Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

Wed 4 Nov 2020 14:40

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - paul45

Hi All,

Hopefully not too dumb a question....

My elderly father (82) occasionally needs to drive his vehicle, and because he tries to stay at home during these times, it means that he does not use his car as much as he used to do.

Unsurprisingly then, this morning - given it was cold as well - it would not start, and the AA diagnosed the battery as being flat. The advice was to start and run the vehicle on the drive for 15 minutes each day.

My father doesn't want the hassle of a trickle charger that means connecting / disconnecting to the terminals every time he wants to use it, and rather than start the car every day, I'm wondering if there are any other devices that work through the 12V socket that would trickle charge the battery all the time.

As I said, might be a dumb question, but always worth a try !!

Thanks Paul

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Wed 4 Nov 2020 15:02

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - elekie&a/c doctor

Solar panel on top of the dash might just give enough of a top up to stop the battery running flat . You need to check if the power socket is live at all times with ignition key out .

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Wed 4 Nov 2020 16:21

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Railroad.

Starting the engine for 15 minutes every day to charge the battery is not good advice, and speaking as a former AA patrol I would say the patrol who told you this really should know better. Either that or the quality of patrols these days has dropped right off.

You can't really get around this without a battery charger. A solar powered device is designed to prevent the battery from discharging rather than to charge it. I'm afraid if the car is going to be left for long periods, and the battery's going to be allowed to discharge in that time then the service life of the battery will be seriously reduced.

Car batteries left in a discharged state for any length of time, especially in cold temperatures very rarely recover.

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Wed 4 Nov 2020 16:33

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Bromptonaut

A modern electronic conditioner/charger might help.

Since using mine I've had fewer instances of the Fabia warning me its battery was low and that I should recharge by driving. I've also had the Stop/Start working instead of telling me it's not working due to high electrical demand.

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Wed 4 Nov 2020 16:40

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - bathtub tom

I was isolating during lockdown (and probably will be again). All I did was put the battery on charge for a couple of hours every couple of weeks. The charger indicated when it was fully charged. This is a six-year-old battery.

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Wed 4 Nov 2020 18:01

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - madf

I was isolating during lockdown (and probably will be again). All I did was put the battery on charge for a couple of hours every couple of weeks. The charger indicated when it was fully charged. This is a six-year-old battery.

I did that once a month to my wife's car.

I have a 12V car battery I use for other purposes. I use it twice a year. Charged every 3 months. It is now 8 years old and going strong.

(Note : not recommended for cars I use it to power a heater to fumigate bees)

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Wed 4 Nov 2020 22:00

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Ian D

Paul, I think the best way forward is to buy a suitable CTEK charger and to fit the lead that runs from the battery to the front grille, so that your father can simply connect up to a point that is sticking out from the front grille. Maybe put a bit of paper on the dash saying ‘ON CHARGE’ as a reminder to disconnect

Edited by Ian D on 04/11/2020 at 22:01

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Wed 4 Nov 2020 22:25

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - sammy1

Understandable why people want to hang on to their car and independence and if you are not around to chauffeur your dad how about a good taxi service. Winter with a dodgy battery not ideal for anyone.

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 01:03

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - edlithgow

Dunno how general it is on recentish cars but the US sixth generation Honda Accord FSM ((or OH, cann't remember which) says disconnect the battery before charging to avoid damaging the electronics.

Disconnecting the battery itself would probably buy more time, Then you have the hassle of reconnecting before driving, but at least you can't forget.

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 07:21

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - catsdad

My Halfords own brand charger also has the option of leaving the provided tail lead in place so that reconnection is simply a push fit job.

Lidl had CTEK chargers a couple of weeks ago in the centre aisle man cave. Probably gone now.

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 07:32

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Ian D

The two CTEK chargers I have (XS3600 and XS4003) both can be attached with the battery still connected, however my LIDL Ultimate Speed one (ULGD 3.8 A1) says disconnect battery before charging, worth the extra for the CTEK ones

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 08:00

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - RT

My Halfords own brand charger also has the option of leaving the provided tail lead in place so that reconnection is simply a push fit job.

Lidl had CTEK chargers a couple of weeks ago in the centre aisle man cave. Probably gone now.

Genuine CTEKs or cheap look-a-likes? I have both a genuine CTEK and an Aldi look-a-like, they both do basic smart charging but the CTEK has more modes - for a basic smart charger, the Aldi/Lidl is better value.

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 17:20

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - paul45

Great advice - thanks guys.

Looks the CTEK avenue is the one I'll pursue. He's quite adept at doing stuff like this, it's just in his view it's the hassle, so the ability to charge without clipping on and off the terminals sounds like the way forward.

And as has been stated running it for 15 mins a day doesn't sound like a good idea either, thus the reason he wanted to look for another solution.

Much obliged

Paul

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 18:06

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Bolt

Great advice - thanks guys.

Looks the CTEK avenue is the one I'll pursue. He's quite adept at doing stuff like this, it's just in his view it's the hassle, so the ability to charge without clipping on and off the terminals sounds like the way forward.

And as has been stated running it for 15 mins a day doesn't sound like a good idea either, thus the reason he wanted to look for another solution.

Much obliged

Paul

Might I suggest this solar charger, it works in cloudy conditions and connects by OBD connection as well as clamps to battery, though the OBD is more convenient as it has double connector to pull out and push in inside the car

I can recommend this as all my family with older cars use one and none so far in several years have had any problems starting.

just a thought, but ideal for anyone who needs a simple pull out push in charger, it remains connected to OBD port all the time, just pull out double connector before starting, then refit after engine stopped

smile.amazon.co.uk/AA-Essentials-AA1432-Battery-Ch...5

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 18:17

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - elekie&a/c doctor

On some cars , charging the battery via the obd socket is a definite no no . I’ve seen expensive damage caused by this method , especially on BMW models .

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 18:28

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Bolt

On some cars , charging the battery via the obd socket is a definite no no . I’ve seen expensive damage caused by this method , especially on BMW models .

Had it been a BMW or Merc I wouldn`t have suggested it, as Ive seen bad damage as well, but warning noted, thanks.

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 23:20

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - edlithgow

Great advice - thanks guys.

Looks the CTEK avenue is the one I'll pursue. He's quite adept at doing stuff like this, it's just in his view it's the hassle, so the ability to charge without clipping on and off the terminals sounds like the way forward.

And as has been stated running it for 15 mins a day doesn't sound like a good idea either, thus the reason he wanted to look for another solution.

Much obliged

Paul

Might I suggest this solar charger, it works in cloudy conditions and connects by OBD connection as well as clamps to battery, though the OBD is more convenient as it has double connector to pull out and push in inside the car

I can recommend this as all my family with older cars use one and none so far in several years have had any problems starting.

just a thought, but ideal for anyone who needs a simple pull out push in charger, it remains connected to OBD port all the time, just pull out double connector before starting, then refit after engine stopped

smile.amazon.co.uk/AA-Essentials-AA1432-Battery-Ch...5

One of those should work well here in Taiwan, but the one I brought back from the UK (Maplins IIRC. Not OBD of course which wouldn't be much use to me) stopped working rather quickly. Perhaps you can have too much sunlight.

Even here, though, it isn't going to work very well if the car is garaged.

Edited by edlithgow on 05/11/2020 at 23:23

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 18:12

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - elekie&a/c doctor

If you want to be really smart , then buy the ctek power adapter lead that allows the battery to be charged via the power socket . You won’t have to open or need access to the bonnet at all . You just need to make sure the socket is live at all times . You haven’t stated it , but what age is the car ?

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Thu 5 Nov 2020 23:39

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - edlithgow

Somewhere I've got a dead-battery small UPS unit from the university junkpile (Taiwanese never fix anything) which seemed to work as a battery charger and is probably reasonably smart.

I've thought of permanently hooking it up to my car battery, which should give me in car battery charging and an inverter for a bit iof laptop use, etc

Or an electrical fire

Don't really have anywhere to regularly plug it in though

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Fri 6 Nov 2020 07:21

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - kiss (keep it simple)

My experience is that solar car trickle chargers are pretty hopeless. They really need to be quite large to be any use. I bought one that was designed to lie on the dashboard. Out of curiosity I measured it output. In full sunlight it just about produced 40mA. On the dashboard it dropped to 20mA due to the tinted glass. Careful positioning of the car could produce a few hours of sunlight per day. Otherwise in cloudy weather or out of sunlight it was down to a few mA. I also have a much larger panel that can produce 400mA but it won't fit on the dashboard!

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Fri 6 Nov 2020 07:40

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Bolt

My experience is that solar car trickle chargers are pretty hopeless.

I only recommended this as I know it works, several others have been tried but are as you say useless.

a point I didn`t notice was about connecting and disconnecting before and after use.

so a smart charger will be better.

but for anyone that needs a manual type this AA trickle charger actually works outside

as edlithgow said not in a garage!

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Fri 6 Nov 2020 09:43

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - John F

the AA diagnosed the battery as being flat. The advice was to start and run the vehicle on the drive for 15 minutes each day.

In these environmentally enlightened times that is disgraceful advice. If that is the AA's policy they should be ashamed of themselves.

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Fri 6 Nov 2020 09:58

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Bolt

the AA diagnosed the battery as being flat. The advice was to start and run the vehicle on the drive for 15 minutes each day.

In these environmentally enlightened times that is disgraceful advice. If that is the AA's policy they should be ashamed of themselves.

Doubt its the AA`s advice, I suspect its the drivers who may be giving his own advice, I know drivers do give advice very often, but taking any notice is another thing...

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Fri 6 Nov 2020 12:22

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - edlithgow

the AA diagnosed the battery as being flat. The advice was to start and run the vehicle on the drive for 15 minutes each day.

In these environmentally enlightened times that is disgraceful advice. If that is the AA's policy they should be ashamed of themselves.

Well, yeh. Environmentally a bit dodgy, though in the context of global pollution I wouldn't have thought 15 mins of idling was VERY dodgy, compared to, say, 15 minutes of blasting down the motorway, though admittedly in the latter case a catalyst should be fully functional.

In the context of vehicle wear and tear it might be quite a bit dodgier. I doubt it'll get to operating temperature in winter so its likely to suffer from condensation and fuel dilution of the oil.

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Fri 6 Nov 2020 18:00

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Bolt

the AA diagnosed the battery as being flat. The advice was to start and run the vehicle on the drive for 15 minutes each day.

In these environmentally enlightened times that is disgraceful advice. If that is the AA's policy they should be ashamed of themselves.

Well, yeh. Environmentally a bit dodgy, though in the context of global pollution I wouldn't have thought 15 mins of idling was VERY dodgy, compared to, say, 15 minutes of blasting down the motorway, though admittedly in the latter case a catalyst should be fully functional.

In the context of vehicle wear and tear it might be quite a bit dodgier. I doubt it'll get to operating temperature in winter so its likely to suffer from condensation and fuel dilution of the oil.

It would be different on a 70s car as most of the fuel would be chucked out the exhaust and a cat would be killed off.

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Fri 6 Nov 2020 23:58

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - edlithgow

the AA diagnosed the battery as being flat. The advice was to start and run the vehicle on the drive for 15 minutes each day.

In these environmentally enlightened times that is disgraceful advice. If that is the AA's policy they should be ashamed of themselves.

Well, yeh. Environmentally a bit dodgy, though in the context of global pollution I wouldn't have thought 15 mins of idling was VERY dodgy, compared to, say, 15 minutes of blasting down the motorway, though admittedly in the latter case a catalyst should be fully functional.

In the context of vehicle wear and tear it might be quite a bit dodgier. I doubt it'll get to operating temperature in winter so its likely to suffer from condensation and fuel dilution of the oil.

It would be different on a 70s car as most of the fuel would be chucked out the exhaust and a cat would be killed off.

IAs a time travelled from 1986, I am here to tell you that 70's cars did not have cats. Nor do 80's cars.

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Sat 7 Nov 2020 07:52

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - Bolt

the AA diagnosed the battery as being flat. The advice was to start and run the vehicle on the drive for 15 minutes each day.

In these environmentally enlightened times that is disgraceful advice. If that is the AA's policy they should be ashamed of themselves.

Well, yeh. Environmentally a bit dodgy, though in the context of global pollution I wouldn't have thought 15 mins of idling was VERY dodgy, compared to, say, 15 minutes of blasting down the motorway, though admittedly in the latter case a catalyst should be fully functional.

In the context of vehicle wear and tear it might be quite a bit dodgier. I doubt it'll get to operating temperature in winter so its likely to suffer from condensation and fuel dilution of the oil.

It would be different on a 70s car as most of the fuel would be chucked out the exhaust and a cat would be killed off.

IAs a time travelled from 1986, I am here to tell you that 70's cars did not have cats. Nor do 80's cars.

Thats why I said Would, ie would if they used a cat, though 80s cars were less juicy than 70s cars, very much leaner.

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Fri 6 Nov 2020 23:16

Ford Fiesta - Battery Charging for seldom used vehicle - bathtub tom

the AA diagnosed the battery as being flat. The advice was to start and run the vehicle on the drive for 15 minutes each day.

I've a couple of neighbours that do that. I feel like screaming 'for Christ's sake take it for a run'.

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