510dogmom wrote:
I'm looking a a small trickle charger for the engine battery. Does the CA 23A have an always live cigarette lighter socket? If so, can anyone recommend a plug in trickle charger that has a charge controller? Also, I use a CPAP machine and wondere if there is a way to use it when boondocking. Do I have to have a inverter? If the cigarette socket is live, I think I can use a 12 volt adapter for it.
I need trickle chargers in winter because we have several vehicles and one or two get very little use. I bought several automatic shutoff motorcycle ones on eBay at $5 that work well except the cord insulation fails in our cold weather. I put new cords on mine but it was a tricky little job. My most recent purchase was a $15 one at a discount auto store. No problems with it. I don't think the auto shutoff or charge controller feature is necessary because the current is well under an amp and does no harm to the battery if left on for a day or two. In my situation a battery cutoff switch fastened to one of the battery posts solves the problem of the parasitic draw discharging the battery when not used for a week or more.
We recently bought a used wheelchair van which had a trickle charger installed permanently with a power cord hanging out the front. This is very handy.
I would suggest connecting your CPAP machine to the house battery rather than the engine battery; that way you won't be left unable to start the engine and can use solar charging. Use an adapter (small inverter) and cigarette lighter type connector. If the house battery can't handle the job add a second one.
