12v battery maintenance

Toyota: advice on battery maintenance during lockdown or lack of use. - General Discussions - Toyota Owners Club - Toyota Forum

Why does the Corolla handbook say to remove the Battery earth connection before boost or trickle charging the aux Battery?

Bozz

Hi Bozz,

I purchased a Corolla Hybrid on November 24th from the Lanzarote dealership.

As a retired marine engineer I asked many questions around the car and the drive system so as to be as fully aware as possible.

I am looking forward to going away again, ( come on Boris, pull your finger out, or resign), usually for 3 to 4 weeks and would normally leave the car on a Ctex programmable charger. Advice given, just disconnect one terminal or put on charge. Considering the amount of electronics and computer software on these cars I will be leaving the 12V on charge.

I use a CTEK to maintain my Battery but I don't disconnect the Battery.  I just connect the red cable to the + terminal on the Battery and the black cable to a lug on the cylinder head.  Do not put it directly on the battery - terminal.  

On 12/22/2021 at 2:45 PM, DJF 42 said:

Hi Bozz,

I purchased a Corolla Hybrid on November 24th from the Lanzarote dealership.

As a retired marine engineer I asked many questions around the car and the drive system so as to be as fully aware as possible.

I am looking forward to going away again, ( come on Boris, pull your finger out, or resign), usually for 3 to 4 weeks and would normally leave the car on a Ctex programmable charger. Advice given, just disconnect one terminal or put on charge. Considering the amount of electronics and computer software on these cars I will be leaving the 12V on charge.

Call me naive but is there any harm if the Battery is discharged? When you come back, start with a portable jump starter, drive amd you should be fine? 

18 minutes ago, Spo2 said:

Call me naive but is there any harm if the battery is discharged? When you come back, start with a portable jump starter, drive amd you should be fine? 

Yes, it is a harmful to the Battery to go below certain voltage, once it does it may never recover to its full potential and a new replacement Battery will be needed. Best to set a charger either mains powered or solar powered something to maintain Battery state of charge if the car been left without any use. 👍

8 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Yes, it is a harmful to the battery to go below certain voltage, once it does it may never recover to its full potential and a new replacement battery will be needed. Best to set a charger either mains powered or solar powered something to maintain battery state of charge if the car been left without any use. 👍

Thanks @TonyHSD: So those who go away for holiday, and do not have garage/option to connect trickle charger, what do they do? Take out Battery and connect with a  trickle charger inside home (might not be appropriate as it would invalidate insurance and put alarm etc of the car off)? 

12 minutes ago, Spo2 said:

Thanks @TonyHSD: So those who go away for holiday, and do not have garage/option to connect trickle charger, what do they do? Take out battery and connect with a  trickle charger inside home (might not be appropriate as it would invalidate insurance and put alarm etc of the car off)? 

I don’t know, every owner perhaps has its own way. Some have use a solar powered chargers and leave them connected to the Battery to maintain a healthy voltage. It will also depend how the car was used prior to the holiday time, if been in proper every day use for 20 min or more each time you may not need to do anything when going on holidays especially in the summer months when temperatures are warm. If the car been only occasionally used then it might be a good idea to fully charge the 12v Battery before you leave. I never needed to charge my one, once even we left the car for 4 weeks and it started first time afterwards, but my car is old and has no connected services that continuously draw some current. Let see what others will suggest, 👍 

10 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

I don’t know, every owner perhaps has its own way. Some have use a solar powered chargers and leave them connected to the battery to maintain a healthy voltage. It will also depend how the car was used prior to the holiday time, if been in proper every day use for 20 min or more each time you may not need to do anything when going on holidays especially in the summer months when temperatures are warm. If the car been only occasionally used then it might be a good idea to fully charge the 12v battery before you leave. I never needed to charge my one, once even we left the car for 4 weeks and it started first time afterwards, but my car is old and has no connected services that continuously draw some current. Let see what others will suggest, 👍 

Thanks Tony. Will look at switching off connected service- need to find out how this is done and is it okay to do so.

17 hours ago, Spo2 said:

Thanks Tony. Will look at switching off connected service- need to find out how this is done and is it okay to do so.

The flip side of that is the connected services is a useful gps tracker if the worse does happen.

Amazon has 15% off solar car chargers. Just ordered one for myself. If anyone interested. 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AA-Essentials-AA1432-Battery-Charger/dp/B084M5ZL5L/ref=sr_1_6?crid=39V2XP1ATFN47&keywords=solar%2Bbattery%2Bcharger&qid=1649863122&sprefix=Solar%2Bbat%2Caps%2C73&sr=8-6&th=1

6 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Amazon has 15% off solar car chargers. Just ordered one for myself. If anyone interested. 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AA-Essentials-AA1432-Battery-Charger/dp/B084M5ZL5L/ref=sr_1_6?crid=39V2XP1ATFN47&keywords=solar%2Bbattery%2Bcharger&qid=1649863122&sprefix=Solar%2Bbat%2Caps%2C73&sr=8-6&th=1

How is this different from this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/AA-5060114614185-Solar-Powered-Battery-Charger/dp/B00AC1LLQY/ref=asc_df_B00AC1LLQY/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310668964056&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1092663734157811596&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006976&hvtargid=pla-562185048380&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

8 minutes ago, Spo2 said:

How is this different from this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/AA-5060114614185-Solar-Powered-Battery-Charger/dp/B00AC1LLQY/ref=asc_df_B00AC1LLQY/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310668964056&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1092663734157811596&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006976&hvtargid=pla-562185048380&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

I don’t know tbh. I just ordered the other one, it has 15% off , this one only 4%, hahaha 🤣 maybe then solar panel is the difference, not sure which one is better. 

My one is later model, from 2020 and the one you shared is from 2012, don’t know if that really matter.👍

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Amazon has 15% off solar car chargers. Just ordered one for myself. If anyone interested. 
 

Hi Tony, which attachment would you use to connect the charger?

1 hour ago, 50p said:

Hi Tony, which attachment would you use to connect the charger?

Hi,

I will most likely use the obd port. I had never tried this before but my neighbor has left his car connected via obd to similar solar charger over 12 months period. I did locked and unlocked his car few times and central locking was working great. He only told me that if I need to start the car I should disconnect it first and then turn the ignition ON. 👍 I am planning to try this by the end of May as I will be going on holiday for a week. 🏖

@TonyHSD That is the one I currently have on order. 

@Spo2 As far as I know, the one you refer to is not as powerful as the 4.8 version.

I have a thread running under ??? (will have to find it!) regarding the AA solar charger.

Here it is - 

@TonyHSD: Tony, the Aldi charger is it a fast Battery charger as well as a trickle charger?

8 hours ago, Spo2 said:

@TonyHSD: Tony, the Aldi charger is it a fast battery charger as well as a trickle charger?

I think it does have trickle charge function., haven’t used yet. I have only open the box to take some pictures and turned on to check if it’s working. My dad said that he had charged his Battery twice by 4 hrs each time and the Battery is good again. 👍

7 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

I think it does have trickle charge function., haven’t used yet. I have only open the box to take some pictures and turned on to check if it’s working. My dad said that he had charged his battery twice by 4 hrs each time and the battery is good again. 👍

Thanks Tony, I am looking forward to your experience on the AA solar charger!

26 minutes ago, Spo2 said:

Thanks Tony, I am looking forward to your experience on the AA solar charger!

Just received mine today and this thing is huge, really big panel. Will not use soon though, it will be by the end of the next month. Reviews are positive, it says trickle charge on the manual so should be good. My Battery btw if it’s the original one is now 11 years old and over 200k miles, these are good results, unless had been changed before I had the car 7 years ago 👍👌

Tony, have you look to see if there is a date? 

@TonyHSD and anybody else interested in the AA 4.8w trickle charger. I have just posted a reply in the '12v Battery on 1.8 Hybrid' thread. To save me repeating it all, this is the link - 

22 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi,

I will most likely use the obd port. I had never tried this before but my neighbor has left his car connected via obd to similar solar charger over 12 months period. I did locked and unlocked his car few times and central locking was working great. He only told me that if I need to start the car I should disconnect it first and then turn the ignition ON. 👍 I am planning to try this by the end of May as I will be going on holiday for a week. 🏖

Since you drive so much, would the Battery be not okay in a week? 

8 minutes ago, Spo2 said:

Since you drive so much, would the battery be not okay in a week? 

I think it will be ok, we use to leave it without any use for 3-4 weeks without any problems, but now it’s old and if I connect it to a solar charger it’s kind of peace of mind. 
I never bothered to buy any chargers before, but you know these are not expensive and they will come handy one day for sure.