Battery charge (non boaty)

If I leave my Volvo XC70 10 days or more ... the battery is low and I cross fingers she'll start ... 14 days and I better start thinking about jump starter ! Its all the alarm stuff etc. on it ...
Mt Renault Master can sit for about 3 - 4 weeks - then needs charging up .. similar reason.

My old Suzuki 4x4 - that could go months and still start ok ...
 
lw395 said:
Do you disconnect the battery?

Worst vehicle I had for self-flattening the battery was a BMW K1100 motorbike. A week and it would be flashing error lights when it started, 3 weeks and it wouldn't start. The battery had pretty good capacity when I measured it , but it was basically a poor era of car type ecu and a bike-sized battery.
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Trouble with disconnecting battery on many cars today - you lose coding of radio !!
 
Refueler said:
Rotating tyres is fine on 2WD .... real 4WD ... but not on AWD or Part-Time 4WD .... if not careful you can do serious damage to AWD as I found out to my cost ...
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I think by “rotating tyres” it means moving the vehicle a little every so often so that the tyre is not sitting on the same spot for weeks. This advice was on the Honest John column in the Telegraph
 
Indeed. "Rotating" can mean two very different things and the best approaches to the present meaning are regular runs or axles on blocks.

There are so many different varieties of AWD system these days, Haldex, viscous coupling, LSD etc. and some are more tolerant of differences in tyre diameters than others. I believe that the viscous coupling variety like early Freelanders are particularly intolerant and one punctured tyre when all four are half-worn means a new set of four tyres. AWD based on open diffs but using electronic traction control should be fine with different diameters.

My AWD has a centre Torsen diff but like most AWDs still wears the tyres are different rates, in my case the fronts wear a little quicker than the rears so the Torsen has to cope with the natural change in diameter over time.

My solution is actually the opposite of received wisdom and that is to ensure that I do rotate the tyres, front to rear, as that keeps the difference to a minimum during the life of the four tyres.

Richard
 
William_H said:
I would suggest that much depends on the age of the batteries. If you get 5 years out of a car battery you are doing well. If a new battery costs 100 squid then that is 20 squid per year. If you squeeze another 6 months out of the batteries then you have saved 10 squid. However in doing so you may end up getting stuck at some stage with car looking for help. I reckon the savings eking out a longer life from a car battery might not be worth the risk. (especially wife's car). So if it seems a bit sluggish to start may be time for new battery. ol'will
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William, my wifes Golf diesel is 2008 vintage - its still on the same battery.12 years....
I think the modern start stop cars give their batteries a much bigger hammering
 
Chris_Robb said:
William, my wifes Golf diesel is 2008 vintage - its still on the same battery.12 years....
I think the modern start stop cars give their batteries a much bigger hammering
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I don't have a Start Stop car ... but I have heard service guys I know mention possibility of shorter battery life .. but lets be honest - if you get more life than the usual 2yrs warranty ... is it that expensive ?
 
Refueler said:
I don't have a Start Stop car ... but I have heard service guys I know mention possibility of shorter battery life .. but lets be honest - if you get more life than the usual 2yrs warranty ... is it that expensive ?
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Possibly a bigger unnecessary expense than the £20 a year fuel saving?

TBH I think newer stop start vehicles may be easier on their batteries than the early ones.
 
We bought our current boat in Sept 2005, just short of 15 years ago. The two 180 AH house batteries and engine start battery of unknown age which were in it when we bought it are still there and still working well. The message seems to be to buy a Mastervolt smart charger and leave it connected all the time.
 
Thanks for all your replies, I can’t have a charger connected all the as a) I only have one charger and there are 2 cars! and b) They are parked on the drive about 30-40 metres from the house and accessible to the public.
I will just give them each a boost every couple of weeks and hope for the best.
 
Leighb said:
Thanks for all your replies, I can’t have a charger connected all the as a) I only have one charger and there are 2 cars! and b) They are parked on the drive about 30-40 metres from the house and accessible to the public.
I will just give them each a boost every couple of weeks and hope for the best.
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You could get a couple of trickle charge solar panels and put on top of dash so sun shines through windscreen on it ... the only thing then is to connect direct or via an always on socket. My Volvo ciggy socket in the back cargo area is an always on job for camping ... ideal for this.
 
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