Battery again help please
 

Hi hope someone can advise.I'm about to fit my third battery in four years to my 51 reg 1.8.:duh:I only do about 2-3 hundred miles a year and only short twenty minute trips so was bound to happen.

I've got no clicking this time,it's completely dead and can only get in by manually opening the drivers door lock.I'm a bit scared of the alarm going off though because when I attached the negative earth to the engine block the alarm kept sounding off until the jump lead was fully connected.

When I fit the new battery if the alarm goes off do I just open and close the doors on the remote to stop the alarm which worked last time?I had an old Granada once and had a nightmare with the alarms on it so a bit nervous

Still seeing loads of 75's round surrey so all good:}

Hi there,

I think you would probably save a fortune in batteries if you buy a battery maintainer (it is like a smart trickle charger) fit a pigtail to your battery in the car and keep it plugged in when parked. You should be able to get a top quality one for $50-75.

Maybe I read it wrong, but the ground (earth) should be the LAST connection made when doing a jump start.

Cheers,
Glenn

Motorway run
 

I do a lot of just local run-a-rounds too, it doesn't give the battery time for a decent charge, so what I do at least once a week is get onto the motorway go up(or down) two junctions and back this gives the battery a good charge. I've always done this with every car I've had. I have just done a 260 mile round trip which gives the battery a good charge. But next week I will still give my R75 a motorway trek.......:}

Thanks Slovcan

Yes have been attaching negative lead(earth) last to 75 metal part of engine because get sparks and alarm horn when attach to silver engine block.Sorry hope makes sense.Thanks

If you have a garage, you can put a 100 watt solar panel on the roof. Put a controller in the garage and connect up when you put the car away.
I do this every winter as I don't use the car much.
If you don't have a garage just put the panel in the car.

flat battery
 

buy a solar 4.5 watt panel that attaches to your sun visor and plugs into your cigarette lighter socket and will keep your car battery charged, this what i did and now i dont have a problem starting the car,i only use my car once week,but this solar charger only cost about £14 from ebay. regards john

Sorry, but I will disagree with all of these schemes to leave a battery permanently on charge - it is a great way to quickly wreck a battery. The usual maintenance charge of these gadgets is 13.8v - which is a little high to be left permanently on charge- it causes some gasing. Better/safer is 13.5v.


The best way is to bring a battery up to a full charge once per month, assuming there is no real discharge.

For longer term none use of the car, disconnect the battery from the car, but still charge once per month.

I suggested a maintainer. This is a smarter device that maintains the charge at 13.5V (at least mine does). It will also exercise the battery occasionally which helps ensure against a shortened battery life. This is way different to leaving it on charge - even a low output solar charger.

Cheers,
Glenn

I'm in the "maintenance charger" camp.

Many of us who have/had motorbikes use them all the time.

Have a look here:

https://www.ctek.com

or here:

https://www.optimate.co.uk/products?tag=12V%20Chargers

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Andy.

The Optimate cost me two replacement batteries - if mains is lost, they then begin discharging the battery. Left for a day or two with no mains supply (easy if you don't check often), you end up with a ruined battery. Some swear by them, some swear at them. Optimate didn't want to know, when I complained about the poor design. The Optimate is also of a design which just chucks out 13.8v regardless and as I have already said, it is a good way to greatly reduce the life of a battery feeding it a constant diet of 13.8v. Better to use it as a once a month top up charger, if you must use one. Motorcyclists tend to replace their batteries often, so the Optimate's issues might be less than obvious. There is nothing clever or special about them, just a dumb low current charger with lights - mine went in the bin.

Ctek I think is the type where you need to press a button to start the charge - much better, they cannot discharge a battery if left connected with no mains supply.