xcleex

Hi,

I am new to the forum. I've had my A4 for about a year and I've been using it only as my bad weather car. I think last year I only drove it about a month. When I am not using the car, I don't use the car for months. I am usually away from home due to school and I come home when I see that it is going to snow in a given week.

Recently, I changed the battery because I haven't started the car for such a long time. Yesterday when I checked the car, it was dead again. I can't even open the car with the remote key. I heard that when the car is not being used for a long time, I can use trickler charger that uses solar power as the mean of charging the battery.

However I heard that not all cars have active cigarette port when the ignition is off. From what I've found, newer Audi cars don't have this feature (some seem to like it, some dont seem to like it). Before buying the trickler charger, I want to know if Audi A4 B5 year 2000 has working cigarette port when the ignition is off.

Thank you

twentysevenlitres

Is it housed in a garage?
I would purchase a small 0.8amp maintenance charger (like a small CTek) and connect that up. They normally come with a pair of wires with ring connectors and a plug so you can semi-permanently wire it in, and it becomes a simple matter of plugging the charger in.
*Note: small 0.8A chargers are only suitabe for maintaining fully charged batteries, not charging them from flat.

I don't recall whether the B5 has permanent live on the cigarette lighter - I'm thinking its on accessories.
Test it with a multimeter - or a test light (or even your phone charger).

xcleex

Thing is, the car seems to be completely dead... Plugging my phone charger in couple of sockets doesn't seem to charge my phone. That's why I was wondering if the older models had active socket.

Articus

I have a 2001 A4 and my cigarette port is active when the car is off. I can charge my phone with the key out. And the light on the charger itself never goes out even if I lock the doors.