HI
I will be away for three weeks this summer. I cannot attach a battery charger to keep the battery charged. Do the solar ones work?
How much chance is there that the car will start after this time..the battery is a year old but the alarm will be activated
thanks for any advice
alan
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I have left my car for 3 months before and it started first time. Modern batteries should cope with up to about 6 months without any use.
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You shouldn't have any trouble really.
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I thought there had been comment here earlier about batteries going flat when cars were parked 2 weeks or more in airport long stay car parks and such places; power needed for alarms etc. It might be interesting if someone associated with these places could tell us how often they have to jump start long stay parked cars? That said it is not advised to jump start very modern cars is it? Somthing to with corrupting or burning out the ECU?
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Even with permanent drains like alarms, etc, on?
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You pose an interesting question. It will be interesting to see if any forum members have practical experience with a solar powered battery charger.
I know from bitter experience that a 2 week stay in the airport did for my battery (I had left the interior light on). My fault!
But if I had one of those solar gizmos then it may have been OK!
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Some alarms absorb more power if not set than when they are!
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If the battery is in good condition then it should stay well charged for at least six months and possibly a lot more regardless of whether the alarm is set or not.
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Marcos
that is not a true statement, any alarm will consume power, some more than others.
From personal experience after three weeks holiday my car a primera with a factory fit alarm, started ok, this was during the summer months.
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Jud,
Of course any alarm will consume power, but the power it consumes is rated in milliamps. Most modern car batteries will be rated very high due to all the electronics and so on that are fitted to modern cars and as electronics now consume less and less power by design the battery should last months and months.
From personal experience, a PCB fitted to a measuring unit for voltage spikes used to have to be connected to the mains whilst in operation but now requires a 9 volt battery for up to 6 months operation. Electronics are designed now to consume less power.
On saying this you may well be unlucky and have a faulty connection somewhere that is drawing power without you knowing or you may make the common mistake of leaving the interior light on as Norman B did.
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Marcus
This is my last reply on this subject, you will have the last say.
If the alarm or what ever dormant electronics consume 10 milliamps.
Then over a period of 6 months it will consume 43.8 Ah, this is half the charge of many fully charged batteries.
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I know from bitter experience that a 2 week stay in the airport did for my battery (I had left the interior light on). My fault! But if I had one of those solar gizmos then it may have been OK!
Maybe all manufacturers will adopt the Ford Focus Ghia feature of automatically turning off the internal light after about 15 mins. This occurs with the ignition off.
I could not see it mentioned in the handbook. It came as a surprise when reading a book during a wait for a passenger when suddenly the internal light dimmed and switched off. A quick check confirmed it was a feature not a fault.
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Can't be bothered with all the technical argument - suffice it to say that the car we bought a couple of months ago was only used for short runs in the previous 6-9 months and the battery required recharging about every 6 weeks. Since we have had it and fitted a cheap (£15) solar charger the car has only done about 50 miles and nearly all of this has been start/
stop/stall/restart driving with my learner wife in a local car park.
The battery hasn't been a problem and the alarm has been left on all the time.
I'm sure a new/properly working/fully charged battery will be ok for a few weeks but is that what you've got ? I've heard many stories of people returning home from holiday only to find their cars won't start!
For my money it's worth spending a few quid on a solar charger even if it only slows down the rate at which your battery discharges.
There are a couple of threads on solar charges so why not do a search if you haven't already.
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