Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
car battery health in stop-start car & trickle charging without a driveway
not so long ago i bought a stop-start car - one that turns off the engine when stopped in traffic.
since ive had it i regularly get battery charge warnings.
the manufacturers garage told me that because i do low mileage (less than 4,000 miles a year) i need to trickle charge the battery to keep it healthy.
ive googled around for answers to my questions but have had no luck. so i thought id try asking here.
first i was wondering if anyone else does low mileage and has this issue with the battery charge continually getting low. in other words is what my garage tells me accurate.
second does anyone regularly trickle-charge their car battery around here taking a wire across the pavement. any problems with public safety/theft/vandalism etc? (i imagine that ill need a plastic trip channel at the least)
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Jane on
-
I have the stop / start function and for 2 weeks at a time only do short journeys, my car often doesn't move Monday to Friday. When I do use it I use seat heaters, A/C, Bluetooth etc all without any issues. The eco (stop/start) does not though cut in if for example you have heaters on full blast or on the one day of summer if the A/C on high. So maybe it's the management system? My car is a Land Rover, also had a BMW with same function - never had any issues.
I do a reasonable long journey about once every 2 weeks but I don't believe this has any impact. My annual mileage is around 4000 too.
Hope this helps - I would argue the case that this should not be happening.
-
Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
-
Andrew. I have a trickle charger you can borrow, and I would suggest you take the battery out of the car to charge, overnight...
-
Permalink Reply by Bob Ruggles on
-
I have it in my current car , Kia. But found there is a Button to turn it off
Joke is recent cars come with permanent lights even in day light. Plus other electrical appliances
Which will all use power. Joke is these days there are not many journeys that are not nose to tail instead of a decent run to charge batteries
Especially with current heavy down pours of Rain
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
Ford will not build any vehicles with internal combustion engines at all by 2025.
-
Permalink Reply by Angelos K on
-
It shouldn't present warnings even if you used the car once a month.
I also have a start stop car and do 3.5k miles a year but replaced the old battery with a new one and is fine even if I don't drive for a month. Your battery probably needs replacing. If it is the factory one, it may have the week and year of manufacture marked on the positive pole. Have a look. If you decide to replace it, make sure you register it (at least this is the case for BMWs).
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
