How can I keep my battery charged?

ChrisD. · 29 Jun 2018 at 19:43

My Civic FD2 sits in the garage most of the time and the battery always seems to be flat. I took the battery out and charged it via mains and then connected up an AA solar panel charger around 3-4 weeks ago. I went to take it for a drive this afternoon and she's as dead as a dodo. Not even enough power to start the car.

Any idea on alternates? Sadly I do not have power in the garage so connecting it to the mains is not an issue and I can't get power to the garage since it's opposite my house and underneath a coach house (new build estate).

Or should I just put some effort in and go out and do some mileage every other weekend? If so, what sort of distance should I be looking at.

It's a 6 month old Yuasa battery so part of me is convinced that something is draining it but I've no idea what it could be.

Rroff · 29 Jun 2018 at 19:45

ChrisD. said:
connected up an AA solar panel charger around 3-4 weeks ago.

If it was inside the car BTW the coating on most car windows blocks a good bit of the spectrum and UV light reducing solar panel effectiveness.

ChrisD. · 29 Jun 2018 at 19:47

Rroff said:
If it was inside the car BTW the coating on most car windows blocks a lot of the UV light reducing solar panel effectiveness.

I don't have a convertible garage.

The panel sits in front of the garage, propped up against the wall so it can't fall over. There's an indicator on it which lights when it's in the sun and it's on every time it's been daylight and I've looked at it.

Quartz · 29 Jun 2018 at 20:03

You have something on in the car which is consuming more current than the charger provides. Do you have a dashcam plugged in?

ChrisD. · 29 Jun 2018 at 20:10

Quartz said:
You have something on in the car which is consuming more current than the charger provides. Do you have a dashcam plugged in?

No dashcam. I suspect it may be the Clifford alarm. I’ve removed the siren unit but the rest of the wiring is shoddy. I may get it all ripped out and replaced.

jigger · 29 Jun 2018 at 20:13

ChrisD. said:
I don't have a convertible garage.

Come on it's the current year, everyone has a convertible garage. Get with the times man

Trickle charge and store in the house. Batteries like constant temps. If you think the battery might be bad, fully charge it give it test over a few days with a multimeter.

ChrisD. · 29 Jun 2018 at 20:46

So

jigger said:
Come on it's the current year, everyone has a convertible garage. Get with the times man

Trickle charge and store in the house. Batteries like constant temps. If you think the battery might be bad, fully charge it give it test over a few days with a multimeter.

Store the battery in the house you mean? I don’t think the battery is faulty, it’s only about 6 months or so old.

jigger · 29 Jun 2018 at 21:15

ChrisD. said:
So

Store the battery in the house you mean? I don’t think the battery is faulty, it’s only about 6 months or so old.

Yeah.

ChrisD. · 29 Jun 2018 at 21:36

jigger said:
Yeah.

I can’t be bothered with that, I just want to be able to jump in and start it. I already have a jump start pack which works well.

jigger · 29 Jun 2018 at 21:42

ChrisD. said:
I can’t be bothered with that, I just want to be able to jump in and start it. I already have a jump start pack which works well.

It's the best solution I've found for the stuff I don't drive that often.

wigster · 29 Jun 2018 at 22:15

Really the only good option would be to bring the battery in the house, Or if you want to keep the battery on the car you could undo the negative it wouldn't take long to put it back on.

Finglonga · 30 Jun 2018 at 08:24

ChrisD. said:
No dashcam. I suspect it may be the Clifford alarm. I’ve removed the siren unit but the rest of the wiring is shoddy. I may get it all ripped out and replaced.

Yep it will be the alarm. You could get a second car battery on a trolley, charge it in the house and then take it to the garage and attach it with jump leads to keep the other charged over the week. Then once a week take it back into the house and charge it up again.

Heisenberg · 30 Jun 2018 at 09:10

Why not just try disconnecting the battery between uses? That would eliminate a current drain from the car.

Joe T · 30 Jun 2018 at 09:48

Fit a battery isolator? Obviously the alarm would no longer work, but at least the battery wont drain.

sovietspybob · 30 Jun 2018 at 12:29

I had a Toad alarm in my DC5 and that would drain the battery after a week or so, that was my only car back then so wasn't an issue. My Subaru also suffered from battery drain which i ended up deciding was probably the tracker, after about 2-3 weeks it'd be dead so i used to keep that on a trickle charger.

Solar chargers can be fine but you need a decent size panel i'd have thought, do you know what wattage it is? I've got a 20 watt panel which charges an old car battery in my shed to give me lights out there in the winter and that seems pretty good although there's very little drain there.

BUDFORCE · 30 Jun 2018 at 13:40

Something will be draining it, 6 month old yuasa battery should be fine, even if completely unused and left in the garage.

I leave my motorcycle in the garage which sits there most of the winter and it fires up no problems.

Dr Who · 30 Jun 2018 at 13:50

ChrisD. said:
So

Store the battery in the house you mean? I don’t think the battery is faulty, it’s only about 6 months or so old.

Once it has run flat it is pretty much destined to fail. Lead Acid batteries hold their charge well if no drain on them, so I would replace, charge, fit to the car and leave the earth lead disconnected. Reconnect when ready to drive and then disconnect afterwards.