Less than a month before we head to HI for a couple of months. Not sure how I feel about leaving the LS hooked up unattended to a Vector 2/10/15 Amp Digital Smart Control Microprocessor Battery Charger for 2 months. The Charger has Float Mode Monitoring so it will keep the battery charged without over charging it. I guess my options are either unhook the battery or hook up the battery charger. I am not sure if all the stuff running in the background would run the battery down over 2 months which might give me bigger problems than leaving it on the charger. Thoughts/advice on pro/cons of both choices please.

Thanks

Dennis

 

You should be fine. I've left a similar product on my corvette for 6 months. It will shut off when it's not needed, which will be most of the time.

 

I agree with Doublebase... I've left trickle chargers on my Corvettes, Porsches and several boats for months at a time- no worries.

 

I do not have experience with the specific charger you are using, but I have been using a Battery Tender Jr. for all my cars and motorcycles for years without issues. It's a smart trickle charger that stops charging once the battery is full.

I have not had any battery issues for quite some time since I have been using this trickle charger.

 

AGM batteries tend to have problems with trickle charging and you tend to find them on some of the German cars. Lead acid batteries like the ones in our cars do not have such issues and can be trickle charged or even deep cycled so basically means that even if the battery gets discharged because of inactivity it will not get to beat up when it is recharged again. If you do this with an Optima Red top you are asking for trouble.

I'm using a 9lb AGM light weight battery for my Spyder and it severs it's purpose but it also doesn't last long and doesn't like to be trickle charged. The good thing about it is when I store the battery it preserves its charge better then lead acid.

 

I'm using a battery tender also. It's green when fully charged and stays green until I unplug it from the wall.

The only thing I would like to know is why, after driving it it for the next few days, I'll plug it back it in and the LED light is red for about half an hour, then it'll turn green to full charge. Did driving it use up that much energy that it needs to charge again? I thought the alternator charges the battery while driving.

 

If your battery is in good condition it should be okay even if your car sits idle for several months. The risk of leaving a charger attached is very small but nevertheless a risk that is not worth taking. You can get to the same point by attaching the charger for a few hours when you return or just driving your car for a couple of hours. One of the major parasitic battery loads is the scanning for the presence of the remote key to facilitate the touch-open feature. This scanning process ends automatically after a couple of weeks to preserve the battery. Some people believe that using a trickle charger prolongs the life of the battery and that is true to some extent but the payoff is in pennies per hour of effort.

 

I have this unit on my LS460 and W140 S500 and have never had any issues - up to 3 months at a time.

 

Dennis, I would use a battery tender. If your battery does run down, it will not recharge to 100% of its previous level. And each subsequent complete discharge will further deteriorate its capacity.

The charger I use on my motorcycle is from the same manufacturer and I have had no issues over many years of usage. And I too am unfamiliar with the Vector 2/10/15 Amp Digital Smart Control Microprocessor Battery Charger, but it sure sounds impressive!

I've noticed this same thing with both my motorcycle tender and the CTEK tender for my Ferrari. I think its just that they are not exactly precision instruments. If the battery is only slightly discharged it starts to charge it and then shuts it off after a minimum amount of time. Basically it beats me, but I've never found it to be an issue.

 

I guess my biggest concern is going off and leaving it unattended in my garage for 2 months?

Dennis

 

Well the worst case is it fails to keep your battery charged, but then you would be in the same boat if you didn't use any tender.

If you are concerned about safety, I know several storage facilities that keep very high end cars on tenders for many months with no issues. Now they use approved tenders. I wouldn't go buying some unknown brand at a flea market.

 

You could always disconnect the battery from the positive terminal. It will discharged very little after three months.

 

Why the positive terminal? What changes after three months?

 

Sorry I meant the negative terminal although it doesn't matter but for the purpose of not accidently touching a tool to ground during the thermals removal. Batteries do discharge when sitting and what I meant to say is that it will discharge very little and will be fine after three months as long as there is no parasitic drain.
Most auto parts stores will rotate their charging in that fashion to keep their batteries fresh.

 

Good response. Thanks!