How long can these cars sit without being started before the battery goes flat?

[Strokerswild]

Whole lot of nonsense to follow. I just connect my charger directly to the battery, top it off, and then disconnect it and let the car keep sitting. If you never start it the day of charging it won't be an issue.

This.

The battery in my '15 is still the OEM unit. Winter in MN means four to five months of the car sitting idle in my shop, and I just connect a smart charger directly to the terminals once a month and let it sit until I get the green light and then move the charger to the next victim. I don't do anything in terms of a charger during the summer months, as the car is generally driven every weekend.

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[WD Pro]

Ref the solar chargers :

I have one one for my shed in the garden

The OP is in a parking garage though ....

WD

 

[Cobra Jet]

Here’s a thread I posted a while back - the S550 can go into deep sleep mode after 14 consecutive days of not being driven or started:

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/s550-deep-sleep-mode.141450/

So it may not always be a “dead” battery.

I’m finding it very strange that some are having such issues; my 2018 has sat literally for 4 weeks on end and still will start right up on first try... 38k original miles on it now with original battery too....

I’m wondering if there’s some other underlying issue in some of these S550’s that are having battery issues??

Anyone leaving connected devices on, such as radar units, gps trackers or video cams??

Is it possible those with the factory modems are draining the battery while sitting??

 

[ice445]

Here’s a thread I posted a while back - the S550 can go into deep sleep mode after 14 consecutive days of not being driven or started:

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/s550-deep-sleep-mode.141450/

So it may not always be a “dead” battery.

I’m finding it very strange that some are having such issues; my 2018 has sat literally for 4 weeks on end and still will start right up on first try... 38k original miles on it now with original battery too....

I’m wondering if there’s some other underlying issue in some of these S550’s that are having battery issues??

Anyone leaving connected devices on, such as radar units, gps trackers or video cams??

Is it possible those with the factory modems are draining the battery while sitting??

Most people leave their key close enough to the car where it's always communicating I imagine. My 2020 has no issues sitting for weeks, but I keep the key isolated.

 

[Elp_jc]

Ah, I had seen this :

THAT is exactly what I did... but that CUTS OFF the port in 1 second after turning ignition off. You wanted to keep it powered/open all the time; don't think you can do that, as I mentioned. Maybe a little more than stock, but that's about it.

 

[dx2]

Here is the other CTEK option :

@DolomiteGT - If you are leaving your charger resting on the car you can get rubber bumper covers for them. For what they are they are expensive, but they do fit well and provide some bump (and slip) resistance

WD

What is the brand of the red sealant on the battery poles ?

 

[WD Pro]

What is the brand of the red sealant on the battery poles ?

It’s Noco NCP2 in an aerosol, I think my tin is about 25 years old now ... lol

WD

 

[FruityJudy]

Is a flat battery kinda like a dead tire?

 

[Five_OhGT]

I work Weds-Sat, and drive my daily exclusively for those four days. I drive my Mustang Sun-Tues. If I don't get to drive it Sunday, it is usually won't start on Monday. I have a trickle charger for this reason.

Worth mentioning that I have a Ford Performance calibration tool plugged in to my OBD2, radar detector and dash camera plugged into the chargers, so I'm sure those are doing some sort of power draw even when they are off.

 

[Hi-PO Stang]

The OP has a four year old battery. I can only get about five years out of a battery. After four years , the battery just does not maintain a charge very long. If I don't drive my vehicles every month with a four to five year old battery I have to put a charger on the battery. I have been able to get up to seven years out of a battery, but that is rare. I left my 2020 Ecoboost sit for two and half months and the Ecoboost fired right up and the battery had plenty of energy. The Ecoboost was built in August so it was a fairly new battery.

 

[WD Pro]

My daily driver (Kia Sportage) has just had it's ninth battery birthday

I've not nursed it or done anything special, just used the car most days for a 7 mile commute.

When lock down came this year I made sure I connected the Ctek once a week.

I've not been tight and struggled through with it, its been 100% trouble free during that period. I do have a new battery on order so I can get one on there before the winter sets in (and I'm still homeworking so its not getting good use at the moment).

Batteries are cheap for me (I work in the industry) so cost hasn't been a consideration in getting the best life possible / best value for money out of the existing battery.

WD

 

[Strokerswild]

Once in a while you get a good one. This past spring I replaced an old Motorcraft in an old car of mine and I know it was at least 20 years old, if not a bit more. I replaced it with a new Motorcraft and when I turned in the old one I asked the parts counter guy if there was a way to determine its age; he turned it until he found a round sticker on one side with an alpha-numeric code on it. He paused and said he couldn't even decode it because it was so old.

 

[Postal Bob]

I just got my GT350 ln December. Towards end of month, I hooked up a trickle charger, and it's been sitting since. Just received a message on my FordPass,
"that the car hasn't been started in 2 weeks, and went into sleep mode, and all remote connectivity has been disabled. Start the car to resume normal remote operations".
So I guess, even with a trickle charger hooked up, when the car is not started for 2 weeks, it goes into sleep mode.

 

[frank s]

With modern cars and their likely constant current draw, it might not be important that there is a difference between "trickle charger" and "Battery maintainer", but you might want to know about it, anyway:

Don Sutton former Test and Manufacturing Engineer Automotive OEM components at Bendix/Kirby/TRW/Tristar (1978-2005)
Answered April 22, 2020

Most modern battery maintenance chargers are a trickle charger with added smarts to know when the battery is fully charged and then stop but monitor and periodically top up the charge. Some have a slight discharge cycle the lowers the charge state a little then recharges to keep the battery healthy.
The old trickle chargers were just a slow charger i.e. one that charged at a low rate but you still have to shut it off unless you put a small load across the battery that can periodically discharge the battery a small amount to prevent over charging. Depends on how good the charger regulator is really.

 

[MNstang]

This thread has me scared to death to hook up a trickle charger to my car! So many differing opinions on what to do...

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