box power and power distribution systems that will in many vehicles be monitored.

Note! For vehicles with Start/Stop systems then they are normally equipped with a battery drain/charge sensor. On these types of systems then the "before" or "after" sensor can affect the Start/Stop power algorithms. If you don't have, don't use, or disable Start/Stop then direct feeds from the battery (pre sensor) will not cause you any issues, especially is the required current drains are low.

Hi,

I think there may be a way to make the power supply battery powered directly rather than via the ignition. The fuse box on the battery has a fuse in F84 which is the factory fit ignition controlled. There is an empty holder at F23 which is direct to the battery but which appears to control the power supply. It says 'customer installed' in the table.

If you follow this link and go to pages 387/388 it gives the info there.

https://cdn.dealereprocess.org/cdn/servicemanuals/fiat/2016-500x.pdf

Please note that I have NOT tried this.


Cheers.

s130 said:

If the solar battery charger is weather proof and you can park off road on your own property then the easiest solution is to get yourself a 12V socket on crock clips.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=12v+ac...V+socket+with+cro,aps,150&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_19

If you want a more permanent "in car" power socket then personally I would be looking to run a fused feed directly from the battery junction box into the car AND NOT mess around with the rest of the vehicles wiring.

When I fitted my tow bar and auxilary electrics I took the opportunity to fit a 3 way 12V socket (on a flying lead so can be beneath the boot floor out of the way or velco attached to the boot side panel carpet). If your solar charger has a long lead then putting the 12V power socket in the boot would be my preference as getting a 12V feed into the boot area is quite easy as there is already a grommeted cable path for the reversing sensor wiring.

Have not investigated engine bay to cabin cable path possibilities but do seem to recall from when I fitted my tow bar that potential possibilities were challenging. Could be wrong on this as it was 4 years ago.

Click to expand...

There are some (1 is AA branded) that connect to the EOBD socket, but don't know enough about that box of magic, so settled for Crock Clips

nico77 said:

Hi,

I think there may be a way to make the power supply battery powered directly rather than via the ignition. The fuse box on the battery has a fuse in F84 which is the factory fit ignition controlled. There is an empty holder at F23 which is direct to the battery but which appears to control the power supply. It says 'customer installed' in the table.

If you follow this link and go to pages 387/388 it gives the info there.

https://cdn.dealereprocess.org/cdn/servicemanuals/fiat/2016-500x.pdf

Please note that I have NOT tried this.

Cheers.

Click to expand...

And more descriptive info on Page 147 where is specifically say to swop fuse F84 into F23 location.

No mention of this in the UK/EU handbooks though.

Interesting and well spotted.

And I've just checked my 2015 500X and F84 has a single fuse (yellow) in it and below it is F23 which is empty. Bearing in mind how fuse boxes and wiring a logically constructed/located then there is a really good chance that moving F84 to F23 will do the trick.

When this lock down ends I'll have a play but at the moment I'm not going to mess with the car as I rely on it for click and collect food orders.

For the benefit of anyone who may be interested I am happy to report that the solar panel trickle charger absolutely works and solves the potential problem of having the car standing for weeks on end. After 2 days the battery was reporting a charge of 12.5 volts and the panel indicated that it was no longer charging. After the price I was quoted for a replacement battery this is a perfect solution for me.

Did you try the fuse swop Alan?

s130 said:

Did you try the fuse swop Alan?

Click to expand...

To be honest, no I didn't, it isn't really worth it. As soon as this chaos is over I shall probably be trading it in. I'm perfectly happy connecting it directly to the posts with croc clips, security is not a major issue here

Sounds like you've used the pragmatic solution, Alan. Fortunately, we can use one car for the weekly 10 mile round trip to get shopping, and the other one for the 16 mile round trip to drop off the shopping we buy for my father in law. This seems to keep both cars charged, the stop-start in each of them still works which is a sign of good battery state.