Speaking of battery charging .......

I bought myself an old Jag to play about with. She runs but she has a few problems.
Now, When I turn the key she fires up like a good 'un but then the next time ..... nothing.
So anyway, I bought a solar panel so that I can stick the ciggie lighter gizmo in place and she'll charge the battery if I'm not using her for a few days. Only snag with that is that there is no controller in the system so the battery could become overcharged and blow the plates. Now, bearing in mind that I just forked out £83 for this battery, I don't want to kill it. I could buy a controller but the ones that I have seen on eBay look to be costing about £70 and, being a pensioner, I can't afford that this month.
So anyway, what I need to know is this. This problem of the battery being killed off by over charging, is it something that happens in the space of 5 minutes? What I mean is, if I go out to the car and run a voltmeter test (how do I do that correctly) across the terminals and the reading shows that the battery level is 13.5 volts, is the battery going to be a goner by the time I do another test 2 hours later?
Cheers for any info.
Stevie

Firstly I would think that you would have to know your output that is generated from your solar charger in order to know how long it would take to over charge you battery. Also, have you tried to track down the source of your draw that is running your battery down when it sets? If it drains it that point, especially being a new battery, in the course of a day, then you should be able to track it down. If you just are sitting most of the time, start pulling fuses one by one in and see if that is able to stop your drainage.

solar panels are usually trickle chargers and they give out a few amps and should not overcharge battery,batteries will need to be 100% with the weather forecast that is coming soon -20c,make sure antifreeze is good as wrecked engines are coming soon.

Jeez cacti, you are like the harbinger of doom today, -20 degrees, dead batteries, messed up engines the whole shooting match, I thought the end of the world wasn't until 12/12/12 I certainly hope you are wrong with your long range weather forecast

i saw it on sky news and posted on papers,they have stockpiled more road salt and grit for this bad weatherso pack bikinis away until summer comes back for another year or 2.have you seen that film ice age

Ah .... I smell a breakdown in communication here.
I didn't mean that there was something wrong with the battery which made the car not start. What I should have said was that I bought a new battery 'cos the car didn't have one when I bought it. It's a whole new other fault that makes the car not start. What that fault is is anybody's guess for now but I can tell you one thing for sure. Jags are bloody complicated,