Charging the battery from engine idle... how long?
12-04-2007, 02:40 PM
#21
Team Owner
12-04-2007, 05:21 PM
#23
Team Owner
Member Since: Jun 2005
Location: Northern, VA
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St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
I have been told, last week, by Bowling Green that either: 1) use the car, not idle it, or 2) use a battery tender. The only other alternative is to take out the battery and, as written above, bring IT to the electrical outlet for charging.
If the car needs charging because it hasn't been used in quite awhile, it'll take at least a half an hour of driving around at above 1500 rpm.
And to those who think this is like cars of yesterday that can sit for many weeks and months, they can sit. But they probably won't start.
And no---more than a few weeks or so sitting unused is NOT all right. I left mine for just under 4 weeks and the whole system was very, very dead.
And I was told that this is to be expected as normal. The car is normal to go juiceless and not be able to start or open doors in under 4 weeks without either use or a battery tender of some kind.
If the car needs charging because it hasn't been used in quite awhile, it'll take at least a half an hour of driving around at above 1500 rpm.
And to those who think this is like cars of yesterday that can sit for many weeks and months, they can sit. But they probably won't start.
And no---more than a few weeks or so sitting unused is NOT all right. I left mine for just under 4 weeks and the whole system was very, very dead.
And I was told that this is to be expected as normal. The car is normal to go juiceless and not be able to start or open doors in under 4 weeks without either use or a battery tender of some kind.
12-04-2007, 11:29 PM
#27
CF Senior Member
Member Since: Feb 2006
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Your 07 coupe should be fine for several weeks at a time. I would suggest a battery tender, which come with eye connections that you can leave connected year round. These plug in and out to the actual tender, that you only need to connect, maybe once a month, to stay at peak battery. So move it once a month, to power supply, leave connected and covered early a.m. to late evening, and tender should give you a green light to show full peak. Put back in garage for 4 to 6 more weeks. Az. must be nice. Good Luck 
12-05-2007, 01:41 AM
#29
Drifting
I always have some car sitting long enough in my garage for the battery to go dead , sometimes for months. However I have an extra one of those large Diehard SUV batteries with the handle , that I keep it charged at home. So if I need to start any of the cars with the dead battery , I just use the jump cable and start the car. It has worked for me .It would cost more but you can get a power generator and connect that to an automatic charger , this way you can use other power tools and appliances in your remote garage. 
12-05-2007, 02:04 AM
#30
Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '06
In the 'old days' when I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska and it got to minus 50 and colder in the winter, we would take our batteries in the house with us every night to keep them warm and charged!
12-05-2007, 07:28 AM
#31
Le Mans Master
Well, I have to admit that I always start my C6 up every week to two weeks when it's not being driven much during the winter. I let it idle for 30-45 minutes and then shut it off. During the long winter months, I will get a chance to drive it every 3 or 4 weeks, weather permitting.
So far, this has resulted in no problems at all, and I have not experienced any starting issues. I've used this same routine for every sports car I've ever owned, and have never had the slightest problem.
So, while this may not be the recommended way of keeping your car alive during the winter, it has worked well for me.
So far, this has resulted in no problems at all, and I have not experienced any starting issues. I've used this same routine for every sports car I've ever owned, and have never had the slightest problem.
So, while this may not be the recommended way of keeping your car alive during the winter, it has worked well for me.
