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Trickle charge all winter?


wideboy

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Hey Folks,

 

Living 'oop North in sunny Scotland means that the car's often left hiding in the garage for weeks if not months at a time. As such I regularly need to jump start it when the snow clears.

 

Is it better to hook up a trickle charger full time, disconnect the battery or just jump when required? I fried a battery last year by over charging when I went offshore...

 

Cheers

 

Wideboy

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

My battery is pretty flat after about 3wks of non use, so is it better to leave the trickle on when I know i'm not going to use the car, or just let it drain and then top up a few days before use?

(I work offshore so the car is regulary abandoned for 2weeks at a time).

 

Cheers

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You want a smart charger. Letting it drain right down will permenantly damage the battery and overcharging on a trickle charger can also lead to damage. Smart chargers are relatively cheap these days and will just charge when required rather than constantly charging at a low rate. This will keep the battery in tip top condition.

 

Optimate or CTek will both do a good job :thumbs:

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  • 1 year later...

Gonna revive this rather than start a new one for just a quick question.

 

Last time I went on holiday, I came back to a flat battery after a week. I'm away soon for 3 weeks, so want to take precautions. Most people seem to rate the CTEK stuff, so that should be an easy first option, but has anyone got a solar conditioner?

 

The problem is, the car is not parked in the sort of place where I'd like to leave it plugged into the mains. So I'm thinking, solar charger in the boot will be out of sight and also able to be connected up permanently whilst I'm away.

 

The other option is to whip the battery out and just have it plugged in in the garage. Is there anything to fear about her sitting there without a battery for 3 weeks, other than losing my carefully tuned settings on the head unit?

 

Ta.

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Can't think why it should go flat in a week Stu, sounds like you may have a battery that's on the way out. No experience with solar charger so can't comment.

 

Cheers G. That battery (which I think might have been the original from 2004) has been consigned to the [insert legal disposal method] and I've got a new shiny one. I'm just wanting to keep her brimmed whilst I'm away, it was PITA last time, so I was hoping a little trickle top up might be perfect.

 

I've found a couple that charge through the OBD2 port, which sounds scary, but is also quite an elegant solution to keeping it low key and relatively out of sight.

 

 

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Tip: if your car is in the garage - don't lock it - that way without the alarm and immobiliser set it should be able to last months if the battery is in good condition. As a lot of jap cars use the same battery I've got a couple of spares that I keep topped up and just swap them over if I ever get caught out.

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Tip: if your car is in the garage - don't lock it - that way without the alarm and immobiliser set it should be able to last months if the battery is in good condition. As a lot of jap cars use the same battery I've got a couple of spares that I keep topped up and just swap them over if I ever get caught out.

 

A garage is a distant dream :(

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lock passenger door from inside , pop bonnet disconnect battery and remove, close bonnet lock drivers door with key. Place battery indoors on carpet or something not concrete.

Did this to my battery last September popped it in last week fired up pretty quick, you should be fine if you store it correctly.

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I tried a solar trickle charger before I started this thread, but it was crap! Which to be fair, could have something to do with living 'oop North in winter, where there's precious few daylight hours.

 

Bought the Optimate, no issues since :)

Edited by wideboy
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Mine goes in a Carcoon over the winter with one of their specialist battery conditioners. Works great, in fact just bought another for the wifes car which

sits in the other side of the garage whilst we are away.

Cannot recommend their battery conditioners enough.

Edited by 350ZRDev
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