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Original poster

Car Battery Maintenance

7 replies

Meckity1 · 23/03/2020 11:59

I'm self isolating due to symptoms. Feeling a little better. Recognised symptoms on Wednesday and have stayed in since.

How long can a car go without being driven before the battery is affected? Is it once a week you take it out for a drive? Or should it be more often? When you take it out for a drive, how far should you go to top the battery up?

Thank you.

OP posts:

EBearhug · 23/03/2020 12:04

It needs a long run - I commute about 15 miles a day each way, and when I got my car serviced, they said that's just local running around and isn't enough. At the moment, I am not driving the car at all because WFH, so we shall see...

Original poster

Meckity1 · 23/03/2020 12:20

I probably could go for a drive if I stayed in my car, but it feels like cheating

OP posts:

EBearhug · 23/03/2020 13:10

I agree.

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StuntNun · 25/03/2020 10:45

I already haven't driven my car for over a week. What are the chances of the battery holding its charge for several weeks without use? The battery is around three years old.

mencken · 25/03/2020 11:12

older cars (say 10 years or more) should be fine. New ones with lots of gizmos and gadgets can drain the battery even when not used. Will take quite some time though. At least it isn't winter.

Everyone with a car should also have a battery charger, assuming you've got mains power within reach. A short drive won't be enough to recharge it.

although garages can stay open, most round my way are closing so if the car does conk out, tough.

tank up while you are out, the stuff is plummeting in price!

get well soon.

mencken · 26/03/2020 14:41

BTW I had an email from my breakdown company. Advice is not to just turn the engine over for a short while, that's more strain on the battery. The car should be fine for some time, although if you have a shitty new one with lots of gadgets that time will be less. Sorry, that's form over function design for you.

BarbaraofSeville · 26/03/2020 14:49

I thought about this earlier because I'm working from home for the foreseeable so I might not have any reason to use my car for 2/3 weeks at least.

But I then realised that they're usually OK if you leave them stood for a fortnight while you go on holiday, so no need to worry just yet, but how much longer?

Maybe leave a bit of time the first time you need to go anywhere in case you need to jump start it from another car, charge the battery or call breakdown.

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