360 Battery Tender

Getting ready to store the car for the winter and I usually remove the battery from the car and put on my trickle charger. This year I wanted to leave the car with the battery switch on and leave the charger plugged in directly to the battery. Is there any danger in
leaving the battery switch on with the charger plugged in during the whole 4 month winter hibernation?

 

No danger that I'm aware of. But I think you would be better to switch OFF the battery. You don't need to remove the battery from the car, just switch it off. It should have a battery isolator switch somewhere (probably under the front bonnet). 355's have one so I assume 360's will have one. I've had a battery in my 355 which has lasted 8 years by switching it off. My 308 which has a trickle charger on it all the time. But the batteries only seem to last 3-4 years that way. (308 doesn't have a battery isolator)

 

Rifledriver recommends leaving a tender connected rather than switching off the battery. Switching off requires the motronic to '"relearn" the idle parameters each time you reconnect the battery...he feels it is best to not do this if you can avoid it using a battery tender.

 

not to mention that you'll trip the radio code when switching the battery off. nothing wrong leaving it connected.

 

Leave the battery tender connected without turning the main power off. Everytime you turn the main power off, the car would have to be driven at least 75 miles and sometimes more depending on driving conditions to re-learn all the parameters. A good battery will keep the battery fully charged with the main power on.

 

Iv'e left my 348 battery switched on with a battery tender connected to the mains for over five years now without any perceived problems
- touch wood.

I used to switch the battery off at the isolator switch as well but as stated earlier in this thread, it needs to re-learn the idle parameters each time you reconnect the battery and that's a pain.

 

Nope, as long as your using a maintainer and not a charger.

 

Turning the battery off for an extended period also puts stain on the backup battery in the alarm siren potentially leading to the dreaded "LED on" problem!