What to do with TVR - 6 week holiday

[Timja]

I'm off somewhere warm for the winter! So won't be driving my car for 6 weeks. I have 2 possible options:

1 - Leave car at parents outside (well, partially covered by car port)

2 - May be able to leave in friends garage but not definite and will leave me carless for a few days but at least i wont have to worry about Chim getting cold and wet while i'm away!

I'm guessing the best thing to do is leave it on a trickle charger (don't currently have one) if possible?

If left outside, i probably wont be able to connect to trickle charger, so:

Has anyone left their car for this long without one? Will battery run flat? (guessing this will depend on condition, but never left a car for this period of time so don't know if they can last this long!) If it does run flat, other than having to get into car again is there anything else i could have problems with?

Or am i best getting dad to take it for a drive every couple of weeks?

Any useful suggestions appreciated!

Cheers,

Tim

[thenick]

Getting your dad to take it for a spin every couple of weeks won't hurt, but a battery charger is a good idea as your battery will almost certainly go flat. I bought an accumate for when I went on holiday and it comes with a socket and two wires that you attach to the battery termials which terminate in a rubber covered plug. I just pulled this very slightly out from the carpet cover thing at the end of the passenger footwell so that you can just reach into the top corner of the footwell and plug the charger in without any fuss. You could get your dad to just attach it during the day on nice days or whatever to keep it topped up, although if you run an extension cord up under the velcro bit on the hood, you can just have the battery charger sitting in the footwell and still retain all of the weatherproofing. If you can I would get it in a garage just for peace of mind but i'm sure it won't hurt it leaving it outside as long as it's weatherproof...

Edited by thenick on Monday 10th December 23:16

[Timja]

Had a bit of a read and several people seem to recommend Accumate.

Any idea how long the standard lead is on your accumate? Wondering if i would need the extension... Also, can you just plug the cigarette adapter in on a Chim? - If i leave it in friends garage and she needs to move it then like it to be as simple as poss to disconnect!!

Cheers,

Tim.

[tyre_tread]

The accumate charger is a good bit of kit.

The cig lighter plug in works fine on my Chim but just make sure that the cig lighter is wired to work when the ignition is switched off otherwise there is no connection for the charger to connect to the nbattery with the key out.

The Accumate comes with a 2 pin female plug and various different extensions including battery clip and cig lighter which connect back to the accumate with a male 2 pin.

The lead from tne accumate is at most 2 metres but you could always make an extension.

HTH

[BrianMillar]

You can get a 2.5M extension lead with the correct connectors for the accumate so you don't have to worry about making one.
I got one recently. Now I can keep the charger on the garage wall and plug it into the car no matter which way round I drive the car into the garage.

[rhys27]

i'll look after it for you mate! i'll make sure it gets taken care of!

jokes aside.. trickle charger is a good idea, will work wonders for the battery! wont be a good idea if you leave it outside, as some scrote will either nick the charger, and having 240v leading trailing to your car outside isnt a clever idea!
ETA: i left my car for 4.5 weeks without a charger or anyone starting it and when i came back it started up perfectly fine, although it was a newish (1month old) £80 battery!

Edited by rhys27 on Tuesday 11th December 04:29

[Biggles111]

Given the time of year I would put it in a garage if you can. If this is not possible a solar battery charger plugged into the cigarette lighter may be a neat way of putting some charge into the battery. Getting the car driven every couple of weeks is also good - I am away a lot of the time so added my father to the insurance for this purpose. First few times he was terrified, but I think he almost enjoys it now!