Starting and idling to charge battery?

[Bacr]

My mother’s elderly partner has a 2018 Fabia (68 bhp model) with stop/start. 
 

He’s just had a hip operation and can’t drive for at least 6 weeks. He’s paranoid that the battery will drain and won’t re-start. 
 

He claims a Skoda tech told him he could start it every 2 weeks and just leave it idling for 20 minutes to keep the battery charged. 
 

This sounds odd to me but I’m no expert on this car. 
 

Questions are:

Should it last 6 weeks (garaged) without the battery draining?

 

If not, will this start/idling tactic actually work?

 

Any advice hugely appreciated. He has enough on his plate without having worries about this as well. 

[Ootohere]

Welcome.

 

I think bad advice.  

I think that if it starts after 2 weeks and is left running for 20 minutes it will likely not start again 2 weeks later. 

It is not a good tactic. A trickle charger / solar charger is a better idea.

 

Is there nobody that could take it for a 20 minute drive each week?

Someone that will have 3rd party insurance cover driving a vehicle they do not own or are not a named driver on the policy. 

 

If the car had the last fuel put in before mid / late October i would get the tank filled up when it is being left.

The petrol in now is pre Winter Spec so Hygroscopic.  If it was bought last summer it will be E5, if since September maybe E10 and more hygroscopic than the E5. 

Edited 28 November, 2021 by roottoot

[Bacr]

Brilliant, thanks so much for this. 
 

My guess is that he was told to start every couple of weeks and then ‘drive’ for 20 minutes not ‘leave idling’ for that time. 
 

To be honest, he’s fairly pigheaded at the best of times!

 

Luckily, in this instance, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for him to even start it (left hip is the replacement). I just had a vision of him climbing into the car and then getting stuck and not able to get out 🤦‍♂️
 

Fuel is E10

[TerFar]

I agree: it's definitely bad advice. A trickle charger is needed this cold weather or the battery will die. Here's one on Amazon black friday sale:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NOCO-GENIUS1UK-Fully-Automatic-Temperature-Compensation/dp/B0828HMG3N/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=24BO31VXYS4QL&keywords=car+trickle+charger+12v&qid=1638116967&quartzVehicle=29-10519&replacementKeywords=car+trickle+12v&sprefix=Car+trickle%2Caps%2C192&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzMElQOTFKTTk1T0dKJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTM1NjAzMkVCVzVIRVRFSjdMRCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTc0NDYwMlNBOEVPMzRFNjRTNiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[Bacr]

Hi guys,

 

I was due to visit this week to take the Fabia out for a run and keep it charged up. Unfortunately I've come down with acute bronchitis and am supposed to be isolating as the drugs I'm on knock my immune system back a bit.

 

How long should this car last without flatting the battery? It's in an attached garage that's pretty well insulated, no heating but doesn't seem to get particularly cold.

 

I also suggested fitting a trickle charger but he said it's difficult because he can only open the bonnet by using a release handle that requires the passenger door to be open. The garage space is tight and the passenger door is right up against a wall so it's tough to open it at all.

 

He's not remotely technical & knows very little about the car - Is this definitely the only way to open the bonnet?

[TerFar]

My advice is definitely go for a trickle charger. There are plenty on Amazon or eBay at very reasonable cost. 

I suggest trying to find a friend/acquaintance who is nimble with a long arm that can slip in the driver's door and then reach over to pull the bonnet release. 

There's no need to disconnect the battery. Just connect the clamps to the battery terminals (ensure correct polarity, of course) and gently lower the bonnet down, but not closed. 

Edited 19 December, 2021 by TerFar

[steevs]

Trickle charger is definitely the best way to go, you can keep the battery at a happy voltage and be ready to go without any issues.

 

I'd say it's worth the small one time investment over an expensive EFB or AGM battery as they are extremely unhappy by being too low in voltage.

 

I left my car for 2 weeks while I was away on holiday, it ruined my battery and couldn't hold a proper charge again (in fairness, it was 5 years old which might have been a factor)

[J.R.]

Trickle charge is definitely the best idea but setting the stop/start and battery management aside (it might only charge it 80%) 20 minutes at idle on these vehicles which have as a minimum a 90 ampere alternator is actually enough to replace the energy lost in starting and that lost on standby for the period in question of 2 weeks.

 

I should add as long as there are no other significant electrical loads, no headlights, heater fan, heated rear window etc.

 

Driving it for 20 minutes wont put much more charge in the battery, the charging voltage is not much higher although it would cover the current draw from headlights, rear screen heater etc .

 

It's not very good for the engine though and if it were mine I would drive it for 20 minutes instead, that really is a minimum, longer would be much better for the vehicle, 20 minutes idling or pottering locally is likely to put a lot of condensate into the silencer boxes.

 

The big unknown for me is that it is a stop/start vehicle so would the BCM limit the charging at idle to 80%?

[rum4mo]

6 hours ago, TerFar said:

My advice is definitely go for a trickle charger. There are plenty on Amazon or eBay at very reasonable cost. 

I suggest trying to find a friend/acquaintance who is nimble with a long arm that can slip in the driver's door and then reach over to pull the bonnet release. 

There's no need to disconnect the battery. Just connect the clamps to the battery terminals (ensure correct polarity, of course) and gently lower the bonnet down, but not closed. 

 

Not having a MK3 Fabia, but a same age VW Polo, the bonnet release handle arc of operation on most if not all newer cars tends to get blocked by the door when it is shut or not open enough - this will be a safety feature I'd think.

 

It has been said that in most VW Group cars that have the bonnet release action blocked when the door is closed, that you can get brutal with the handle and it flex outwards and so be able to be opened with the door closed, just how lucky you need to be to do that and avoid wrecking the bonnet release handle I can't say, so maybe best avoided!

 

So the other plan might be to just start the engine and reverse out of that garage, open the passenger door and then open the bonnet, I've never worked out why Skoda and SEAT locate the bonnet release on the LHS or maybe even just on the normal passenger side, while Audi and VW have that bonnet release on the RHS or maybe just driver's side.

 

Just another thing, it is always a good plan to connect a smart charger +VE lead to the battery +VE terminal, and the -VE smart charger lead to either the chassis point beside the battery or the cylinder head area.

[steevs]

42 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

 

Not having a MK3 Fabia, but a same age VW Polo, the bonnet release handle arc of operation on most if not all newer cars tends to get blocked by the door when it is shut or not open enough - this will be a safety feature I'd think.

 

It has been said that in most VW Group cars that have the bonnet release action blocked when the door is closed, that you can get brutal with the handle and it flex outwards and so be able to be opened with the door closed, just how lucky you need to be to do that and avoid wrecking the bonnet release handle I can't say, so maybe best avoided!

 

So the other plan might be to just start the engine and reverse out of that garage, open the passenger door and then open the bonnet, I've never worked out why Skoda and SEAT locate the bonnet release on the LHS or maybe even just on the normal passenger side, while Audi and VW have that bonnet release on the RHS or maybe just driver's side.

 

Just another thing, it is always a good plan to connect a smart charger +VE lead to the battery +VE terminal, and the -VE smart charger lead to either the chassis point beside the battery or the cylinder head area.

 

Yep, you are correct in thinking that the bonnet release handle is blocked by the passenger door panel.

 

No doubt it is on that side with both LHD and RHD models and they use the same setup to reduce cost.

 

It's a big pain when you are tight in the garage with this, the cable is also known to snap right at the latch with VW group!

 

As for the Negative, the Fabia has a little connection point just behind the battery which is nice.

Edited 19 December, 2021 by steevs

[rum4mo]

The dome nut, at least on my wife's 2015 VW Polo is painted body colour, so I have removed some of the paint at 2 points and covered it with Vaseline to stop it rusting and hoping that that layer of Vaseline will "heal" after I remove the charger crock clip - though I have plans to retro fit a "service -VE" in place of that dome nut, only issue is, I think that the dome nut is an M6 or M8 and the "service -VE" post which is plated to stop corrosion is either M6 or M5 or M4 - nothing that can not be sorted out with suitable sized drill and tap!

[BigEjit]

Or do the cheapest option…

 

Pop the bonnet first, park up in the garage, disconnect the battery and place the bonnet down without locking it.

 

The battery will hold charge for several months, no problem. It’s better to do this with a fully charged battery but if you run the car until stop start kicks in, that’ll be good enough. Cold weather slows the battery self discharge rate so a double bonus for this time of year.

 

A fully charged top condition battery will last approx 6 to 8 weeks connected before it’s discharged enough for a non start event. Any other battery with dubious history or low mileage will be less, by how much… about the same as a piece of string…

Edited 19 December, 2021 by BigEjit

[Ootohere]

Skoda never fitted Top Class or even Quality Batteries though and the MK3 Fabia batteries are not Fully topped up as you park the car.   Even new / demo cars sitting on a dealers forecourt will not just fire up after 6 weeks even in a UK summer.   As techs / fitters or car valeters at dealerships know.  Which brings us back to the OP.  And the advice given to the car owner. 

[FabiaGonzales]

What about one of the CTEK chargers that uses the 12V Cigarette Lighter socket, easy enough to install/remove too.

[TerFar]

Doesn't work if you need to trickle charge a battery not attached to the car; so a little restrictive, but it does overcome the bonnet release problem. 

[FabiaGonzales]

51 minutes ago, TerFar said:

Doesn't work if you need to trickle charge a battery not attached to the car; so a little restrictive, but it does overcome the bonnet release problem. 

IIRC the particular one im thinking of comes with attachments for both charging an external battery and via 12v socket. Could be wrong though

[rum4mo]

18 hours ago, TerFar said:

Doesn't work if you need to trickle charge a battery not attached to the car; so a little restrictive, but it does overcome the bonnet release problem. 

 

I sort of picked up that for the intended user, de-skilling this job was a priority, so I'd agree with @FabiaGonzales that that sort of charger would make life easy /safe enough.