Probably a dumb battery question...

[1Steve68]

Mr-B said:

I would do that the other way round, get it going 15 minute drive up the mway, turn round come back straight to MOT, everything is properly warmed up too and battery should be replenished over 30 minutes. 2 mile drives are not good for any ICE car no matter how good the battery.

Bit risky if I get spotted by a Police vehicle with ANPR fitted though? I'm really unlucky like that !

[sherman]

1Steve68 said:

Mr-B said:

I would do that the other way round, get it going 15 minute drive up the mway, turn round come back straight to MOT, everything is properly warmed up too and battery should be replenished over 30 minutes. 2 mile drives are not good for any ICE car no matter how good the battery.

Bit risky if I get spotted by a Police vehicle with ANPR fitted though? I'm really unlucky like that !

Book the MOT.
'On my way to the MOT station Heres my booking conformation'
You are supposed to take the most direct route to the MOT but it would be a really harsh police officer that wouldnt let you warm the car up for the test.

You can drive to a prebooked MOT without insurance as you cant tax a car without an MOT

[Mammasaid]

sherman said:

You can drive to a prebooked MOT without insurance tax as you cant tax a car without an MOT

You can't drive without insurance, however you can drive to the MOT without tax.

[Pica-Pica]

sherman said:

You can drive to a prebooked MOT without insurance as you cant tax a car without an MOT

What nonsense - you cannot legally drive on public roads without insurance.

[1Steve68]

sherman said:

Book the MOT.
'On my way to the MOT station Heres my booking conformation'
You are supposed to take the most direct route to the MOT but it would be a really harsh police officer that wouldnt let you warm the car up for the test.

You can drive to a prebooked MOT without insurance as you cant tax a car without an MOT

It's taxed and insured already from earlier on this year but the MOT has quite literally just expired by a few weeks on a new car.

[hidetheelephants]

1Steve68 said:

CanAm said:

They come fully charged, or near enough. I've had quite a few batteries over the last 50 years, and have never had a problem with a new one.

Perhaps you can explain this? My car was brand new when I bought (only 50 delivery miles on the clock) and I only drove it 1000 miles in the first 18 months before declaring it SORN. How can a battery stored on a shelf for god knows how long be almost fully charged but the battery in my new car lost all its charge within 12 months of being parked up/not used???

Modern cars impose parasitic drains on the battery, sitting idle for months just results in the battery being run flat. Sitting on a shelf the battery has no parasitic drains, just slow self-discharge because that's what lead-acid batteries do, sensible car parts sellers charge up their stock if it doesn't get sold fairly quickly.

[sherman]

Pica-Pica said:

sherman said:

You can drive to a prebooked MOT without insurance as you cant tax a car without an MOT

What nonsense - you cannot legally drive on public roads without insurance.

But you are not insured if your car has no tax or MOT.

[muppets_mate]

1Steve68 said:

The first drive if I can get it going will be to my local MOT centre about 2 miles away but after that I'll take the car on a proper blast up the motorway for about a 50 mile round trip. It's unlikely to fail the MOT as it's only just over 3 years old, low mileage, and still in almost mint/new condition, so hopefully I can take up the motorway as soon as the MOT is done. I'll drive it once a week/fortnight after and if the motorway blast hasn't put a good charge in the battery I'll have to get a new one fitted.

2 miles will not put a lot of charge in the battery.

I am surprised how many times the MOT tester starts and stops the engine during an MOT. If your battery fails mid test they may be able to jump start your car and carry on the test, but it is a risk if you are not sure how healthy your battery is.

I would be tempted to go for a 10-15 mile drive immediately before your MOT appointment, and if you get stopped by the police you can explain you are on your way to a pre-booked MOT (which you genuinely are).

[Super Sonic]

sherman said:

Pica-Pica said:

sherman said:

You can drive to a prebooked MOT without insurance as you cant tax a car without an MOT

What nonsense - you cannot legally drive on public roads without insurance.

But you are not insured if your car has no tax or MOT.

With the number of times this has come up on ph I can't believe people still think this. It is rubbish.

[1Steve68]

sherman said:

Book the MOT.
'On my way to the MOT station Heres my booking conformation'
You are supposed to take the most direct route to the MOT but it would be a really harsh police officer that wouldnt let you warm the car up for the test.

I DO NOT trust The Police to be fair and reasonable EVER. Too many bad experiences with them over the years. They are heartless and unemotional robots who enjoy punishing people for any minor little reason they can find and I'm 100% certain they would hit me with a fine and possibly 3 points if I was caught driving in the opposite direction to my testing station, despite the car still being new and only 4 weeks past a necessary 1st MOT. Warming up the car and putting a charge in a flat battery before the test wouldn't be an acceptable excuse for them.
.

[CanAm]

1Steve68 said:

I DO NOT trust The Police to be fair and reasonable EVER. Too many bad experiences with them over the years. They are heartless and unemotional robots who enjoy punishing people for any minor little reason they can find and I'm 100% certain they would hit me with a fine and possibly 3 points if I was caught driving in the opposite direction to my testing station, despite the car still being new and only 4 weeks past a necessary 1st MOT. Warming up the car and putting a charge in a flat battery before the test wouldn't be an acceptable excuse for them.
.

You said you have a charger. It is amazingly simple to connect a charger on your car; you only need to open the bonnet and lift a plastic flap ( no tools needed) to expose the battery's positive terminal. It's all in your cars manual and on YouTube

[Mabbs9]

CanAm said:

1Steve68 said:

I DO NOT trust The Police to be fair and reasonable EVER. Too many bad experiences with them over the years. They are heartless and unemotional robots who enjoy punishing people for any minor little reason they can find and I'm 100% certain they would hit me with a fine and possibly 3 points if I was caught driving in the opposite direction to my testing station, despite the car still being new and only 4 weeks past a necessary 1st MOT. Warming up the car and putting a charge in a flat battery before the test wouldn't be an acceptable excuse for them.
.

You said you have a charger. It is amazingly simple to connect a charger on your car; you only need to open the bonnet and lift a plastic flap ( no tools needed) to expose the battery's positive terminal. It's all in your cars manual and on YouTube

Everyone is cautioning you against a very short drive on a flat battery. There's almost no chance of it starting again after a 2 mile drive. Good luck.

[The Mad Monk]

sherman said:

But you are not insured if your car has no tax or MOT.

Nonsense.

Not so.

Untrue.

False.

[1Steve68]

muppets_mate said:

I would be tempted to go for a 10-15 mile drive immediately before your MOT appointment, and if you get stopped by the police you can explain you are on your way to a pre-booked MOT (which you genuinely are).

I suppose I could risk that if I just stay in my local area and choose an "off peak" time to drive the car but the roads here are all 30mph limit so I couldn't get up to motorway speeds here. There is however a very long main road next to where my apartment block is so I suppose I could just drive up and down that road for 30 minutes before the MOT to minimise the risk of getting pulled by The Police and then after the MOT take the car for a proper blast up the motorway?

So many options but not sure what to do. I looked into the cost of having a new battery fitted on the car park where my apartment is but it wasn't cheap at between £250-£350 with halfords. I suppose if I did that I could then bring the dead battery indoors and see if I could recover it properly by plugging it into the mains on a proper charger. It would then be a back-up 2nd battery. Mmm. Decisions decisions!

[swisstoni]

I don't know where you live but I'm lucky to see any police at all, much less ones that are just cruising around doing random ANPR checks.

[1Steve68]

CanAm said:

You said you have a charger. It is amazingly simple to connect a charger on your car; you only need to open the bonnet and lift a plastic flap ( no tools needed) to expose the battery's positive terminal. It's all in your cars manual and on YouTube

It's just a jump starter/booster. Not a proper charger.

[Ian_SW]

This is all getting very complicated for what is a very simple problem.
Just started the car in the car park with the jump starter and leave it there with the engine running for half an hour to 45 minutes. (Probably best to stay in he car while doing this so the car isn't stolen). If the battery is going to charge, it will have done so enough to restart the car by then.

Then, turn the engine off again and try to restart it. If the car does start, then happy days, drive the car to the MOT.

If it doesn't, book an MOT at a garage which can also replace the battery, and ask them to do that before the MOT.

Cars can be driven with a totally dead battery, but take the jump starter with you in case you stall it!!

[1Steve68]

swisstoni said:

I don't know where you live but I'm lucky to see any police at all, much less ones that are just cruising around doing random ANPR checks.

I literally haven't driven anything for almost 18 months as I get groceries delivered by Asda and online purchases delivered by couriers so I don't actually know if there's a strong or regular Police presence in my area as I never leave my apartment complex.

[DKS]

Is the car locked whilst not being used?

Edited by DKS on Wednesday 29th October 08:53

[Riley Blue]

muppets_mate said:

I would be tempted to go for a 10-15 mile drive immediately before your MOT appointment, and if you get stopped by the police you can explain you are on your way to a pre-booked MOT (which you genuinely are).

Every MOT I've had done on each of my cars for the past 17 years has been preceded by a drive from Chesterfield to Sheffield and back, 12 miles in all, then straight to the MOT test centre just over a mile from where I live. This is to ensure the engine is up to temperature before the various tests are carried out.

I've never been bothered about being stopped and I'd argue in court if need be that's it's sensible and necessary to do so.