Charge or disconnect BATTERY

[K Myers]

I going Tobe gone for about 90 -120 days should I disconnect the battery or put a charger on it

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[ORRadtech]

Get a battery maintainer. Battery Tender is a reasonably priced quality brand.

 

[Stangalang]

Battery maintainer is more than enough. I've been gone for 2 weeks at a time, and forgotten to put it on a tender. The car still started up after coming back from vacation.

 

[Vicr]

Make sure battery is at full charge (12.8v) and disconnect the negative battery cable and call it good. I leave my Mustang in the summer this way while I travel for 10 to 12 weeks.

 

[Skye]

Short-term, 90-120 days, I'd think disconnected would be OK. Batteries sit in inventory for as long before being sold.

Long-term, over the life of the car, I'd prefer the use of a tender. Aside from keeping it topped up, it will condition the battery for an optimum service life.

Just in-case, will someone be checking in on the home and car while out? If not, I'd disconnect. I trust my tender, but when I leave long-term, I turn off the water, turn on the heater (if leaning into the Fall) and remove other risks along the way.

 

[blackk3389]

I have had battery maintainers crap on me, yes it was 3 year old unit. for that long of storage i would top off the battery and disconnect.

 

[Torched10]

I'm on the side of safety. Many tenders have automatic shut off when charge is full.down side if it not attended to battery could overcharge and possible ignite .safer to just charge it up to 12.6 v unplug black terminal. If the battery is low when you return just charge e it up again also j agree if there's no one home turn off water at street turn off water heater gas if you can.if you have gas dryer turn that off too.good luck

 

[Balr14]

Mustangs have an excellent hibernation mode and extremely low parasitic power loss. I let mine sit for about 2 months with no issues. 90 - 120 days may be pushing your luck.

 

[Ben James]

For reference, when I replaced my battery with a lithium unit I was able to calculate the parasitic loss over a 2 week period (double locked).

From memory it worked out to be about 10 ampere hours per day.

The battery we were testing it holds 24000Ah so we estimated it would be able to sit for about a year before we would have to make sure enough charge was left to start the battery.

In the real world things tend to be a little different (for eg parasitic losses in the battery due to temperature changes), but we figured it should be able to sit for at least 2-3 months without any issues.

Im not sure how a regular battery would do though…

 

[Aless_andro00]

If you can't use a charger or don't have a plug nearby, it's a good idea to unplug the battery. But, make sure to look at your car's guidebook to do it the right way.

 

[nicksalvadore24]

I use the Noco Genius 1 trickle charger. Good little charger that does what it needs to for $30

 

[Scuba]

I going Tobe gone for about 90 -120 days should I disconnect the battery or put a charger on it

I use the smallest Battery Tender (750ma) when I park it for the winter. Not sure if this is a better choice over disconnect, but I figure the low charge rate has less risk.
The longest stretch I've had it connected is ~30 days, no issues- disconnect may be a better choice for 90+ days.

Still has the original battery (5+years old) and so far no sign of it getting weak. I wonder how much longer it will last....

 

[Qcman17]

I use the smallest Battery Tender (750ma) when I park it for the winter. Not sure if this is a better choice over disconnect, but I figure the low charge rate has less risk.
The longest stretch I've had it connected is ~30 days, no issues- disconnect may be a better choice for 90+ days.

Still has the original battery (5+years old) and so far no sign of it getting weak. I wonder how much longer it will last....

I use the same tender and I'm getting on 5 years with the OEM battery with no issues..........so far. I also used the same unit for over 6 years on my Camaro SS and never changed the OEM battery before selling it.

 

[Link6677]

I leave for 10-45 days regularly and have used a battery tender on my 21014 GT and my 2023 Mach1 with no issues. Prior to getting the tender the 2014 would be dead after 35-40 days.

 

[Schuvwj]

I’m surprised nobody has offered both!
Disconnect the battery and put the battery tender on the battery!

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