Leaving the bonnet unlatched for a while, can it be done without issues?

[DSL]

Just been reading below thread as planning to leave my Karoq locked up in our garage for a few months while we go off and see various parts of the world.

Not wishing to have the same issues when we get back, I was thinking of leaving the car locked, alarm off (once I can figure that out) and with the bonnet unlatched.  Then I can get a battery charger onto the battery as soon as we get back without having to open the doors.  Also the passenger-side door will be against a wall so wouldn’t be able to get the door open to pop the bonnet anyway.

 

Would leaving the bonnet unlatched for a prolonged time cause any issues?  Was wondering if it would keep the car awake and kill the battery in no time.  I was thinking of leaving it on a trickle charger but I just got “that” look from SWMBO and that idea got binned. 
 

Thoughts?

[gumdrop]

Fully charging your battery and making sure _everything_ is off (forget the alarm) you might get 2-3 weeks?

[kenfowler3966]

Modern charger can be left connected and will trickle charge to maintain battery as needed. During lockdown in 2020 I SORN’ed my Yeti for 3 months and left it with a charger connected , and the bonnet closed for most of this time.

I have had periods with Karoq not used for a few weeks and left that on charge. There was space to fit the charger and the reel of my extension under the bonnet and close with the wire coming out at the headlight to connect to a socket.

[KenONeill]

18 minutes ago, DSL said:

I was thinking of leaving the car locked, alarm off (once I can figure that out)

Well, locking the car with the key should at least disable the volumetric alarm functions if not the perimeter alarm.

[DSL]

Would disconnecting the battery cause a problem?  Again, leaving the bonnet cracked so when we get back I’d fully charge it and then power the car back up.  I’m thinking along the lines of if the car is disconnected for 5 minutes or 5 months it’s not going to know the difference.
 

Unfortunately the trickle charger I have is almost 35 years old so deffo doesn’t qualify as modern!  

[Daveybm]

If your battery charger is 35 years old it may not be suitable for charging your battery which is probably an EFB or AGM battery, these are the ones that are normally fitted to cars with Start/Stop systems, your best bet is buying a decent charger suitable for the battery you have got and then leaving it on charge by feeing the cables through the bonnet as stated above. 

[Pilotguy]

Grab a Ctek MXS 3.8 or MXS 5.0, and rest assured that it can be left alone plugged in with the bonnet ‘on the latch’ for many, many weeks. Your battery will be maintained at an excellent charge state and ready to go back on the road when you return. I’ve been using an MXS 3.6 for years on an old Porsche which spends most of its life in a garage, the charger is on A LOT!

 

 

Edited 17 April, 2022 by Pilotguy

[DSL]

Was looking at CTEKs on Amazon this morning, might well pull the trigger on one. 👍

 

Strange.y enough my trickle charger is an old Porsche Chargomatic that I bought for a Boxter I owned a long, long time ago.  It seemed to get a flat battery after a long weekend. 

[Pilotguy]

It would probably be suitable for my car, 1992 968. Link to a load of stuff about it is over on my profile

 

5 minutes ago, DSL said:

Was looking at CTEKs on Amazon this morning, might well pull the trigger on one. 👍

 

Strange.y enough my trickle charger is an old Porsche Chargomatic that I bought for a Boxter I owned a long, long time ago.  It seemed to get a flat battery after a long weekend. 

 

The Ctek I use has been faultless for well over 10 years now.

[Pilotguy]

9 minutes ago, DSL said:

Porsche Chargomatic

Actually, I think the Charge-O-Mat IS a rebranded Ctek MXS 3.6. Mine charges my Octavia battery perfectly okay, but I wouldn’t be so confident about a Karoq. I probably need to think about  an update for mine before next winter.

[DSL]

MXS is now on its way here via Amazon, should be here tomorrow so enough time to get it set up before we head off.   Thanks all, should save me a lot of hassle when we get back.  
 

Now got to explain to Skippy that we’re doing a trip by train and he’s staying in the garage. 🤨

[DSL]

1 minute ago, Pilotguy said:

Actually, I think the Charge-O-Mat IS a rebranded Ctek MXS 3.6. Mine charges my Octavia battery perfectly okay, but I wouldn’t be so confident about a Karoq. I probably need to think about  an update for mine before next winter.

I got the charge bit right, that’s not too bad considering how long ago we bought it and haven’t thought of the proper name.  Will use that on SWMBO’s Jazz as it doesn’t seem to worry a bit about what’s connected to it.  👍

[kenfowler3966]

3 hours ago, DSL said:

MXS is now on its way here via Amazon, should be here tomorrow so enough time to get it set up before we head off.   Thanks all, should save me a lot of hassle when we get back.  
 

Now got to explain to Skippy that we’re doing a trip by train and he’s staying in the garage. 🤨

Ensure you read instructions and set it to the correct charge mode for your battery type and all will be fine. These can be set to charge any type of battery, including 6volt  on mine.

Once set it will stay that setting for next time

[DSL]

Will do, thanks for the heads up.  I’m used to just connecting the charger up and flipping the power on switch, will make sure it’s in the right mode.   👍

[agedbriar]

Also, the negative clamp from the charger goes to the flat mass connection point behind the battery, rather than to the negative battery post.

 

[DSL]

Thanks for everybody’s help.  👍

 

Both cars now tucked up in the garage with Mrs DSL’s car’s battery fully charged then disconnected, Karoq is on the CTEK.  I used the ring connecters that came with the CTEK to put a socket in the engine bay, positive directly on to the +ve term and the -ve connected to the earth “tongue”, not to the -ve terminal.  Removing & reattaching the nut on the -ve thingie was OK but removing the nut from the +ve terminal’s bolt was a bit of a b****r and resulted in a bit of stripped thread.  Luckily I managed to get it all back together and all is secure again.  I should have just put the ring on and slapped another nut on the top but didn’t think of that until tried to get the original nut back on. 😡

 

Only a couple of sleeps until two months Interrailing round parts of Europe starts.  Back to travelling, just hoping Covid doesn’t bung a monkey wrench in our plans.