Hey folks, I have a damnit stupid question for you but I gotta ask.

 

Recently bought a second car so the Zed can rest up a bit. At the minute its sitting in the garage, alarmed and with battery connections on.

 

If I`m only using it once a week or less, should I be switching the alarm off or disconnecting the battery to prevent it completely discharging? I know a lot of you have second cars so what do you do?

 

Cheers

 

Steve

No dont do it. Besides not being alarmed you will also reset the ECU. When it is reset the ECU will "learn" again how your car is running. It can take over 200 miles of driving for your ECU to "learn" and make you car run at its best. Forever resetting it will cause the car not to run at its best and your MPG may not be as good.

 

Batteries last a long time if looked after. My girlfriends Corsa hasnt been started for 3 months and started first crank.

If you are not going to go any where in your car, just start it up and let it idle for 10-15 mins to charge the batter and to keep things moving.

 

Stuart

I sometimes leave mine for 2-3 weeks without running and have no problems. If your battery is a bit past it a Cat1 alarm will drain it a fair bit over say 4 weeks. You risk problems then. My Clifford one forgot all its settings after a dead battery and it took me a week to disarm the damn thing.

 

If you have it in a garage then one of those little mains adapter trickle chargers is a good investment - keeps the battery healthy too.

Got one of these:

 

http://www.calamander.co.uk/batteryconditioners/airflow.htm

 

You can leave it permanently connected and no need to disconnect the battery from car's electrics.

 

-Andrew

well i just left my car for three weeks and got back now battery is flat flat flat.... so new battery tonight :rolleyes:

and then a few of @#%$#^%$^$^$# to go with it lol

Woops!!

not used mine since oct 2002! i disconected it then

just off to re-connect

:mad:

Hey yewcheck where abouts in bristol are you. I'm in hanham/st.george.

and how can you leave your zed neglected like that.

I NEED to drive mine all the time!:)

I would disconnect, as the alrm will drain the batt in a few weeks and driving it occasionally may not be enuff to charge the battery.

 

You will lose your alrm protection but you can remove the ignition solenoid to prevent it being nicked. THe ECU will reset but that's not really a prob. It will re-learn. The battery should be disconnected every time you service the car anyway. So you won't be doing any damage.

If it's parked up for a while, remember to leave the handbrake off too...

 

Also, try lifting it on jacks, so that the tyres aren't just sat there.

 

Depending on how long you leave it between runs, really...

I've put mine on a charger and plugged it in to one of those timing devices. I just set it to come on for an hour or so each day.

 

Grant

good idea, the zed has been in the garage since bout oct too, not had a problem with the battery till a coiuple of weeks ago i went to start it and it was dead, charged it up, started and ran for a while, this week I went to start it again and its dead again, think the battery might be past it :(

I heard that if you keep a charger attached to the battery but switched off, the battery will discharge because it effectively releases its charge back thru the charger wiring. Therefore you are supposed to disconnect the charger from the battery when not using it. Is this true??

Well we only use our zx once a week or so - and over a 2 year period we haven't had any problems.

Geoff.

Help......so what do we recommend....I will leaving the vehicle for approx 12 weeks......as of to the gulf????? It will be left in a secure multistorey protected by armed guards!!!!!! (in the UK). I will have no access to a powerpoint for chargers etc.......I have a Cat 1 Laserline........what should I do ...disconnect? the battery is in top condition at the moment...what do you recommend??

 

Regardz

Leave it connected but take a spare working battery with you when you go to collect it, just in case.

one thing to check out - does your alarm have battery back up. If you leave the alarm on and the battery dies, it might think that the power has been cut and set the alarm off - mine does.

 

Vijay

Leaving a charger on a battery shouldn't flatten it if it's not switched on because it uses 4 diodes to rectify the AC from the transformer in the charger. The amount of current that can flow the wrong way through a diode is negligible.

 

I've heard that connecting a charger to your battery whilst still connected to the car can knacker your alternator plus possibly other stuff. Don't know if this is true or not. Don't really want to find out either!!

or there's a device from CPC which goes between your battery and the charger. It switches on if the voltage drops below 11.8v and swiiches off when it hits 13.8. The ordering code is HKSK127 and its £6.69.

 

Vijay