Maintaining car battery- advice wanted!

maniac886

Hi guys,

I just wanted some advice on behalf of a mate of mine.

Because of his job he can be out of the country a month at a time and so when he gets back his car battery is completely dead. He has had to call the RAC out a few times so they can jump start the battery.

I was just wondering if there was any device that is available that could be attached to the battery to maintain it without it being plugged into the mains. He has no garage so having a device being plugged into the mains is not an option.

Not sure if it makes any difference but he has a w reg 523i se auto bmw.

Thanks in advance

:money:

vikingaero

The problem is no mains. If he had mains he could use a CTek battery charger to maintain the battery. Costco I think sell one version of it.

He would be better off disconnecting the battery (and remembering the radio code). Aldi did stock a battery power pack which has a set of jump leads on it. I think I bought mine from them for £24.99. I used mine yesterday to jump start my mums car as she parked front in to a garage on a slope and I couldn't jump start it with leads.

Lakeuk

Solar Powered Car Battery Trickle Charger

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=solar+car+battery+trickle&spell=1

vikingaero

Lakeuk wrote: »

Solar Powered Car Battery Trickle Charger

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=solar+car+battery+trickle&spell=1

Good one Mr Lakey. Never thought about that even thought I had one for my MINI which I hardly drove. Only problem was there was I thinking that it was topping my car battery up when the socket I used in the boot wasn't live with the ignition off. :D

Belnahua

The battery should last a month. Unless the battery is well past its service life?

I would check the boot light or another courtesy light.

My boot light never went off when the boot was closed. Not a problem for general usage of the car, but it came to light (pun not intended!) when I left the car for a couple of weeks.

Try a multimeter on the battery with everything switched off, and see if there's an abnormal current draw from the battery?

maniac886

Lakeuk wrote: »

Solar Powered Car Battery Trickle Charger

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=solar+car+battery+trickle&spell=1

I was thinking this as well but doesn't the socket have to be 'live' when the engine is switched off for this to work?:money:

maniac886

Belnahua wrote: »

The battery should last a month. Unless the battery is well past its service life?

I would check the boot light or another courtesy light.

My boot light never went off when the boot was closed. Not a problem for general usage of the car, but it came to light (pun not intended!) when I left the car for a couple of weeks.

Try a multimeter on the battery with everything switched off, and see if there's an abnormal current draw from the battery?

Battery is fairly new ...about 15 months old.... he told me that in the future he may have to travel for longer than a month so I am just trying to figure out the best solution for him!

Belnahua

maniac886 wrote: »

Battery is fairly new ...about 15 months old.... he told me that in the future he may have to travel for longer than a month so I am just trying to figure out the best solution for him!

Good point!

You could try this, as this one has croc clips to connect direct to the battery:-

http://www.shop-com.co.uk/Solar_Car_Battery_Charger_30cm_width_x_10cm_height-30906213-40262179-p!.shtml?sourceid=309

maniac886

Belnahua wrote: »

Good point!

You could try this, as this one has croc clips to connect direct to the battery:-

http://www.shop-com.co.uk/Solar_Car_Battery_Charger_30cm_width_x_10cm_height-30906213-40262179-p!.shtml?sourceid=309

Whats the best way to connect the wires from inside the car to the battery?

Belnahua

maniac886 wrote: »

Whats the best way to connect the wires from inside the car to the battery?

You should be able to feed the wires through the front door and into the bonnet where the windscreen wipers are. Then gently close the door and bonnet on the cable. The rubber seal should flex enough to allow the cable to pass through, but I would go through the door near the hinge so that water runs down the door and not through the inside, if you were to put the cables higher up the door.

It works for me, when I had my battery charger in the car to keep it dry, when charging my battery.

maniac886

Belnahua wrote: »

You should be able to feed the wires through the front door and into the bonnet where the windscreen wipers are. Then gently close the door and bonnet on the cable. The rubber seal should flex enough to allow the cable to pass through, but I would go through the door near the hinge so that water runs down the door and not through the inside, if you were to put the cables higher up the door.

It works for me, when I had my battery charger in the car to keep it dry, when charging my battery.

Is this or this one alright? They have free delivery as well this weekend.