Do you have to garage a Chim?
Discussion
Know its not ideal, but how will a Chim hold up as a weekend / second car if it is kept under a breathable car cover outside?
Can't see it would make much odds to chassis deterioration as frankly the inside of the garage gets just as cold and damp as inside. A clincher for me though is that whilst you can leave the battery on direct charge with an accumate in a garage, it becomes a bit difficult outdoors.
Does anyone else have theirs outside in the Winter like this?
Can't see it would make much odds to chassis deterioration as frankly the inside of the garage gets just as cold and damp as inside. A clincher for me though is that whilst you can leave the battery on direct charge with an accumate in a garage, it becomes a bit difficult outdoors.
Does anyone else have theirs outside in the Winter like this?
Chimjunkie said:
Very well under a good breathable cover. If you dont cover the car make absolutely sure all the door/roof seals are good and you keep the soft top waterproofed. I have neglected my car this past year and have paid the price with needing new carpets.
Interesting...I know theres a huge choice of covers available, specifically stuarts. But any ya recommend?ironictwist said:
Chimjunkie said:
Very well under a good breathable cover. If you dont cover the car make absolutely sure all the door/roof seals are good and you keep the soft top waterproofed. I have neglected my car this past year and have paid the price with needing new carpets.
Interesting...I know theres a huge choice of covers available, specifically stuarts. But any ya recommend?
Do need to keep ontop of waterproofing (camping stuff works) as the cover ages.Cider Andy said:
Mine lives outside with no cover and with an Accumate connected! It doesn't seem to suffer in anyway, probably because it's driven every other day or so.
Talk me through this please. I suppose I could install one of those weatherproof external power sockets but had not reached a conclusion on weather the power cable that comes with the accumate is weatherproof and then presume you just feed the cable either under the bonnet and have the main body of the accumate in the engine bay or have it in the drivers footwell and use the cigar lighter but presumably there could be issues with either the alarm or insurance as you are not fully securing that door entry and the car is outside. All thoughts gratefully received !thegreatdogwood said:
Cider Andy said:
Mine lives outside with no cover and with an Accumate connected! It doesn't seem to suffer in anyway, probably because it's driven every other day or so.
Talk me through this please. I suppose I could install one of those weatherproof external power sockets but had not reached a conclusion on weather the power cable that comes with the accumate is weatherproof and then presume you just feed the cable either under the bonnet and have the main body of the accumate in the engine bay or have it in the drivers footwell and use the cigar lighter but presumably there could be issues with either the alarm or insurance as you are not fully securing that door entry and the car is outside. All thoughts gratefully received !
Chimjunkie said:
thegreatdogwood said:
Cider Andy said:
Mine lives outside with no cover and with an Accumate connected! It doesn't seem to suffer in anyway, probably because it's driven every other day or so.
Talk me through this please. I suppose I could install one of those weatherproof external power sockets but had not reached a conclusion on weather the power cable that comes with the accumate is weatherproof and then presume you just feed the cable either under the bonnet and have the main body of the accumate in the engine bay or have it in the drivers footwell and use the cigar lighter but presumably there could be issues with either the alarm or insurance as you are not fully securing that door entry and the car is outside. All thoughts gratefully received !Extending the LV side is a bad idea (I'm an Electrician), unless by a very short margin
You are likely to get volt-drop & it won't work as intended
You re better off fitting an outside socket (make sure the socket has a built in 30mA RCD or the circuit you connect it onto has 30mA RCD protection) & extending the 240-Volt lead with a proper connector of course
Weatherproof if being left outside
From memory, you are allowed to add a socket onto an existing circuit without having to involve Building Regs, Etc
Still safer get a proper Electrician to do it IMHO
You are not allowed to wire in a totally new circuit back to the Fuse-board without having the work carried out by an Electrician who is Part P registered
The work needs to be certified by the Electrician & the local authority has to be informed (By the Electrician) that the work has been carried out
I plug my Battery Accumate into an outside RCD socket & have extended it by making up an extension lead with an outside socket on the end of the lead which I leave in the foot well of the car
Then plug the Accumate into the Cigarette Lighter
I find you can still shut the door with the lead trailing out of the bottom of the door & Alarm & lock the car as normal
When I use the car, I unplug the charger, close the lid on the trailing MK RCD socket in the car & can leave the trailing socket in the Hedge ready to use again
(the MK socket has a lid which makes it waterproof when nothings plugged into it)
This way you don't have to keep unplugging the lead from the RCD socket on the house
You are likely to get volt-drop & it won't work as intended
You re better off fitting an outside socket (make sure the socket has a built in 30mA RCD or the circuit you connect it onto has 30mA RCD protection) & extending the 240-Volt lead with a proper connector of course
Weatherproof if being left outside
From memory, you are allowed to add a socket onto an existing circuit without having to involve Building Regs, Etc
Still safer get a proper Electrician to do it IMHO
You are not allowed to wire in a totally new circuit back to the Fuse-board without having the work carried out by an Electrician who is Part P registered
The work needs to be certified by the Electrician & the local authority has to be informed (By the Electrician) that the work has been carried out
I plug my Battery Accumate into an outside RCD socket & have extended it by making up an extension lead with an outside socket on the end of the lead which I leave in the foot well of the car
Then plug the Accumate into the Cigarette Lighter
I find you can still shut the door with the lead trailing out of the bottom of the door & Alarm & lock the car as normal
When I use the car, I unplug the charger, close the lid on the trailing MK RCD socket in the car & can leave the trailing socket in the Hedge ready to use again
(the MK socket has a lid which makes it waterproof when nothings plugged into it)
This way you don't have to keep unplugging the lead from the RCD socket on the house
If you use a covercraft cover you will need to make sure the car is waterproof as the cover lets a lot of water through. I replaced mine with a moltex from hamilton classics - breathable but also waterproof
http://www.hamiltonclassic.co.uk/ProductInformatio...
As long as the battery is good you *shouldnt* need to use a battery conditioner. Mine kept going flat, turned out to be a knackered battery. Since I replaced it last year I've had no problem with it holding a charge and starting first time. In the summer I driver her nearly every week, but in winter it can be 3 weeks between drives.
http://www.hamiltonclassic.co.uk/ProductInformatio...
As long as the battery is good you *shouldnt* need to use a battery conditioner. Mine kept going flat, turned out to be a knackered battery. Since I replaced it last year I've had no problem with it holding a charge and starting first time. In the summer I driver her nearly every week, but in winter it can be 3 weeks between drives.
BryanWilton said:
Extending the LV side is a bad idea (I'm an Electrician), unless by a very short margin
You are likely to get volt-drop & it won't work as intended
Not convinced it's a bad idea. Just done a quick calculation and for 12awg cable at 13V, 100ft and 1Amp flowing you get around a 3% drop. Surely not enough to affect operation? Increase the cable size and this reduces further. Am sure a simple DIY solution is there. You are likely to get volt-drop & it won't work as intended
Chimjunkie said:
ironictwist said:
Chimjunkie said:
Very well under a good breathable cover. If you dont cover the car make absolutely sure all the door/roof seals are good and you keep the soft top waterproofed. I have neglected my car this past year and have paid the price with needing new carpets.
Interesting...I know theres a huge choice of covers available, specifically stuarts. But any ya recommend? Do need to keep ontop of waterproofing (camping stuff works) as the cover ages.thegreatdogwood said:
Talk me through this please... All thoughts gratefully received!
The car's parked on the driveway facing the up-and-over garage door. The Accumate is wall-mounted inside the garage. I added an Anderson connector (for jump starting) under the panel that the bonnet is hinged to and piggy-backed the Accumate connector to the Anderson connector. Accumate cable runs under the garage door and plugs into the corresponding connector through the [facelift] 'grille'.I would give Chimjunkie some credit here!
The suggestion of extending the LV side is not too flawed as long as some decent extender cable and a good quality connector is used. Good quality (OFC)low resistance and quite thick/multi stranded should help with the volt drop issue and allow the Accumate/Optimate to do it's job reasonably well. As long as you monitor it regularly you should have no problems.
Make sure your chosen cover is a breathable one and remove it as often as you can to let the top and the bodywork breathe a little. Exterior covers rely on the movement of air to dry things out and even breathable ones can't eliminate all moisture if left too long (in still and damp conditions)
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