How long before I need to run my car to maintain the battery?

[pinzaboy]

Hi

 

With not going out, my car has not turned a wheel for a week. I was wondering how long a modern petrol car (2 year old/16k miles) can 'last' before a good run (or letting the engine idle)  would be necessary. 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Tim

 

 

[Ramrig]

I’ve parked mine up in the past at various airport car parks etc, for over two weeks and the car has started first time on my return. It’s hand brakes sticking on that might be more of a problem. Any mechanics out there with any tips. Other than leave in gear with the handbrake off, unless you live on a hill. 

[37114]

Should be ok for 3 weeks but managed to get my Land Rover started after 3 months once. If you want to make sure it charges up properly, give it a decent run, at least 20 mins ideally on some roads over 40 mph speed limit.  Don't leave it idling on the drive, it won't charge the battery that much and lots of idling especially when cold is not good for the engine as the engine and fluids won't come up to temperature. Also giving the car a run will avoid flat spotted bearings and will also be good for the tyres as well. 

 

Re hand brakes I used to have a Fiesta where the handbrake would stick on in cold weather, if I was worried about it I would leave it in gear and chuck an old brick under a couple of wheels. If you live on a hill where putting it in gear is not enough to stop the car rolling away then it is steep enough for your handbrake not to stick on!

[Izzy]

So long as the battery is fully charged I think a couple of months is okay. That’s how long mine have sat in long stay at Heathrow over the years while in Australia, and have always started first time upon return, (this mostly through the colder winter months of Dec/Jan/Feb). I’m not sure, but believe just turning them over might drain more out of the battery than just leaving them alone.

 

Izzy

[Quarryscapes]

Depends on the car really. My 2006 Civic had a warning in the manual about making sure that if you were leaving it parked for 2 weeks that the auto wipers and lights were off, and if over 6 weeks disconnect the battery. 

 

Make sure you actually run it long enough to actually charge it though. As a rule of thumb it takes around 10 minutes to account for the charge taken to start the engine in the first place. (obviously this can't be an exact figure for everyone and everything)

 

[Tim V]

I don't use my car much - sometimes it's left for three weeks before being used.

 

As said, the handbrake will stick on, but soon frees off. 

 

Provided the thing has had a decent run recently (over 25 miles), the battery will be OK. Especially if its only two years old. However, if its only been used for nipping to the shops - you may be out of luck.

[Damo666]

50 minutes ago, 37114 said:

If you live on a hill where putting it in gear is not enough to stop the car rolling away then it is steep enough for your handbrake not to stick on!

 

I recall being told that in San Francisco you have to turn your wheel into the kerb to stop it rolling downhill should the handbrake/in-gear fail, otherwise you could get a fine.

When parked facing downhill, point the wheel into the kerb. When parked facing uphill, turn the wheel facing into the road.

 

Of course, this is all Off-Topic to a certain extent but might be useful to someone.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

49 minutes ago, 37114 said:

Should be ok for 3 weeks but managed to get my Land Rover started after 3 months once. If you want to make sure it charges up properly, give it a decent run, at least 20 mins ideally on some roads over 40 mph speed limit...

Neighbours 3 y.o. Frod Focus, petrol. They were away the best part of two years, and I took it out once a month, down to A1M Junc 4, off at Junc 6 and back to home. And of course one outing for the MOT, which it passed with no problems. Consistently awful every time, but the owners were happy with it on return so I guess that was normal.

[EddieB]

It depends upon the age of the battery and air temperature.  Two years should be well within the life of a battery, and with Spring here, low temperatures shouldn’t be a factor.  

[Ian Morgan]

We have a Touran with electric handbrake that comes on automatically. Any way to convince it to leave it off?

[JeremyC]

Admittedly it was an older type of car without modern electronics or anything that used power when the car wasn't in use, but when I was deep sea in the 1970s/80s my car was regularly laid up in the garage for 4 or 5 months. There was only one occasion it failed to start, which was caused by damp in the HT electrics, the battery turned the engine over OK. I would agree with the comment about finding some way of leaving the hand brake off if possible to prevent it seizing on, on a later car I had the hand brake regularly seized after 3 weeks lack of use.

Edited March 27, 2020 by JeremyC

[AndrewC]

Depending on how many gizmos it has, I'd be running it once every 14-21 days for at least 20 minutes. I'm doing that with my Landy-Disco to keep things charged and happy. Failing that, a trickle charger. As also mentioned a lot depends on temperature and age of the battery. Once the temp goes below 4c the charge starts to drop. By -20 you have about 40% power on a fully charged battery. I know, not likely in the UK but you do lose what the Canadians call "cranking amps" the colder it gets. 

[Nick C]

As others have said, the important thing is to make sure it gets properly charged when you do take it out. Normal life of a battery is about 5-6 years, so a 2 year old one should have plenty of life left in it, especially if it's had a fairly normal usage pattern - lots of short journeys are bad, you need a decent length journey every so often to give it a full charge.

 

A modern car won't last as long as an older one, simply because there are more things always on drawing current - my 1973 Triumph sat for over three months over the winter and still started happily when I took it out for a drive in early Feb.

[friscopete]

3 hours ago, 37114 said:

 

 

Re hand brakes I used to have a Fiesta where the handbrake would stick on in cold weather, if I was worried about it I would leave it in gear and chuck an old brick under a couple of wheels. If you live on a hill where putting it in gear is not enough to stop the car rolling away then it is steep enough for your handbrake not to stick on!

i can remember where parking a Ford on a hill was a essential aid to starting .come to think of it I have always lived on a hill .The last Ford I bump started down hill was my neighbors wives  XR3.There was also the added fun of what happened if It still didnt start  at the bottom .

[ejstubbs]

3 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Failing that, a trickle charger.

 

I'd suggest that this is preferable to going for a drive just to keep the battery charged.  That's certainly not listed here as one of the very limited number of purposes for which it is acceptable to leave home.

 

Amazon lists a number of battery tenders.  The AA one is reasonably priced on there, delivery is free and the description does state:

 

Quote

 

Float:

This is maintenance charging at constant voltage. Float mode keeps the battery at 100% charge. Normal charging mode is time-limited (max 10 days) while float mode charging will maintain, indefinitely without damaging the battery.

 

 

Other models are available.

 

[ColinK]

Alarms and trackers take power from the battery all the time which will run the battery flat over time.

[Free At Last]

I use an Optimate charger/optimiser when not using my car over the winter months.

With the restrictions on car use, I'm wondering whether I should now sorn it and suspend the insurance. I only used it one or two times a week for work which I am now no longer doing.

[kevinlms]

7 hours ago, ejstubbs said:

 

I'd suggest that this is preferable to going for a drive just to keep the battery charged.  That's certainly not listed here as one of the very limited number of purposes for which it is acceptable to leave home.

 

Amazon lists a number of battery tenders.  The AA one is reasonably priced on there, delivery is free and the description does state:

 

 

Other models are available.

 

Battery chargers of any type only fix the battery issues. Taking the car for a 20 minute trips helps in many ways that have previously been mentioned, such as handbrake potential problems.

 

Not forget that a charger in the wrong hands can be a disaster. Plenty of people have NFI!

[BR60103]

We've left the car at home for a month while we go on holidays with no apparent problems. We've even been away longer.

We had the motorhome battery go flat once while we were in it for 3 weeks. It looks as if we left the GPS turned on and plugged in. 

[TheQ]

My motorcycle spend each winter time change to time change,  on a trickle charger or the security system will flatten the battery.  It normally starts first time.  The first time out requires care due to rusty discs. 

 

For the duration of this event,  I'll be taking the car or landrover  alternately to do the weekly essentials shop.  The journey will however be indirect to allow the engine to warm through and batteries charge. 

 

 

[ejstubbs]

9 hours ago, Free At Last said:

With the restrictions on car use, I'm wondering whether I should now sorn it and suspend the insurance.

 

Bear in mind that, if you suspend the insurance, you won't be covered for things other than accidents on the road e.g. if the car is stolen from your home or someone sets it on fire.

 

When in the past I have chosen to SORN my bike from time to time I've kept its TPFT insurance in place for this reason.  (I will admit that I've never checked whether you can get fire & theft only cover.)

[57xx]

1 hour ago, ejstubbs said:

 

Bear in mind that, if you suspend the insurance, you won't be covered for things other than accidents on the road e.g. if the car is stolen from your home or someone sets it on fire.

 

When in the past I have chosen to SORN my bike from time to time I've kept its TPFT insurance in place for this reason.  (I will admit that I've never checked whether you can get fire & theft only cover.)

 

Pretty sure can get cover for laid up vehicles although it maybe more a classic vehicle policy thing. Definitely worth a look if you are going to SORN a vehicle though.

[ejstubbs]

In my case the insurance on the bike isn't that expensive for a start.  Then when you look at how much they want to charge for cancelling it (and potential complications with NCB when trying to re-insure it) it's hardly worth it.  But yes, for anyone intending to keep a vehicle off the road for an extended period it would probably be worth investigating a policy tailored to that need.

[phil-b259]

17 hours ago, ejstubbs said:

 

I'd suggest that this is preferable to going for a drive just to keep the battery charged.  That's certainly not listed here as one of the very limited number of purposes for which it is acceptable to leave home.

 

 

I fail to see the relevance.

 

If you are going for a continuous 30 minute drive out + back, not getting out of the vehicle and not taking anyone else with you, how exactly is that any different from sitting round at home? You are not going to infect anyone other than yourself (or possibly other users of your vehicle - but given we are talking about a private car not a fleet vehicle with many users).

 

If by some miracle you should happen to be stopped* asked why you are out and about then it should be easy enough to come up with a cover story - remember shopping for essential groceries and medicines etc is still permitted.

 

As others have indicated, a car, as with any machinery does not take kindly to being left idle for extended periods and a regular run out will be beneficial for all sorts of stuff from air con systems to wheel bearings and tyres, not just the battery.

 

 

* While some Police forces are doing said checks, they are more designed to catch people going for days out than anything else and avoiding the scenes we saw on Snowdon or Brighton seafront last weekend.

 

 

[ejstubbs]

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/full-guidance-on-staying-at-home-and-away-from-others/full-guidance-on-staying-at-home-and-away-from-others

 

Quote

 

1. Staying at home

 

You should only leave the house for very limited purposes:

 

• shopping for basic necessities, for example food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible.
• one form of exercise a day, for example a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with members of your household.
• any medical need, including to donate blood, avoid or escape risk of injury or harm, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person.
• travelling for work purposes, but only where you cannot work from home.

These reasons are exceptions - even when doing these activities, you should be minimising time spent outside of the home and ensuring you are 2 metres apart from anyone outside of your household.

 

These measures must be followed by everyone.

 

 

"Coming up with a cover story" is basically trying to game the system.

 

But it's your conscience.