So the MR2 will be stored most of winter, unless there's no snow OR salt on the road (not holding my breath in Dayton OH). Pretty much the same for the Abarth. The Abarth it's snow/salt, and temp above freezing (looking at you summer tires...)
I usually try to start them at least once/week for 5-10 minutes if they don't get driven. But I'm wondering if I should invest in one or two battery tenders? I read about some battery tender jr that was $20-30 on Amazon.
Advice?
http://www.cyclegear.com/DURABOOST-Battery-Maintainer-750
I have 5 or these units had the cheaper HF units but they broke mid winter. Modern ECU's and anti-theft units with clocks drain the battery so I keep them pluged in for winter.
They offer a 1000 unit that has higher charge rate but as a tender its not normaly needed.
Yes get a battery tender, it's the best money you will spend. They pay for themselves. Batteries are happiest when fully charged and will last a long time. They die if left depleted for long periods. Also starting the cars is a very bad idea. The worst wear is starting a cold car will no oil circulating recently. Plus 5-10 minutes at idle will not charge your battery, it needs about 1000 rpm to charge.
One charger will do if you alternate between cars every week or so.
I think the battery would be fine if you disconnected it while the car's in storage...whether disconnecting & reconnecting a battery tender or the battery itself is more work is up to you.
All of my batteries in winter storage are on one of these. Never had an issue.
I have a few of the HF ones I use for my project car and tractor battery. For lawn equipment and moto batteries, they seem to prolong battery life. How much better are the real Battery Tenders?
The only time I ever had a battery go bad over the winter was when I hooked it up to a Battery Tender - in the spring, that thing was boiled dry.
Assuming your battery is in good condition and fully charged, just disconnect it and leave it alone until spring. They actually discharge more slowly in cold weather.
I wouldn't bother with starting it every couple weeks, either. You won't fully warm up the engine, and it doesn't do anything for the rest of the drivetrain or the car. It should be fine just sitting until spring. I've been storing my summer vehicles during the winter for 40 years now with no ill effects.
You could take the battery out and store it in a warm place.
That's what we did in the old days.
I used one of the HF ones on a motorcycle battery that died over the winter. Pretty new battery (like, a year old). Can't tell if that happened because or in despite the HF charger, but it never happened to me with a battery tender.
I have a couple of regular battery tenders (small m/c one and bigger one for the car, plus a solar one for a couple of other m/cs. I have the connectors hardwired to the vehicles so it's really easy to change what I'm charging.
I have a garage, that stays warm-ish (under the house itself from above but exposed wall on the north side). I thought starting the cars for a bit every week would help...something...not so much battery life but ignition/plugs/etc. (Excuse me while I display my minimal knowledge. That's why I ask you guyz questions.)
I read good things about the Battery Tender Jr that seems new, like it's really good at maintaining the voltage without cycling up and down all the time. Seemed like two would be inexpensive, maybe just swap one between both cars every weekend?
just unhook the battery when it's fully charged and forget the car exists until spring.
novaderrik wrote: just unhook the battery when it's fully charged and forget the car exists until spring.
I've owned the same Miata for 22+ years. Over the years, I have done every version. In the early years I did a lot of storage "rituals." Any more, and for like the last ten years, I just turn the key off and close the door.
The car spends the winter in my in-law's pole barn with zero heat, in Northern Ohio.
I did the same thing this year.
Expecting (knowing) that the battery will be dead I bring my jumper box and jump start the car to life in the spring.
I then keep the jumper box in the trunk with me and put on about 50-100 miles right away. That is enough to keep the battery going another entire season.
I'll bet the battery in it is more than 8 years old. I think I have owned that jumper box for about 14 years.
I really only drive the Miata about 3k miles per summer lately.
I did the same with the MR2SC that I owned from '00-'04
Jerry wrote: I have a garage, that stays warm-ish (under the house itself from above but exposed wall on the north side). I thought starting the cars for a bit every week would help...something...not so much battery life but ignition/plugs/etc. (Excuse me while I display my minimal knowledge. That's why I ask you guyz questions.)
The only reason you might want to start the car is to keep the battery charged, and if done improperly (as in, not letting the engine get up to full op. temp and running it long enough to recharge from cranking) it can do more harm than good.
My family has a van in Canada that's mainly for us to use when we're up there, and it often gets stored over the winter, with nothing but a disconnected battery, and it fires right up in the spring. I put a battery cutoff switch on it this year to eliminate the PITA factor of disconnecting the battery that's buried deep in the nose of the van.
I have an old Ford van that I've owned since 2002. I have parked it outside since I bought it. It sits from Nov. 1st until April 1st undriven most years. I have both used a batt. tender and not. The battery seems fine either way come April. Of course it has very little draw compared to modern cars. Some hi-tech ones can drain a battery is less then 2 weeks if not driven. Don't start and run it unless you plan on driving it. Better to just let it sit.
I have a Battery Minder Plus, its about 10 years old now, maybe more. It replaced a Tender that died, that may have been 7-10 years old also.
I went with the Minder for the de-sulfation mode.
I rotate it through multiple batteries every winter. Camper main and deep cycle house batteries, a couple lawn tractor batteries, motorcycle battery, battery from my Kelmark kit car. Typically 2 weeks each then repeat the cycle.
Most impressive is my SV650 is an early 2000 model, date of mfg was 9/1999. I still have the original battery, every year I think this will be the last year, and it never is.
Battery Minder ? Miracle battery? If it was, winder what Tesla would pay for it ? I dont know whats keeping it alive, but I am not going to stop using the minder to find out.
Batteries are pulled and stored in my unheated, uninsulated garage, with temps that occasionally get below 0 in the garage and probably average 15-30 late Dec through end of Feb.
Steve
BoxheadTim wrote: I used one of the HF ones on a motorcycle battery that died over the winter. Pretty new battery (like, a year old). Can't tell if that happened because or in despite the HF charger, but it never happened to me with a battery tender. I have a couple of regular battery tenders (small m/c one and bigger one for the car, plus a solar one for a couple of other m/cs. I have the connectors hardwired to the vehicles so it's really easy to change what I'm charging.
I used a hft tender on a motorcycle battery that was sealed. i didnt pay attention to the directions and cooked the battery. Some of the hft charger/tenders dont get along with sealed batteries. Not sure if that was your case but thought it might be worth mentioning.
I just check the voltage and charge the not in use batteries occasionally. I also pull a cable to keep the clock or whatever from draining the battery.
In reply to jere:
In my case that was a plain, non-sealed old school BMW bike battery. I think it still cooked it because I left it on too long.
The cheap HF tender I have runs a touch too high (13.9 IIRC, should be more like 13.6), boils the battery after a month or two. I just only plug it in a few days a month, good enough.
The 'D has a slow drain somewhere in the system even when I use the battery cut-off to kill the connection to just about everything but the stereo. I have one of the Battery Tender Jr.'s that it sits hooked up to most of the time and that keeps it nice and happy when it sits for extended periods of time.
pinchvalve wrote:
+1 got mine on eBay for I think $26 shipped to the door, hard to beat and I wouldn't bother with the HF one.
Have you considered just pulling the battery and storing it inside? It's the cold plus the inactivity that will drain the battery. So take one of the two out of the equation.
I went with the chinese aliexpress equivalent myself.
In reply to Billy_Bottle_Caps:
I think that's what I'm going with. I've read good things, did GRM do an article recently? Caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.
Given the risk of an unattended charging battery I would stick to better quality than a Harbor Freight one for sure. I am not a tool snob - one of my favorite tools is my HF Earthquake impact tool - but I recognize their limitations. I wouldn't leave one of their electric tools operating unattended for months at a time in a property that I cared about.
Jerry wrote: I usually try to start them at least once/week for 5-10 minutes if they don't get driven. But I'm wondering if I should invest in one or two battery tenders? I read about some battery tender jr that was $20-30 on Amazon. Advice?
Don't start them like that. Just disconnect the negative terminal of the battery and let the car hibernate all winter.
Also, put some corrugated cardboard under the tires. It prevents flat-spotting. My co-worker heard about this from his MG-driving brother-in-law, and he does it for his motorcycle when he lays it up for the winter and has never had flat spotting issues since doing it.
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