Hi, I bought a 2017 model at the backend of last year and due to the current situation I'm not using the car that much and can go for weeks without driving it. I was just wondering if there was any potential pitfall of removing the battery and leaving it connected to a Ctek MXS 5.0 charger in the hope it preserves the battery whilst the car isn't being used.

 

I understand that if you replace the battery with a new one then you should get it recorded, but if all I'm doing it removing it to keep it charged then I'd hope there shouldn't be a problem in refitting it?

 

 

I doubt you'd need to recode (from what I've read) but once you've removed it how will you lock/unlock the car?

 

I use a Ctek 3.8 charger on mine and leave the batter in situ. I have an extension that plugs between charger and crocodile clips so that I can leave the charger in the garage . The lead runs under the garage door then up to the car and squishes in a gap near the nearside headlamp.

I also leave mine in situ, connected to a CTEK 7.0 MXS charger via the extension lead through lounge top window & into the estate boot into the 12v socket in the cargo area. Absolutely no issues, the lead on the CTEK extension cable is narrow enough that I can secure the car & the lead has enough ‘slack’ not to pinch. Battery always fully charged but never over charged. 👍

I’ve mine in the driveway at the minute with a Ctek on it as well. Battery still in place. 

If you remove the battery and charge it, the battery monitor won't know about the extra energy in the battery. When you refit it, you should therefore recode the car so it can relearn the battery parameters and state of charge.

 

Ideally, you should leave the battery in-situ and connect the negative to the car body (not the battery negative) so the battery monitor knows what's happening and avoid recoding 👍

13 hours ago, unclerichy said:

I doubt you'd need to recode (from what I've read) but once you've removed it how will you lock/unlock the car?

 

I use a Ctek 3.8 charger on mine and leave the batter in situ. I have an extension that plugs between charger and crocodile clips so that I can leave the charger in the garage . The lead runs under the garage door then up to the car and squishes in a gap near the nearside headlamp.

It did cross my mind about being able to lock the car once the battery was removed. 😂👍🙈

Thanks for all your comments. Leaving the battery in situ sounds the way forward and hooking up to the 12v in the boot might be a neat solution as I normally reverse right up to the garage door. Cheers all.

@mbowler

i would personally remove the battery and charge it. This was the advice i was given by the RAC man.

I don't believe there are any radio codes to worry about, it may be worth checking the handbook to see if you indeed have a radio code.

if you are going to charge it in situ and if it's not in a garage, think about the cable being exposed to the elements. Granted, Doesn't happen often but my bike charger was just plugged in on trickle charge (outside) and eventually elements got to it and it nearly started a fire. i have since replaced it with armoured cable and it's been fine.

And re the alarm/doors, if you're charging in situ, nothing to do, but if you're removing the battery, lock the doors, (Don.t forget to leave the bonnet open) then remove the batter and then just leave the bonnet on the latch (i.e. not fully closed) then when you put the battery back in, it may trigger the alarm, switch it off using the key and you're back in business. this way car is locked while charging.

 

4 minutes ago, jim_d said:

i would personally remove the battery and charge it. This was the advice i was given by the RAC man.

 

Which is fine on cars that don't have a BMS (battery monitoring system) to keep track of the 'state of charge' of the battery.

 

A MK3 Superb does have a BMS so it needs to know about any energy entering/leaving the battery to do it's job properly. This leaves two choices:

- charge the battery in situ using a suitable earth point so that the BMS can see the extra energy

- remove the battery and on refitting, tell the car a new one is fitted so it can relearn the characteristics

 

I imagine your MK2 Superb doesn't have stop/start or a BMS so the advice from the RAC man might be correct for your vehicle but not those with a MK3.

8 minutes ago, langers2k said:

 

Which is fine on cars that don't have a BMS (battery monitoring system) to keep track of the 'state of charge' of the battery.

 

A MK3 Superb does have a BMS so it needs to know about any energy entering/leaving the battery to do it's job properly. This leaves two choices:

- charge the battery in situ using a suitable earth point so that the BMS can see the extra energy

- remove the battery and on refitting, tell the car a new one is fitted so it can relearn the characteristics

 

I imagine your MK2 Superb doesn't have stop/start or a BMS so the advice from the RAC man might be correct for your vehicle but not those with a MK3.

That's interesting, thanks for the insight. it does have Stop/Start but most probably no BMS, which would make sense.

 

 

Hi jim_d, I understand that the preferred  way I to remove and charge a battery due to the possibility of gases/heat/fire etc. But as people have pointed out car monitors the batteries state. Also with the battery removed it would be impossible for me to lock the car.

 

What I ended up doing was fitting a ctek charging fly lead to the positive point on the battery and the earthing point behind the battery as per the users manual. I then bought a ctek extension lead and fed this out of the front of the car under the garage door and connected it to my ctek charger. I've had it connected like this for weeks without any problems. I was able to fully close the bonnet and lock the car without trapping the cable. Just have to remember to disconnect it before driving off. 😂

with all the cars on forecourts for months on end, does the agm battery get damaged does anyone have any info on this? 

59 minutes ago, paddywack1878 said:

with all the cars on forecourts for months on end, does the agm battery get damaged does anyone have any info on this? 

 

Heres a short, true story.

 

My next door neighbours son left to work as a doctor in Australia. He parked his 3 or 4 year old Toyota Auris (not a hybrid) in his parents garage and left for the promised land.

 

18 months later, my next door neighbour came round and asked for my help starting said car as her son was visiting on holiday and wanted to sell the car.

 

So armed with multimeter in hand, opened the bonnet and measured the battery at 0.01 volts. Zero point zero one volts ....mmm, pretty knackered I remarked, but not unexpected as no-one had thought to disconnect the battery. Probably will need a new battery I said, but I'll try recharging it but highly unlikely to recover it...

 

Removed battery to my garage, connected my charger (which is a variable lab power supply) set volts to 14.8 volts, current flowing showing as between 0 and 1 mA, hmmm not good. Left it to have a cup of tea, came back thinking of handing it back and the current had risen to 7 to 8 mA. So I thought I'll leave it connected to see what happens. Half an hour its risen almost 100mA, rising a few mA every minute. 3 hours later its at 900mA and rising. Left overnight, and its charging at max (2.2A limit on the power supply) and the voltage is now due to current limiting now at 14.1v or so, but slowly rising.

 

Neighbour asks me how its going, I said we'll pop it back on and see, but I doubt it'll turn the engine over. Put it back in the Toyota, turn the ignition on, it starts first turn!  Wow, not even a struggle, Toyota engine immediately purring smoothly after being stood for 18 months, unbelievable!

 

Next task, try to move car with rear parking brake discs left on for 18 months and stuck on, lots of revs and eventually bang, and away we go. Checked lots of restarts to check it wasn't a freak start.

 

Son came over, drove it around for two weeks, then sold it to first buyer to view.

 

The battery was a Yuasa EFB battery, small about 40Ah IIRC. Made in UK. Impressed.

 

 

Edited 4 April, 20215 yr by xman

1 hour ago, xman said:

 

Heres a short, true story.

 

My next door neighbours son left to work as a doctor in Australia. He parked his 3 or 4 year old Toyota Auris (not a hybrid) in his parents garage and left for the promised land.

 

18 months later, my next door neighbour came round and asked for my help starting said car as her son was visiting on holiday and wanted to sell the car.

 

So armed with multimeter in hand, opened the bonnet and measured the battery at 0.01 volts. Zero point zero one volts ....mmm, pretty knackered I remarked, but not unexpected as no-one had thought to disconnect the battery. Probably will need a new battery I said, but I'll try recharging it but highly unlikely to recover it...

 

Removed battery to my garage, connected my charger (which is a variable lab power supply) set volts to 14.8 volts, current flowing showing as between 0 and 1 mA, hmmm not good. Left it to have a cup of tea, came back thinking of handing it back and the current had risen to 7 to 8 mA. So I thought I'll leave it connected to see what happens. Half an hour its risen almost 100mA, rising a few mA every minute. 3 hours later its at 900mA and rising. Left overnight, and its charging at max (2.2A limit on the power supply) and the voltage is now due to current limiting now at 14.1v or so, but slowly rising.

 

Neighbour asks me how its going, I said we'll pop it back on and see, but I doubt it'll turn the engine over. Put it back in the Toyota, turn the ignition on, it starts first turn!  Wow, not even a struggle, Toyota engine immediately purring smoothly after being stood for 18 months, unbelievable!

 

Next task, try to move car with rear parking brake discs left on for 18 months and stuck on, lots of revs and eventually bang, and away we go. Checked lots of restarts to check it wasn't a freak start.

 

Son came over, drove it around for two weeks, then sold it to first buyer to view.

 

The battery was a Yuasa EFB battery, small about 40Ah IIRC. Made in UK. Impressed.

 

 

nice story man, why does a toyota auris have a battery made in england mmm strange.

1 minute ago, paddywack1878 said:

nice story man, why does a toyota auris have a battery made in england mmm strange.

just found out haha burnaston, derby , good old uk.

Just now, paddywack1878 said:

just found out haha burnaston, derby , good old uk.

or deeside NW

Yuasa batteries are made in Wales

On 13/02/2021 at 06:49, mbowler said:

It did cross my mind about being able to lock the car once the battery was removed. 😂👍🙈

Could you not use the key blade located in the remote fob?

13 minutes ago, superbrex said:

Could you not use the key blade located in the remote fob?

Using that method without the battery being present would only result in the drivers door being locked. I believe there are covers on each door  that can be removed to allow emergency locking of the other doors, but could prove to be a bit of a faff.