Battery- Exige S2

[kayj_prod]

I can't plead ignorance on this: my car has been sat for three months now and of course the battery is flat- measured at I think 1.6V back on Tuesday. I even have an Optimate, but as I don't have any power in the garage I just hadn't plugged it in. 

Anyway, thanks to the warmer weather, I've had an extension lead hanging out a window during the day and the battery is now showing 12.3V. This is perhaps after 24hrs total time over three days. The Optimate is still showing as charging, but has not yet reached a test cycle phase.

The battery is only two years old (fitted by dealer), so this is only the first deep cycle it has had. 

Is it worth persevering with the Optimate to see if it fully recovers the battery, or shall I start shopping? (Eurocarparts has a sale on at the moment, so all batteries are 50% off.) If so, I'm debating a lightweight battery- as much for the boot capacity as anything else! 

[kayj_prod]

A little update. I decided to turn the engine over even though my head was saying the battery was reading too low a voltage... no problems at all. Fired up with no hesitation at all. All is well! I'll keep putting the Optimate on at intervals and hopefully get to a point where its actually testing and maintaining.

[Martin R]

I depends how accurate your test meter is really? A completely fully charged battery will read 12.6vdc on a calibrated volt meter. A non calibrated one could easily be .3 of a volt out. Leave the Optimate plugged in for a couple of days and see what happens if you can do that?

[timbo]

As it managed to start your car I'd say the battery sounds like it may be fine. To be sure that it's holding charge, try starting again when it's been left for a day or two without your Optimate connected. If it's storing ok then it should still be capable of starting the engine.

As an aside on keeping it topped up, as you don't have electricity in your garage, why not invest in a solar trickle charger. Good ones aren't expensive at around £20 or less and should be adequate to keep the battery from going down.

[kayj_prod]

Probably likely, Martin! I doubt my meter is particularly accurate and that would explain why the car still started.

Thanks for the idea Timbo. Good long term solution for the winter months as the garage gets sun throughout the day.