Winter Question: Disconnect battery or let it run out on my 488?

Hey guys,
As I live in a Condo, and they absolutely have made my life difficult in trying to get the trickle charger approved for my 488, I'm wondering what the next best options would be as I hibernate the car until the weather improves.

The dealer suggested I disconnect the battery and reconnect it when I'm ready to use the car again. The other alternative would be to just let the battery run out, and then I can jump the car back to life with a portable battery jumper I have.

What would you guys suggest as the best option out of what I have available?

 

No, no no!!!! Keep the trickle charger plugged in. Batteries goes to h**l when discharged.. if you have to run for association president and change the rules, or move ( it is worth it!!)...

 

If it were me, I would remove the battery and keep it on a trickle charger inside. Regardless, there was a thread about this some time ago regarding the same situation and if I remember correctly, it was suggested to use a portable trickle charger? Sorry I can't find the thread.

 

Move.

 

Solar trickle charger?

 

Haha well unfortunately I can't move before I will have to deal with this, and although I'm working on convincing the board they are being very slow and difficult, so any practical input would be appreciated. If I disconnect the battery from the car what would be the issue with that?

 

No issue when you disconnect the battery. The only thing you need to do (once the battery is connected again) is to follow the proper restart procedure. You'll need to get this from your dealer and/or look in the owners manual.

 

How or why would they have an issue with this? It's in your garage how would they know? But if you can't just unplug your battery (negative cable off) and get a charger. Put a charge on the battery 6 weeks before you are going to use the car again in Spring, it will only need to be on for a few hours as the batter will hardly drain much being disconnected. Then you're good to go. I have to do this with one of my cars I store at a farm. But they just pull the negative and put it back on and start it up and pull it out for me each year without a charge. Never an issue, and this is 5months in WI cold winters.

 

Just plug it in what are they gonna do throw you in Condo Jail?

 

Probably lives in a building with a parking lot like garage.

I own a vacation condo and it's like that. Can't tap into the "associations power".

 

Could be a safety issue that the Condo association is worried about. Maybe even their insurance has a clause. I will vote for you as President, but until you are elected there is only one option: remove it. I will confess ignorance as to whether your 458 has an AGM battery (somebody can chime in here), but if not it can freeze and the case will break. Even if it is an AGM, I would remove it and keep it inside. Check of course your condo rules on batteries inside. If they have an issue, take it to a friend and have them store it and keep it on a tender

 

Yeah it's an underground parking lot with dedicated spaces. We have some busybodies in the building, some people go around reporting when people's doorknobs aren't to code, so they will unplug my car when they see it, report me, and I'll likely get fined. I'm not trying to make waves or meet any of these nosy dickheads, just trying to keep my car hibernated.

 

I hear you on that. Every building has their former Hall Monitors...those that just love to do everything by the book with that smug face.

As mentioned I think that taking the battery out would be an ok idea. Unneeded stress on the alternator can damage them when they're required to charge a battery from 0%. (assuming you jump it then let it run after the season)

 

Removing, disconnecting the battery or letting it go dead will for a long period of time will cause the rechargable batteries inside the alarm siren to die. They may not recharge when the battery is reconnected and the alarm siren will need replacement.
If you let the regular battery go dead, its life is drastically reduced and will probably need replacement when you try to recharge it. Try to find some way to get a battery maintainer connected.
What does the condo do for people with electric cars? There are many on the road right now and more are coming, they will have to make provisions for them in the future.

 

Look into storing your car somewhere else’s where a trickle charger can be used.

 

Question
If you start the car and idle for a period of time can that recharge the battery?
Maybe he can start the car once a week and recharge his battery in this manner

 

Not enough to maintain the battery the car will have to be driven to give it a proper charge

 

You can use one of the many portable jump starters (see Amazon)as a power supply for the trickle charger. Many have digital readout to let you know it is running low then take it to your apt plug it in to recharge for a few hours and reattach it to the car once a week or so


Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat

 

This is a great idea! However, the wall charger wants to be plugged into a 120vac outlet, and the jump starter gives 12vdc.

But one of these would work.

http://www.goalzero.com/p/164/goal-zero-yeti-150-portable-power-station

It as 14Ah of capacity. Given 75mA of current the alarmed car will require in the garage you'll have 14Ah/75mA = 187 hours or about a week between charging the power station which takes 6 hours to charge in the condo overnight.

 

Here's another option with more capacity. 400 watt hours rather than 150.

http://www.anker.com/deals/powerhouse2

 

Agree that would be perfect. There are a number of jump staters with lead acid batteries that have 120vac output.
Other option is to connect one of the lead acid type battery jump staters directly to the battery terminals but that is more cumbersome


Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat

 

Two steps to take:

1. Attach a jump-start type (2nd 12V battery) with a cigarette plug to your car's mating socket
2. Remove your battery from the car and attach your Ferrari trickle charger to it (needs a connector with leads) in your condo

Make sure you plug in the 2nd battery before you remove the main battery. This will be enough to keep any small batteries (if there are any) from dying and keep your electronics alive without the necessity to do a relearn. About once or twice a month (depending on its capacity) you should charge up the 2nd/jump battery so you need to purchase one that keeps providing an output when its being charged. This assumes that the Gestapo condo board lets you run an extension cord to your car for a few hours a month. Don't let the voltage go below 11.5V or so. It will throw codes or possibly cause dreaded electrical gremlins hard to remove.

Only other option is to remove the battery, keep it trickle charged during hibernation and do a relearn on the car assuming there are no sleeper batteries spread throughout the vehicle. Note: starting and idling the vehicle or even short trips take more charge than restore charge and will cause accelerated corrosion of the exhaust system as well as condensation internal to the engine. Much better for the vehicle to give it a good drive. Also, definitely don't consider the option to let it run out. You will need a tow, battery replacement and enter into the low voltage condition while its dying.

 

Another option is to do a combo of above ideas, buy a large "house" battery for RV/Boat use, a good quality efficient 12v to120 v converter, a battery tender ( even the little.75 amp one will do) hide the contraption under your car cover.

Once a week or so, pull the battery/tender into the condo and charge back up with your battery tender.

 

If I were you - I would do one of the 2 options:

1) Park at the dealer and plug it in there OR,
2) Get an Power Inverter Generator that run sensitive electronics like the ones Honda and Yamaha makes 2000 watts for around $1000 and runs very quite. 1 gallon at low usage can run upto 11+ hours. Plug and unplug every 2 days and you should be good.

Good Luck!

 

Store it somewhere else where you can trickle the AGM battery.