6 replies to this topic

[brad252]

The battery I have in the Mini now is completley dead. The car has been off the road for a couple of years so there are no surprises there. I am looking to get the Mini back out on the road early next year (In time for L2B) but first there are few bits I need to do to get her 100%

 

My question is - If I was to buy a new battery and fit it in the car, would it hold its charge if I start the Mini up every weekend and let it run on idle for 10mins? I would normally be patient and wait until the time to get her back on the road before buying the battery but there is a slight overheating problem that I want to try and deal with first. And obviously I will need the car to be running a few times to try and solve the problem.

 

Thanks in advance...

[Yoda]

That should be fine, run the car for twenty minutes if you can without overheating to replace the power used by starting the car. Or, use a trickle charger once a week to top it up if you cant run for at least twenty minutes. the other way to preserve the battery would be to disconnect the negative terminal while the car is not in use.

[KernowCooper]

Or take the battery out if you dont have power where it is and trickle charge it at home, if you have power where your car is just get a optimate charger to keep it 100%

[jamesmpi]

You could buy a quick disconnect terminal which saves you having to get a spanner each time to unscrew the terminal. They are quite cheap on ebay. I disconnect my battery and leave it for months at a time without a trickle charger and always starts first time. 

[spaulwill]

buy a cheap trickle charger is the best option or once shes charged disconnect the earth lead to stop discharge whilst idle

[brad252]

Thanks for all the replies everyone, much apritiated. I think I'm going to go for the trickle charger option with the quick release terminal. This seems like the easiest and most convenient for what I am going to be doing.

[Badboytunes]

Starting an engine up from cold and letting it idle doesnt really do it any favours, especially if your going to be doing this for some time.....

 

Get a battery, fix the fault and then all you will have to do is charge it up once, when you come to put the car back on the road.