going away for 2 months, best to disconnect car battery?

[kazino]

Hi all,
I do not have access to a wall socket to put on a trickle charger. Is it best to just disconnect the battery if leaving for a couple of months?
Car is a 2018 mini jcw

[Earthdweller]

kazino said:

Hi all,
I do not have access to a wall socket to put on a trickle charger. Is it best to just disconnect the battery if leaving for a couple of months?
Car is a 2018 mini jcw

Probably

[speedking31]

There are too many other considerations:

• Will the car be secure without an alarm set?
• How will you lock the car? (Depends if electronic locks / immobiliser set etc.)
• How will you get back into the car if you can't leave it unlocked?
• There are numerous systems that don't mind being disconnected for a while, but may lose data if uncharged for a long period. You may have to reset the clock, retune your favourite radio stations, re-pair your phone, lose satnav favourites etc. Maybe no biggie, but not just disconnect/reconnect, you're back where you started.

Personally I would leave the battery in place and take my chances.

[Dave.]

Too many variable to say for sure.

I known good battery in a car not used for short trips sat for two months in summer will be fine.

An old battery in a car that only does short trip sat for two month will likely be dead.

[steveo3002]

id undo it

[Tyre Smoke]

Buy a solar charger and leave that plugged in?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353976022452?mkcid=16&a...

[Polly Grigora]

Perhaps, tis a difficult one

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Can't really speak for the Mini...

....but over the (many) years I've left cars for more than two months without issues.

I do always have one of those small lithium car jump starters though in case of emergency.

[kazino]

Unfortunately it's in an underground carpark, else that's a great idea

Tyre Smoke said:

Buy a solar charger and leave that plugged in?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353976022452?mkcid=16&a...

[kazino]

Makes sense if it's got a chance to last the 2 months, else worried the battery might get damaged and potential for alarm to go nutty. Had a 911 turbo where the nearside window used to go down when the battery got low, which let water in (was parked on the road)

speedking31 said:

There are too many other considerations:

• Will the car be secure without an alarm set?
• How will you lock the car? (Depends if electronic locks / immobiliser set etc.)
• How will you get back into the car if you can't leave it unlocked?
• There are numerous systems that don't mind being disconnected for a while, but may lose data if uncharged for a long period. You may have to reset the clock, retune your favourite radio stations, re-pair your phone, lose satnav favourites etc. Maybe no biggie, but not just disconnect/reconnect, you're back where you started.

Personally I would leave the battery in place and take my chances.

[kazino]

That's good to hear, maybe I can ask a friend to come over and start it up once or twice while I'm away for a while to get some charge so that it's got a the best chance to last
Will have jump starter ready in case she's dead on return

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

Can't really speak for the Mini...

....but over the (many) years I've left cars for more than two months without issues.

I do always have one of those small lithium car jump starters though in case of emergency.

[NewcyBlue]

I work at sea and often do trips away between 3 and 5 months.

We have two cars, one of which my Mrs will not use. I never used to do anything at all, but now I just connect a solar trickle charger and have never had an issue on my return.

[kazino]

NewcyBlue said:

I work at sea and often do trips away between 3 and 5 months.

We have two cars, one of which my Mrs will not use. I never used to do anything at all, but now I just connect a solar trickle charger and have never had an issue on my return.

nice, which solar charger are you using, will be good for future reference as it's in an underground carpark at the moment

[sunbeam alpine]

Shooting tigers?

[Sensibleboy]

If I was worried about it I'd fully charge the battery now using a charger and see what it's like in 2 months time.

[Gunk]

Modern cars can throw up multitude of faults if the battery is disconnected for a long period, so when you reconnect it you may have to have them cleared.

Personally I would just make sure it is fully charged and leave it connected.