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It's that time of year when after a couple of moderately cold weeks the one time I need to use the car in the morning it's deader than a Norwegian Blue. It hardly get's used and even when I do use it, it's usually to tow a trailer to the tip which is only a couple of miles away, so it's barely getting warmed up (then once a month I'll drive 400 miles in a weekend).
So as far as battery chargers go, presumably I should be fine with whatever's cheap? A float charge is a float charge as long as it cuts off eventually? So this for £22 looks fine? https://www.einhell.co.uk/shop/en-uk/cc-bc-4-m.html
Plan is to either hide a little waterproof DC connector somewhere with a fused wire directly to the battery so I don't need to open the bonnet when I do need it. Or swap the tow bar electrics to 13pin to get the same thing. Added bonus I could run a bikewash off the same connector.
same situation here. My girlfriend has got very good at pushing mine so I can do a bump start 😀 . Fortunately we live on a hill...
The posh ones will put a high frequency "desulfator" through the battery to help stop the deterioration of a little-used battery. I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to say it's vital and then someone else will say it's pointless.
All other things being equal I'd look for one that offered that on the basis that a few quid extra might keep a hundred quid battery going for a few more years.
If your car can’t sit a couple of weeks without the battery going dead then I’d think either you just need a new battery or there’s something wrong with the car’s electrics.
All other things being equal I’d look for one that offered that on the basis that a few quid extra might keep a hundred quid battery going for a few more years.
Speaking of, the battery isn't even a year old, it really should be upto being left for a couple of weeks.
[edit] crossed posts with Bez, I'll stick the multimeter on it too and see if there's a parasitic discharge.
for the use you describe itll be an optimiser/optimate you want rather than an out and out charger i would have thought.
some of the smarter chargers do both.
A dumb charger wont do your batteries any favours being left attached for long periods
My van only gets used every 2-3 weeks this time of year and it seems to survive .. though if you have a charger I guess that's a cheaper answer than anew battery. I'll usually run it for half an hour thoguh, just to get some warm air through it as much as anything, as it does get a bit damp.
aye its probably the short trip with multiple starts + probably high fans to demist , lights etc thats killing it as much as anything it wont be recharged in a short trip then the cells sit low and the cold then kills it.
how long are your batteries staying charged for before going flat. mine goes flat after two weeks if I do not use the car. The battery is a decent brand ( excide )and it's been to the auto electrics car place who said the voltage of the battery and the car's drain is good. Battery is new too and cost 45 quid. Any ideas? I will have to look to see if I can buy a larger capacity battery.
aye its probably the short trip with multiple starts + probably high fans to demist ,
I would bet against it even being that, I think it's last two trips were to my parents 2 weeks ago (~130 miles each way) and one tip run last weekend. But this morning there wasn't even enough juice to show the mileage on the lcd!
Either the batteries prematurely dead (probably 15,000 miles since last November, the lack of use is since changing jobs) or there's something parasitically draining the battery. Although with 2 cars sat doing nothing for long periods a charger is probably a good idea to have in the garage anyway.
an independent auto electrics place will charge about 40 pounds to check the power drain.
Car batteries don't like being flat as this kills their future capacity, they never seem to recover. A 5w load, like a boot light stuck on, will drain a good battery in a week or two. I used to disconnect the battery, this works, for one car I even fitted a Normally-Open relay and an in cab switch - it left the starter connected but isolated the rest of the electrics.
A half decent battery conditioner/charger is worth it in my opinion. I recently got 11 years out of a battery which was undersized for the car and sat idle for weeks at a time.
Can't remember the make but mine came with a quick connector which is dead handy for when you inevitably forget to disconnect before driving off.
Just checked, it's an Accumate. I've no idea how it rates generally but it's currently attached to my car like it has for the last 13 years (when I remember to connect it).
I’ll stick the multimeter on it too and see if there’s a parasitic discharge.
Good luck with that, it's a bastard to discover with a multimeter on a modern car.
Ctek, They are not that much more expensive than cheap aldi type or cheaper ebay/chinese types. But as mine is left plugged into both my garage and my car I dont fancy it bursting into flames.
Many cars will flatten a battery in a week or so nowadays with the much greater demand and higher hotel loads when its 'off'.
A Ctek (or optimate) can be safely left plugged in for weeks and months without damaging the battery and will keep the battery in as new condition for years.
A 'dumb' charger will charge a dead flat-ish battery quickly but I would never leave one connected unattended or even with the battery still connected to the car.
The Ctek accessories and cables are good quality too.