disconnecting battery R56

[CABC]

looking to get a R56 Cooper. This car will need to have its battery disconnected due to regular travel away of up to 2 months.
do any model years of the R56 Mini allow this without need to programme the car to accept the battery?

if the answer is no, how about R53s?

Edited by CABC on Wednesday 2nd May 15:58

[Cardinal Hips]

I left one with the battery disconnected for a few hours before replacing wiper / indicator stalks. No ill effects. Leaving it for a few months vs a few hours? Not sure. Sorry.

[steve-5snwi]

Do you need to disconnect it? I'd just leave it alone, or get a Ctek charger if inside, or a solar trickle charger if its kept outside. Some insurance companies won't cover theft in the alarm isn't working.

[CABC]

steve-5snwi said:

Do you need to disconnect it? I'd just leave it alone, or get a Ctek charger if inside, or a solar trickle charger if its kept outside. Some insurance companies won't cover theft in the alarm isn't working.

i think an older Mini could well suffer too much drain for stays over a month. Airport, so no ctek.
Solar is a good call, a lot better thesedays, although still questionable over winter.
given where i'm parking this 10 yr old car i'm happy locking with no alarm.
Disconnecting has worked for me for many years now and is obviously a certain way of preserving the battery.

[Maracus]

Our 2010 MCS had a battery change, it didn't need coding as it wasn't start stop.

The only thing that needed sorting was the clock!

[MDifficult]

Maracus said:

Our 2010 MCS had a battery change, it didn't need coding as it wasn't start stop.

The only thing that needed sorting was the clock!

THIS. If the R56 doesn’t have stop/start then it should have the older style of battery so no coding required. Just check the negative terminal on the battery, if it’s a plain-old black lead then all good, if it’s got other gubbins on it then no good for your needs and will need coding each time.

Even if it’s an old-style battery, you will need to reset the clock, and you’ll need to re-set the electric windows so they drop on opening and shut. Both are 2 minute jobs.

Alternatively, just buy yourself a Carly and code it?

Hope this helps

[CABC]

thanks all.

i'll aim for a late R56 with no stop/start.
Carly looks good, hadn't heard of that.

[MDifficult]

CABC said:

thanks all.

i'll aim for a late R56 with no stop/start.
Carly looks good, hadn't heard of that.

Glad it was helpful. Carly works really well on the R56. Used it for all sorts. Simple car with simple computers

[watchnut]

The ctek trickle charger is brilliant, just connect it and forget, it will even recondition the battery, in winter with a big drain on the battery owing to the cold it is worth while.

[CABC]

watchnut said:

The ctek trickle charger is brilliant, just connect it and forget, it will even recondition the battery, in winter with a big drain on the battery owing to the cold it is worth while.

they dont work in airport car parks tho....

in any case, having suffered the well known failed Mode switch on a ctek i now use OptiMates for garaged cars. more pretty lights to watch too.

i finally got a late mk1. despite 94k miles it feels tight. surprisingly grown up car even for a mk1.