Ford Forums banner

Can I Safely Use a VW OBD2 Solar Charger in a 1999 Mercury Sable?

1K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  LEDAdd1ct 
#1 ·
Hi, all, and thank you for letting me join this neat forum.

I have a 1999 Mercury Sable which I sometimes leave sitting for awhile.

After spending several hours doing the usual googling, I discovered the ubiquitous VW solar chargers which they send with their cars from the factory.

As detailed in this thread here, the older version does not include a charge controller and plugs directly into the car's 12v outlet. The newer version does include a charge controller, and is designed to plug into the car's OBD2 port for charging.

With appreciation, here are my questions:

1) Are OBD2 outlets a universal standard pinout across all vehicles, such that an OBD2 plug designed for a VW would be electrically compatible with a Ford/Mercury?

2) Will the OBD2 port in a 1999 Sable safely allow charging from the solar charger?

3) If it absolutely will not, or, if I am likely to damage the car's computer, can I safely charge through the 12v outlet?

4) For reference, the unit I purchased looks like this:

Link

You can click on any of the photos to see a larger version.

5) While I am not comfortable working with the guts of vehicles, I do own a multimeter.

If either:

a) The OBD2 port on a 1999 Mercury Sable will not accept a charge,

or,

b) The onboard computer is likely to be damaged by trying,

I could snip off the OBD2 plug and just wire in a standard male 12v plug, which I already own.

6) Using the OBD2 plug already attached is certainly a much cleaner solution, and if the pinout is electrically compatible, it would be my preference.

7) However, if the car's computer will be damaged by using the OBD2 port and the 12v outlet will definitely work, I would be willing to cut off the OBD2 plug and go that route.

Thank you all for your help!
 
See less See more
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top