Keeping battery charged with no garage

[Brovane]

+1

These are really handy. I've personally used for camping, shed lighting, and keeping motorcycle battery topped off.

+2 - I use one of these on my Conversion van since it gets used in-frequently. It is a 2003 Chevy Express. After I started using this my dead battery problems went away.

 

[tortillasoup]

Yeah, his first sentence is right where we have ended up.

Drive it for 20 minutes every 2 weeks.

That will lead to a heavily sulfated and eventually bad battery, usually with the failure being due to unbalanced cells. I've seen this countless times and the only way a vehicle can be left like that for extended periods of time is for it to have a super low parasitic draw by not having any keyless entry/alarm systems, etc. which is unlikely the case.

 

[tortillasoup]

Previous owner of my car installed a quick disconnect on the battery to save it, since it was not driven much. Not sure how long the battery would stay charged if it had no draw at all.

thanks for the inspiration, didn't know they had those. The only ones I was aware of was this shitty one:http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-disconnect-switch-97853.html

I found this one: http://www.wirthco.com/battery-disconnect-battery-switches-knife-blade-switches-c-7_132_9-l-en.html

What brand switch does your car have? I hate most of the ones out on the market because they don't provide a solid connection to the battery negative terminal allowing for too much parasitic losses. Attaching a battery cable terminal onto the harbor freight one doesn't work because either a lack of solid connection or because it's just the wrong size. Also putting a bolt through that hole doesn't work because only the threads of the bolt are contacting the connector so there is too little surface area.

 

[LTC8K6]

That will lead to a heavily sulfated and eventually bad battery, usually with the failure being due to unbalanced cells. I've seen this countless times and the only way a vehicle can be left like that for extended periods of time is for it to have a super low parasitic draw by not having any keyless entry/alarm systems, etc. which is unlikely the case.

Cars sit on lots for months without being started or having the battery charged.

Never heard of such a thing, but 2 weeks was only a ballpark figure anyway.

If 2 weeks results in a dead battery, you'd obviously need to drive it every week instead.

I drive my 1995 Taurus every two weeks, been doing it for years. If it shortened the battery life, it hasn't shown up yet.

 

[Sluggo]

What brand switch does your car have?

The one on my car looks just like this wirthco model:

http://www.wirthco.com/side-terminal-batteries-p-477-l-en.html

It should probably be installed on the negative post, not the positive, to reduce the chance of shorting it out. I need to change that.

I have not used it, but it does see to provide a secure connection, with a easily visible on/off

 

[tortillasoup]

Cars sit on lots for months without being started or having the battery charged.

Never heard of such a thing, but 2 weeks was only a ballpark figure anyway.

If 2 weeks results in a dead battery, you'd obviously need to drive it every week instead.

I drive my 1995 Taurus every two weeks, been doing it for years. If it shortened the battery life, it hasn't shown up yet.

That '95 Taurus probably has a large battery and hopefully not very many parasitic draws. You say that hasn't shown up but we don't know how old the battery is. I get at least 10 years out of my batteries but then again I take care of them and having mounted in the trunk helps a lot.

 

[LTC8K6]

That '95 Taurus probably has a large battery and hopefully not very many parasitic draws. You say that hasn't shown up but we don't know how old the battery is. I get at least 10 years out of my batteries but then again I take care of them and having mounted in the trunk helps a lot.

What would be the point of mentioning the Taurus if the battery in it was not old and still starting the car? :biggrin:

 

[tortillasoup]

What would be the point of mentioning the Taurus if the battery in it was not old and still starting the car? :biggrin:

Are you saying you're using a 10+ year old battery? Old car doesn't mean old battery. I just happen to have a lot of experience with cars that sit for extended periods of time. Some cars just have worse parasitic draw than others, so it's entirely plausible to park a simple fuel injected car from the late 80s for 6 months and have the car readily start up especially if that "simple car" has a battery with a huge reserve capacity.

 

[LTC8K6]

Are you saying you're using a 10+ year old battery? Old car doesn't mean old battery. I just happen to have a lot of experience with cars that sit for extended periods of time. Some cars just have worse parasitic draw than others, so it's entirely plausible to park a simple fuel injected car from the late 80s for 6 months and have the car readily start up especially if that "simple car" has a battery with a huge reserve capacity.

6 months is crazy.

I never heard of a car battery lasting 10 years. I replace mine at 5 years as a precaution.

I stand by my advice to the OP. Drive it for 20 minutes every 2 weeks.

 

[tortillasoup]

6 months is crazy.

I never heard of a car battery lasting 10 years. I replace mine at 5 years as a precaution.

I stand by my advice to the OP. Drive it for 20 minutes every 2 weeks.

For a car with high parasitic draw like a Lexus LS what with the Alarm and the biggest draw SmartKey, that wouldn't do and I've had to replace batteries after only 2 years due to use like that. Maybe if OP can disable/turn off the Alarm and the car doesn't have any sort of RFID like key feature (push button start), the run the car every 2 week thing would actually be ok. Alarms and they Keyless entry are a major power suck.

 

[LTC8K6]

For a car with high parasitic draw like a Lexus LS what with the Alarm and the biggest draw SmartKey, that wouldn't do and I've had to replace batteries after only 2 years due to use like that. Maybe if OP can disable/turn off the Alarm and the car doesn't have any sort of RFID like key feature (push button start), the run the car every 2 week thing would actually be ok. Alarms and they Keyless entry are a major power suck.

Yes, as I said, 2 weeks was ballpark. He may need to go with 1 week.

Here, I'll make it better.

Drive the car once in a while for a 20 minute period.

 

[tortillasoup]

Yes, as I said, 2 weeks was ballpark. He may need to go with 1 week.

Here, I'll make it better.

Drive the car once in a while for a 20 minute period.

Well idling the car won't charge the battery as some cars are designed to not charge the battery at idle. He would have to basically need steady state cruising (above idle) for 20 minutes for that to work and 20 minutes @ a rate of even a piddly 1 gallon per hour (60MPG @ 60mph), would lead to him burning 17.3 gallons of fuel per year if he does it every week or 8.5 if every 2 weeks. That's why the solution of a battery charger with quick disconnect cable and or a battery disconnect blade is probably the better thing to do.

 

[LTC8K6]

Well idling the car won't charge the battery as some cars are designed to not charge the battery at idle. He would have to basically need steady state cruising (above idle) for 20 minutes for that to work and 20 minutes @ a rate of even a piddly 1 gallon per hour (60MPG @ 60mph), would lead to him burning 17.3 gallons of fuel per year if he does it every week or 8.5 if every 2 weeks. That's why the solution of a battery charger with quick disconnect cable and or a battery disconnect blade is probably the better thing to do.

If anyone had told him to idle the car for 20 minutes, I could perhaps make sense of your post.

Since he has already made it clear he won't be doing anything under the hood, and the solar charger won't work from his outlets, he will have to drive the car periodically.

It might be better for you and me to take your advice, but not the OP.

I'll cut you a little slack, since you must have skipped over this post from the OP:

But plugging in a charger via the cigarette port is far as I'll go since I'm as car illiterate as they come.

Also no idea about the make and model of the battery. It could be a potato for all I know.

I just checked my Jeep's battery. It says "Grown in Idaho" on it. Who knew?

 

[tortillasoup]

Well I felt obligated to point out that OP not learning a thing or two about his vehicle will be costly. Anybody who can post on this forum should be smart enough to learn a thing or two that is so expensive. Also the fact that OP shouldn't get any ideas in his head about how he would go about "charging" his battery (like idling in driveway).