I actually don’t drive my beetle very far often. Mostly I go a mile or two every few days. If I kept it in my garage I’d just plug it into a battery tender on the wall. But I keep it in my car port and well, it is sunny in Moab. Why not harness the power of the sun? Amazon has a plethora of cheap solar panels, but I trust Battery Tender brand products so for a few dollars more I got the Battery Tender 12V Solar Battery Charger which includes suction cups for the windows, an OBDII charge connector, direct battery terminal connection cable and a mount for round tubes, which I thought could be helpful on my steering wheel maybe?
The install is super easy, just attach to the battery and run the cable out somewhere, I ran it underneath because there is a gap.
The panel mounts to the window via suction cups, a lot of reviews said the suction cups were not so good, which is why I opted for the kit with the handlebar mount, so I could use that if need be later. Honestly the suction cups seem to start peeling off after one day. But you know, suction cups. The suction cups just don’t work. I lean it in the windshield.
It just connects with the super long wire to the one coming off the battery.
And there is a cool little LED indicator about whether it is charging or full on the outside.
I was curious if you can leave it connected while using the vehicle, I emailed support and they said you cannot leave it connected while driving. Anyhow, easy peezy.
Parts:
- Battery Tender 12V Solar Charger https://www.batterytender.com/12v-5w-solar-battery-charger-handlebar