battery charging dilema- suggestions apppreciated

-D-

-D-

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My summer car is parked for winter.
I would like to charge the battery but there are no power outlets.
I don't want to remove the battery (if I don't have to) because I don't want to reset everything later.

I was thinking I could hookup my battery tender to my winter car via cigarette lighter adapter dc/ac converter (300w).
I would do this once a month for 15 minutes. I don't want to kill the battery in winter car.

Or I might try to use a bike battery (I think its weak though) and charge it upstairs and hookup to the winter car for 30 minutes via straight battery connection...assuming that could work then I keep recharging the bike battery. The bike battery is crappy and will be disposed of in Spring.

Any other suggestions?
 
I've seen little solar panels that plug into cigarette lighter, charges it that way.
Too far for extension cord?
 
AGAVE said:
I've seen little solar panels that plug into cigarette lighter, charges it that way.
Too far for extension cord?
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The car is parked underground.
I do have one of those solar panels (I have 3).

There are no outlets. I have a 100ft extension cord...lol but no damn power outlet to be found.

Do you think the solar panel will be enough with the light source from the underground...they are large and bright lights.
 
All you need is a slight trickle charge to maintain, so i would guess the fluorescent lighting will be enough.
You could measure the current with a multimeter and see what it's doing.
Start the car once a month and do some laps underground like that fast and furious tokyo movie. :D
 
-D- said:
I don't want to remove the battery (if I don't have to) because I don't want to reset everything later.
I was thinking I could hookup my battery tender to my winter car via cigarette lighter adapter dc/ac converter (300w).
I would do this once a month for 15 minutes. I don't want to kill the battery in winter car.
Click to expand...

I used to do something like this. I had a portable power supply and plugged a battery tender into its AC outlet. It's horribly inefficient because you're basically doing a DC-to-AC inversion for the tender which is then doing an AC-back-to-DC inversion again. Also, a 1.5A trickle charge for 15 minutes once a month is not going to do squat, especially if you're not going to disconnect the battery because of parasitic drain from the electronics in your car.

-D- said:
Or I might try to use a bike battery (I think its weak though) and charge it upstairs and hookup to the winter car for 30 minutes via straight battery connection
Click to expand...

You can't charge a battery that way. Charging requires power flowing from a higher voltage source to a lower one. On a float-charger, the output will be about 15V during the bulk-charge cycle. Your motorcycle battery will be the same voltage as your car battery (roughly 12.5-13V).

-D- said:
Do you think the solar panel will be enough with the light source from the underground...they are large and bright lights.
Click to expand...

Depends on the kind of lights and the size of your solar panel. Most solar panels are made to be used with direct sunlight and have terrible output when under fluorescent lights. If you do use them under fluorescents, then you're going to have the same problem if you don't disconnect your car battery then the parasitic drain will potentially be greater than the solar power charge.

-D- said:
Any other suggestions?
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Is it that much of a hassle to remove the car battery? You do it once at the beginning of the winter and then put it back in in spring. What's the issue? Memory presets on the radio and car seats?

Other than that, you might want to look into either the portable power supply method that I used above, or investigate DC-to-DC charging systems, some RV and marine stores offer products to do that. But now you're spending money for a problem that can easily be solved just by taking your battery out...
 
I know removing the battery is easier but I honestly don't have the space to put it upstairs to charge.
I don't want to see a battery in my living space as the battery has to be in a ventilated space.

If no other option then I will bring it up, charge it, stick in storage closet repeat once a month.

Thanks for clarifying some of the other items.

Maybe if I connect 3 solar chargers...lol
 
You shouldn't have to remove the battery, just disconnect it. You can even get keyed on/off battery terminals if you want to use it occasionally in the winter without digging out the tools to reconnect it
 
-D- said:
There are no outlets. I have a 100ft extension cord...lol but no damn power outlet to be found.
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To me that pretty much seals it. You have to take the battery out and charge it in your apartment/condo. Maybe leave it hooked up for a day/few hours/however long it takes to get a green light on the charger.

How many months does it sit? Self-discharge may not even be an issue
 
TwistedKestrel said:
To me that pretty much seals it. You have to take the battery out and charge it in your apartment/condo. Maybe leave it hooked up for a day/few hours/however long it takes to get a green light on the charger.

How many months does it sit? Self-discharge may not even be an issue
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This.

If it's removed or disconnected and there is no draw on the battery it should be fine for 5-6 months without charging at all.


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great info

I plan to leave it from December (once it starts to snow) until April (no salt or snow).

Ah damn, oh well there goes all my presets. I will take photos, lol.
I will just disconnect the battery yet trickle charge it every 1-1.5 months.

Yeah, I have been looking everywhere for an ac outlet but there are non...I give them credit, they did a good job covering them up.
 
Just pull the battery...That's what I do for both the bike and the car. Bike battery lives upstairs until riding season, and car battery sits upstairs until winter seems to be letting up, then gets a top up and sits in the car disconnected until she is back on the road.

Yes you need to reprogram things, but really it doesn't take that much effort to do, and only needs to be done once a year.
 
you can use a 9v battery to hold the presets.. mechanics use them all the time to plug a 9v into the cig lighter,, then undo the starter battery, take it to some where warm.. and float charge it monthly.. you'll be happy,, long life on battery, presets still intact..
 
meester_jamie said:
you can use a 9v battery to hold the presets.. mechanics use them all the time to plug a 9v into the cig lighter,, then undo the starter battery, take it to some where warm.. and float charge it monthly.. you'll be happy,, long life on battery, presets still intact..
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I've heard of those things. You have to make sure the cigarette lighter socket isn't switched or the 9V power won't reach the radio.

Also, I'm not sure how long the 9V battery lasts. They're mainly used when replacing the car battery, so there's only a few minutes when the main power is interrupted. Not sure if the 9V battery would last a few months while the car battery is upstairs recharging over the wintertime.
 
Lightcycle said:
Also, I'm not sure how long the 9V battery lasts. They're mainly used when replacing the car battery, so there's only a few minutes when the main power is interrupted. Not sure if the 9V battery would last a few months while the car battery is upstairs recharging over the wintertime.
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It won't. This method effectively keeps *everything* on the vehicle that is normally in a lower power state during a battery change (the ECM, BCM, etc etc) powered, and the draw albeit only in the milliamps will still kill that 9V in a matter of an hour tops.

If it were me I'd disconnect the battery to start and if storage is that big of an issue where bringing the battery to where it can be put on a tender is a definite no, once every 6 or 8 weeks pull up another vehicle and put a set of booster cables across to the disconnected battery. Let the other vehicle continue to run so that the alternator is actively charging the other battery. Assuming it's had no draw anyways it will only need a few minutes (5 would be plenty) to return it to a full state of charge.

December to April really isn't that long of a lay-up. With the battery disconnected and no phantom draws as a result I'd do the above procedure perhaps twice, honestly..and I'm confident you'll find the battery perfectly healthy in the spring.
 
Just leave it be and boost from another car in the spring. Battery may not even die.
 
mimico_polak said:
Just leave it be and boost from another car in the spring. Battery may not even die.
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Not a good idea. A battery that has depleted into a low state of charge (anything below 50% or so for regular start batteries) causes irreversible damage. The issue in that situation is the self discharge rate of batteries, even when fully disconnected from parasitic loads.

Yuasa, for example, suggests 1% per day is a typical self discharge rate, so over the period the OP is going to store his bike the battery will be flat dead, and damaged. It will never hold a full charge properly ever again. This is why battery tenders or periodic charging is essential.

http://www.yuasabatteries.com/motor_battery.php
 
Use a boosting cable to charge it. You have 2 cars
 
I live in a building a well. Is your underground heated?or no? If its heated just disconnect the battery and leave it in the car. About a week before you want to start your car in spring bring it upstairs to charge and let it sit for a couple of days to trickle charge. if its not heated then I would bring it somewhere inside where the cold doesn't affect it.
 
Batteries discharge slower in the cold then the warm it is actually better to store them in the cold as long as there is no drain on them.


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RockerGuy said:
Use a boosting cable to charge it. You have 2 cars
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Bad idea unless you are just looking for a quick start. It takes hours to properly charge a car battery up to normal voltage and a boost will not do that (unless after the boost you go for a 30 minute or so drive at highways speeds).
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