AA solar panel charger

Hello there,
                   Just received as a present a AA solar panel battery maintenance charger, which comes with OBD2 plug, to attach to OBD2 socket, I checked my socket underneath fuses, drivers side pull flap down after undoing two screws...there seems to be something plugged into it already, any ideas what that could be, single black cable socket completely covered up. Or is there another OBD2 plug somewhere 

                   There's also a cigarette lighter plug attachment, I have 2 lighter sockets, one normal the other a '180 w max', marked one. any suggestions as to which one I should use.

2008 Auto-sleeper Sigma EK.
   
                   Regards....

Either plug will be OK, profided it is live with ignition off. Otherwise it will need to be the OBD socket.

Personally, I would not use the OBD port. Like the cigar lighter, it's not designed to be used to charge the vehicle battery, but unlike the cigar lighter, it's ~probably~ connected to a very expensive control module, such as the CAN network gateway (which in many vehicles is the common point where several networks interconnect).

If something goes wrong at the cigar lighter, the worst that's likely to happen is a blown fuse - but on the OBD port it could be a lot more expensive...

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately neither the cigarette lighter or the accessory sockets are 'live' with ignition off. I've dropped an email to auto-sleepers to try and identify what is plugged into the obd socket, or is it somewhere else!!

I guess you can try, but I would expect that A/S will just say that the OBD port is a matter for the base vehicle manufacturer and has nothing at all to do with them (i.e. they don't fit it, and they don't use it).

Typically there are few devices that need to be plugged in to the vehicle's OBD port full-time. I have one connected to mine, and it relays data on what the engine and electrical systems are doing to a remote display on the dash - but I would expect you would know if you had one of those. Prior to that I had a Garmin Mechanic plugged into mine, which used the data to display MPG and other related info on my satnav, but I got rid of that (because it didn't work very well!).

Is it possible that alarms are now plugged into the obd socket where the vehicle can be shut down etc remotely?

We now have piece of mind since fitting the AA solar charger. For a short while beforehand, we were given a Ring SP but the AA appealed because of the EOBD connection. No more lifting the bonnet to connect directly to jump start points or having the cab floor lifted to have direct access to battery terminals. Furthermore, charging is confirmed by the blue LED illuminating. Also 'the thin film technology allows a wider spectrum of the natural light to be absorbed , meaning the unit can still generate electricity under cloudy winter conditions'. This arrangement will suffice until say end of March when the Sun will be shining more directly on the 80w solar panel.