Cars and batteries

[lurker]

We have two cars one is petrol and the other diesel.

It’s years since I have used a battery charger, so not sure about modern cars.
Can I leave the battery connected and just piggyback the charger.
Mine is a very old one where I would have removed the battery from the car, charged and then replaced.

The petrol car has not moved for weeks but other than ensuring the battery is topped up. I am not bothered about it.
The diesel, we are using for short (couple of mile)trips. Normally, every week or so we would have done a longer run of up to an hour. So had never worried about the cat having a clean out. This is now unlikely for a long while.
Everyone else is in the same boat, how do you plan to mitigate?

 

[Rorschach]

Will be fine leaving the battery connected. As to car use, use the petrol, it will cope better doing short trips than the diesel.

 

[Yojevol]

I've just SORNed my diesel X-Trail and cancelled the insurance for the duration. I've already got my caravan battery in the workshop on charge. The X-Trail battery will be going in there as well.
Brian

 

[Myfordman]

We have two cars one is petrol and the other diesel.

It’s years since I have used a battery charger, so not sure about modern cars.
Can I leave the battery connected and just piggyback the charger.
Mine is a very old one where I would have removed the battery from the car, charged and then replaced.

The petrol car has not moved for weeks but other than ensuring the battery is topped up. I am not bothered about it.
The diesel, we are using for short (couple of mile)trips. Normally, every week or so we would have done a longer run of up to an hour. So had never worried about the cat having a clean out. This is now unlikely for a long while.
Everyone else is in the same boat, how do you plan to mitigate?

I presume it is the DPF that you are concerned about. With short journeys, the car may well start a DPF regeneration cycle but not complete it before the end of your journey. A telltale for this can be a hot rubber smell and possibly a cooling fan running after taking out the key. Eventually after a number of failed regeneration cycles, the car will put on a dash warning light and the manual will likely say "take me to a main dealer" but you can either connect up a laptop to the car with the right software from internet forums for you car brand and do a static regeneration or run the engine at around 3000 rpm and get it good and hot then run it until the warning light goes out. Without lock down rules in place, then just take it on a run at around 60mph in 3rd gear again until the light goes out.

 

[lurker]

Thank you myfordman , it was that smell exactly that got me thinking.
We can use the petrol car for the duration.

 

[Chris Knight]

Don't leave a battery connected to an old conventional charger longer than necessary, you will kill the battery. You should use a smart charger like this type or similar https://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-MXS-5-0-R ... 825&sr=8-1 These chargers can read the condition of the battery and adjust their charging/cycling as needed.

I have the model shown and use it for both cars and motorcycles.

 

[Racers]

The Aldi/Lidl charger is basically the same thing but only costs £13.99.

If you have a permanently powered socket I your car you can use a solar panel charger.

Pete

 

[Bod]

My diesel car is currently hooked up to a "Streetwise 12v 3.8Amp Intelligent Fully Automatic battery charger" suitable for long term storage.
This battery has a known fault, it's old and losing charge if left for several days, the Idle stop/go doesn't work. A 5 stage charger was cheaper than a new battery, and treats the AGM battery gently.

Bod

 

[Rorschach]

The Aldi/Lidl charger is basically the same thing but only costs £13.99.

If you have a permanently powered socket I your car you can use a solar panel charger.

Pete

Can you back charge through the socket? I didn't know that.

 

[flying haggis]

The Aldi/Lidl charger is basically the same thing but only costs £13.99.

If you have a permanently powered socket I your car you can use a solar panel charger.

Pete

even less now

https://www.aldi.co.uk/auto-xs-car-batt ... 0347442700

 

[fenhayman]

Slightly off topic but I do move our cars every week. Just turn them round in the driveway. If cars stand for any length of time the tyres will develop a flat spot at the bottom.
Leave in gear with the handbrake off to stop the break siezing. Leave reminder to self on seat.

 

[Sideways]

I used to use an "Optimate" intelligent charger to keep a motorcycle battery topped up from weekend to weekend. They have small batetries and theft alarms etc would deplete them if they sat idle for too long.
These have become mainstream for cars now. You can even get a Halfords own brand though you will pay for it.
It's the way to go. No need to disconnect the battery and bring it indoors. Let the electronics deal with everything.
If you have a battery that's nearly flat, it may take it a couple or three days to charge it all the way up but just leave it plugged in whenever a car is effectively "stored".

 

[Racers]

The Aldi/Lidl charger is basically the same thing but only costs £13.99.

If you have a permanently powered socket I your car you can use a solar panel charger.

Pete

Can you back charge through the socket? I didn't know that.

Only if your socket is permanently powered, most are switched with the ignition.

Pete

 

[Rorschach]

The Aldi/Lidl charger is basically the same thing but only costs £13.99.

If you have a permanently powered socket I your car you can use a solar panel charger.

Pete

Can you back charge through the socket? I didn't know that.

Only if your socket is permanently powered, most are switched with the ignition.

Pete

Ok, will have to investigate, I think mine are on a timer like the lights.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The battery on my bike wasn't the easiest to get to so I wired from the battery a permanent, easily accessible plug behind a side panel that a plug on charger fitted. I parked and put the battery on charge in less time than it took to tell you what I did.

 

[Racers]

I have the same system on my motorbike with a coiled cable coming down from the garage roof, I hope you put a in line fuse in in case if a short.

Pete

 

[lurker]

Got into the diesel for the first time this morning since I opened this thread, so 5 weeks.
I have been worrying about the cat as the exhaust was smelling.

Car locks opened ok but the engine would not turn over.
Son came up and we jump started it from his car. Being careful to distance!

Took it for a 20 mile drive along the dual carriageway. Kept to a low gear so it was revving between 3 & 4 k. Was careful with the brakes for the first few miles.
I needed to re code the radio/ sat nav but all seems to be good.

Anyone else had issues with the car being laid up?

 

[Myfordman]

The static drain on the battery is high enough on a modern car to drain all but the biggest/newest batteries on a few weeks. So no surprise at your experience.
I’m still driving one car regularly as a volunteer and the other one is on float charge at a precaution.
Low cost chargers are readily available and should be on the shelf in your garage anyway ready to get yourself out of trouble when ever a problem might occur.

 

[DrPhill]

The static drain on the battery is high enough on a modern car to drain all but the biggest/newest batteries on a few weeks.

Interesting - my VW camper had an almost completely flat battery my i10 seems to be coping well..... What is static drain?
I have got a terminal-isolator on the battery earth terminal of the VW now. That should solve that. Wondering if I ought do more for the i10....

 

[Myfordman]

Static drain is what it says. The drain when the vehicle is static.