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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

Car In Garage The Garage Problem...


Snapper

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Went to get the Exige out of the garage today after it had been standing there for a few weeks. only to find the the battery was flat. Mixture of the Alarm/immobiliser draining the battery along with the cold weather and lack of use.

 

To avoid this happening again while the car is laid up over the winter, does anyone have any suggestion how to stop the battery draining again?

 

I know that I could take the car out for a spin more oftern but some time it is not possible.

 

I was wondering if anyone knew of any way of keeping the battery topped up. I had thought about the solar trikle charge but there is no windows in the garage.

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I've never had a flat battery before*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* This may be a lie, my battery is absolutely knackered, but I'm not going to buy one in the begining of winter when the car is going to be used once a month or less. I just have an old rubbish battery charger I leave on.

 

Something like this at about £22 should be adequate http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OXFORD-OXIMISER-12V-...1QQcmdZViewItem

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The Optimate is indeed the answer.

 

It has a bigger brother, the Accumate, which is more powerful.

 

However, the Optimate was designed to deal with charging motorcycle batteries in situ, without affecting the electrics ( and bike electrics are very, very fragile and moody ) or needing cell caps to be removed.

 

It is perfectly fine to use on car batteries, but it will take 24 -72 hours to charge the battery. The great thing here though, is you just hook it up and walk away - all winter, if you want. It slowly charges to 13.6 volts ( well within limits ) and then holds it there with a float charge which also compensates for the alarm/immobiliser.

 

No need to remove the battery or cell caps, no need to worry about excess acidic gasses.

 

The Optimate charges at 06 amps, the Accumate 1.0 amps - the only difference, as far as I know.

 

Bit pricey perhaps, at around £40 - but one of the best pieces of kit out there. Mine is about 8 years old and still as reliable as ever.

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I bought a solar battery charger from eliseparts.com to try out and that seems pretty good, however the car is left under a car port so gets light all day and is under movement detector controlled Metal Halide floods at night which the damn cat sets off.

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