hi Guys, Please help me . loved the 355 F1 through the summer, winter is here and to my horror i realised that I dont have a power source in the garage to charge the battery. Here is the situation. When i bought it , the guy installed a connector and gave me the trickle charger . All i have to do is plug in the trickle charger into an A/C power source to charge the battery. Now the problem is i dont have a power source to plug the trickle charger in . Options like power cord extensions are tried out . What are my options now . I need an A/C power source to plug the trickle charger into. Can i use one of those 400/600A eliminators or battery boxes and can i plug in the trickle charger into it ? Here is an example of it ... can i use this one ... http://shop2.aol.ca/ss/media/7831000/7831588.jpg please let me know, i dun want the battery to die ...
Thank you for the reply. I tried it , its almost impossible .. ANY other options ? like starting the car for 10/ 20 min every two weeks ?? you seem to have a similar one .....
Anyway to have an electrician add an outlet for you? If there is a light in there, then you can have an outlet wired in... Is there no electricity in the garage?
lol, Thank you , I looked into the option ... m yet to move into my own place. so there is nothing i can do to add an outlet there. They already said no .... Worst case scenario which I am visualising now is that I may need to remove the entire battery out and charge it. how hard is it to remove the battery out of it ??
Don't do this too much, not only could the plugs get fouled by unburnt gas, but it's supposed to be bad to let your car warm up to operating temp at idle. (Pros?) I would think it might me good to do occasionally to keep the timing belts flexible. I was joking about the extension cord, but I guess because you actually tried it you are in a sticky situation. To remove the battery for winter isn't too big of a deal, but it requires removing one of the rear wheels and the wheel well liner, IIRC. When you put 'er back in, be sure to let the car sit at idle after starting for 10 min. with nothing activated, IE no A/C, no lights, no stereo, no brakes, no clutch, no gas, no nothin'.
Actually, on the 355 you only have to remove the right FRONT wheel, and the panel covering the battery access, which is retained by several #2 Phillips head screws.
[Flame suit on] What about one of those solar 'tenders' that you see at dealerships? [Flame suit OFF]
Use the factory battery cut off switch (actually a knob) to reduce the current draw to nothing. Then drive it every now and then. There can't be snow EVERY day, cold weather alone won't hurt it, it's still just a car.
Both a Ferrari dealership and an independent Ferrari shop have recommended to me to NOT repeatedly use the factory battery cut off switch on the 355 due to the amount of electronics on the car. Every time you turn off the battery cut off switch that's the same as removing the battery from the car so everything electronic gets reset. When you turn the battery cut off switch back on and then jump in the car it's imperative that you let the car idle for a minimum of 10 minutes with no other electric load on the system. I was told that this has to do with the ECUs having to "relearn" their parameters. Using the battery switch method in an emergency (I'm not sure what would constitute as such) is ok, but turning it on and turning it off isn't recommended by the men wearing the red coveralls. My suggestion- tell the people that actually own your garage (I'm assuming it's a landlord) to step into the 20th century and actually install a power outlet out there. Whoever heard of a garage with no power outlet, apartment garage or any other garage for that matter?! Seriously, something like that would make me start looking for a new place to live if they weren't willing to play ball, I would call that "insufficient facilities."
Maybe Dan is on to something? If not, it's totally his fault. I was researching something else some weeks back and I read about people who use a solar battery charger to keep their boat battery in good shape. When it's down at a dock where there isn't power. That sort of thing. People would think you are a major eco friendly guy until the minute you pulled out in the car. I don't know what a good one is, but here's one to have a look at: http://www.cabelas.com/hprod-1/0030568.shtml You probably don't need major juice, just enough to keep up with the slow drain caused by the collection of electronics.
Thanks a lot Guys. I feel like i am in safe hands here .... I read the manual, it says the battery is located at the front right side . The battery turn off switch is non functional in my car. The car is starting either way, battery on or off. dont know what happened , so no issues of turning it on or off. so , now i pretty much got prepared for the inevitable . Take out the battery, or if i cant , call in a ferrari mechanic and take it out when ever its in the final stages .........
It sounds like this is an apartment garage? Does it have a electric garage door opener? If so you could splice into that. Otherwise you could do the extension cord charger thing every month or so.
Sorry i tried to post this yesterday but for some reason it didnt take - Not sure if you confirmed you had a light or not - But you could use one of this "socket to outlet adapters" if you have a 120V light. They cant cost more than a few bucks... I did a google search and found a bunch of links and options. here is one that has a good picture of what im talking about... http://doitbest.com/Cord+sockets-Leviton-model-875125W-doitbest-sku-520243.dib Image Unavailable, Please Login
you can pick up a small generator at sears for $150-$250, just hook up your regular battery charger every couple weeks http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_07107327000P?mv=rr
Without ANY juice in the garage, this seems like the easiest, most cost effective solution yet. Those gennies are awesome, the best I've seen yet is the small Honda gennie, just enough power to run something small.
Thanks again for everyone who is trying to help . Yes, there is power in the garage , but not a plug to hook up the trickle charger. I need a portable 110 volt solution. The generator seems to be a feasible option .... Now, the final choice its between the Generator and the Inverter which converts from DC to AC power. Which one will be safer to use for the car ? ........ Here is the link to the Inverter. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_05799537000P Which one do you guys think is good ??
That inverter converts DC power from a car into 120v AC power so you can run household items. It will not help you here. If it were me, I'd splice into the power in the garage. It's by far the cheapest and the least hassle. Plus you only have to do it once and you don't have to mess around with a generator. Post up a picture of the interior of the garage and we could tell you what to do.
Ok, I'm assuming you have a light. Go to Home Depot (or something similar) and get one of those contraptions that screw into the light fixture to allow you to plug in an extention cord. http://www.filmtools.com/meso2ouadea7.html That will require the light to be on... I'm pretty sure they have similar setups with a pull string to turn the light off at the ficture (not the switch).
