I was just wondering today, what happens if I leave the car too long, and I forget to hook up the battery tender. If the battery dies with the windows closed, how do I open the doors? The window will not dip without power. Will the door still open without damaging the window when it grabs under the weatherstripping? Should I start leaving my windows down a little when it's parked in the garage, just in case I screw up? I don't plan on hooking up the battery tender unless I plan on not driving the car for over a week or two. Usually that would be if I go on vacation, or during the winter months.
If I recall correctly, you can open the door pretty easily, but it's a lot harder to close it without battery power b/c the window really has to inch down a bit to be able to close the door (this is on a F430).
Yeah, as I recall, the doors in my 360 open pretty easily without the windows being down a little bit. You wouldn't want to do it all the time, but in an "emergency" it shouldn't be a problem.
What you need is a positive circuit that you can add power to to allow you to activate the system. The only terminal. can think of is the positive terminal on the starter. It is always "+". I'd try removing the rear wheel and using a probe to apply power to he large terminal on the back of the starter, and then press the unlock button on the remote. this might cause the car to lurch and may cause injury so be warned. I don't store mine in gear so for me it might work. othe option is to lower the belly pan. would it work with 6v versus 12 at low amps? maybe.. not sure otherwise use the coat hangar through the window route... you mih scar some of the leather though... Disclaimer: These methods may cause injury. Use/perform at your own risk!!!
Am I missing something? Can't you just use the key itself and manually open the door via the keyed lock on the drivers side??
As Babyboo was saying, I wasn't woried about getting the door open, I was worried about the window catching the weatherstripping because it didn't dip down when opened. It sounds like it shouldn't be too big of a deal to open it in an emergency, but I may get into the habit of leaving the windows open an inch or so when it is in the garage. I usually stay on top of my cars as far as the battery goes, so I shouldn't have a problem, but everyone makes mistakes. It's also possible that the battery dies abruptly from a dead cell in the battery, I've had that happen at least twice on my cars in the past. Thanks for the advice!
When my 360 battery died last winter I could get the door open easily but didn't feel I should close it. I used a spare battery to get power to open the windows a bit so I could close the door. No real problems. Getting the right battery later was more of a problem; the 34F(?) that was supposed to fit didn't, so an extra trip to get another that did, after taking lots of measurements. Probably should have spent the extra for the special coiled battery (but it was almost $200 more). Next and future winters it will get a proper maintainer on it.
