I have a civic 1.5 CVT, 2018, my battery is 50% charged, my local dealer suggested that I drive round with a/c , heater, radio , and rear screen heater on to make my alternater work harder and therefore provide more charge to the battery , does this make sense ?
Also suggested buying a trickle charger , the car is not garaged , so the trickle charger is not an option really any ideas , I do not do many miles as am retired .
They have Solar powered chargers . But why not just take a 30 to 40 minute drive a couple of times a month . You don’t drive much so the extra fuel expense will not be that much. Also your battery may have been low on charge enough that it may not be as good as it should be.
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I recommend a 10W solar charger.
Won’t charge a half drained battery, but it keep a full one full if it gets at least a few hours of direct sunlight most days.
It can sit on the dash and plug into a power port (what used to be the cigarette lighter socket) if it’s always on.
If you don’t have an always-on socket you can tap in under the dash.
A place that installs aftermarket sounds systems or alarms should be competent to do this.
Example:
“my local dealer suggested that I drive round with a/c , heater, radio , and rear screen heater on to make my alternater work harder and therefore provide more charge to the battery , does this make sense?”
No. It’s complete nonsense.
The other advice you have gotten here is good. I think maybe you should look for a different dealer.
Modern vehicles have adaptive charging systems, they can charge at a low rate/voltage when there is low demand for efficiency, when the A/C or headlights are on the voltage is stepped up. A higher voltage will recharge the battery faster, at low voltage of 13.0 it could take 10 to 12 hours to recharge the battery.
Well how about that. Thanks. I don’t doubt you, but I’ll have to think about it to feel that I understand it. (Reminds me of 1971 when somebody said we had to keep the power to the COSMOS digital logic turned on to save power. I needed to have that explained, too.)
At least I got the OP an answer for his question.