How often should I do it?

I’ve an MX-5 ND (66) in the garage and a Golf GTD (65) on the drive
Neither of them have been anywhere for a couple of weeks and don’t look like they’re going anywhere soon

I haven’t got (and won’t be buying) a battery charger so, how often and for how long should I start and run them?

Cheers
Rob

That seems an odd thing to say when it is actually the answer to your and many others looming problem. May we ask why?
:heart:

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You’d be better off BUYING a good scrap battery (cheap) BUYING a budget charger to charge that (cheap) and BUYING a Dc to dc condition charger. Cheap.
We are all in the same boat.
I’d bet, over the weeks ahead, you’d break even on not…to answer your original question, starting them both every other week and leaving them to tick-over for 10/15 minutes.
Your deal…but what I said is what most of us are doing one way or another.

I would get the charger, of course if it’s at all possible.
I’d guess (cold weather) doesn’t do the batteries any favour by not keeping them topped up. Around a 30 mile run would see any notable charge being put back in them but you don’t want to be doing that unless essential.
I didn’t use my daily driver enough over the 6 years I’ve owned it, the battery degraded short of 5 years cost me a new one.
The MX-5 battery lasted 9 years it would have gone longer but lack of use and not keeping the battery topped up killed it in winter. Both cars are hooked up now on a regular basis to a maintain the batteries, I use the chargers bought from Aldi and Lidl.

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Not sure why @rob-nicholson won’t be buying a charger but I have been debating the same question and live in a flat so can’t get power to my car to put it on a tender.

I live close enough to shops to not need to drive so the car has now be sat from the best part of 2 weeks and I am try to work out what to do.

My current thought is to put a cheap battery in it and the other one on a tender in my flat similar to @Scottishfiver’s suggestion.

get a jump pack from Halfords (or similar).Mine was £37 some time ago and its quite a useful and friendly thing to own anyhow

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Good advice.
:heart:

For a car not being used, I just disconnect the battery.

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Why don’t I just buy a charger or two?

Well it’s really just pragmatism and avoiding a big waste of money

We’re all very happy to leave our cars at the airport for 2-3 weeks and come back and expect them to start and they usually do

So why spend good money on a couple of chargers or cheap/scrap batteries for two cars which are usually run 2-3 times every week throughout the year?

I’ll probably just stick with my gut feeling and run them for 10-15 mins every so often

I just thought I’d ask, in case there was an obvious and simple answer to the timing and frequency of laid up running

I charged the NC with the smart charger after about three weeks of no use following the trip back from Gatwick, and from probably close to full it only needed about 12Ah worth. Fortunately it’s a good one quite recently (31/07/2017) replaced.

The Mazda3 is currently on charge after four weeks no use at all, so far it has taken seven hours at 3.5A and the smart charger is only just now easing back to the lower finishing-off rate. The 2016 Mazda3 has the same basic electrics as the ND, including the big iStop Q85 battery. This charging time suggests it had lost almost 24Ah (if it had been full before, but unlikely with too many short journeys) or about a third of its nominal 65Ah charge.

So yes, the batteries will need a re-charge, but if recent and in good condition like my two with almost their full original capacity, then another couple of weeks before a charge would probably be fine.

Why not invest the money that you’ve saved on fuel in a “smart” charger (or two?), that would seem to be a good option. Don’t think the idea of running the engines on a stationary vehicle for a short while is a good one because I doubt the engine would reach the optimum running temperature, and it would cause a lot of “local” pollution.

That was my other consideration

I’ve SORN my 5 , which is a second car, as I don’t think I’ll be using it for a while, so I reverse it out of the garage and start it up and let it run for about 15 minutes, at least once a week and giving it a few revs once warmed up, seems to be OK with this.
You’ll probably get other views as well which will hopefully be helpful, this is just my way of dealing with a garaged car, and hopefully this is a short term thing :neutral_face:

Boz

Starting the engine will take more out of the battery than idling it can put back in, unless you do run it for quite a long time. Also, it’s unlikely all the condensation will get blown out of the engine and exhaust unless you actually drive it. You’ve no doubt seen water pouring out of the exhaust pipe of cars that are obviously only driven at weekends at very low revs and road speeds - it’s not good for the engine or the exhaust to have trapped water inside.

You could remove the battery and keep it indoors; those “smart” chargers from the low cost supermarkets seem to work well enough and cost less than £15.

If the battery is removed, when re fiitting it, does this affect the alarm system /radio etc ?

Obviously the alarm won’t work without power. The radio might need a code entering.

As always, life is a compromise!

see the thread here - Battery Change Settings - #2 by captainhaddock

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Just an opinion, but do not really understand the logic…
If you have no where to plug it in then fine.
Idling uses more fuel than any other mode and agreed with other comments posted here.
You can buy a Streetwise 1.5 amp trickle charger for under £20, (or other).
Surely if you have those 2 cars, this amount of money is not a great deal.
It’s intelligent and works and prevents over charging and keeps the battery in top condition.
Again, just an opinion…

‘pragmatism’ I think that covers it!!!
:heart:

Interesting thread to an interesting problem.

Our situation is similar to others already posted. Our cars are parked outside, in a section of the garden about 150 feet from the house. Yes, at a push, I can get power up there (using a very long extension lead) if necessary, but it is not feasible to leave it unattended for any length of time, so a trickle charger is not really practical.

The battery on our Mazda 3 is quite happy being left for days on end, but the one in our MX-5 needs a bit more TLC, even though it is only 3 years old.

Since being confined to barracks, because my wife is asthmatic, and is in an ‘at risk’ group, every two or three days, I have been starting up the 5, and running it at about 2,000 - 3,000 rpm for twenty-odd minutes, making sure the temperature gauge has reached its normal operating position, ensuring (I hope) that no water / condensation is left in the exhaust, and that the battery has had power taken out of it (through the act of starting) and has had a bit of a charge to counteract this. I sometimes drive it up and down our little lane (about 200 yards long) to make sure the brakes don’t seize up at the same time. Batteries do not like being left stagnant, and discharging / recharging is the best way to make sure they have a long life.

This seems to be the best way I can think of to make sure our 5 is always ready for use, and no problems crop up due to any long periods of idleness. OK, so as someone has already pointed out, local pollution might be an issue here, but …