Gone for six weeks. Battery?

[crheyne]

We’re going on an extended trip for about six weeks. Would it be better if I left my battery tender hooked up or should I just unhook the negative cable from a fully charged battery? What are you all think?

Sponsored

 

[SafetyGuy]

We’re going on an extended trip for about six weeks. Would it be better if I left my battery tender hooked up or should I just unhook the negative cable from a fully charged battery? What are you all think?

Good day

When we take longer trips such as this, I hook up our AGM-friendly smart charger (truck is tucked away in our garage) for the duration.

I figure this is better then having to re-enter everything that might get erased due to no battery power or having g to possibly train the truck how to drive/shift again.

My 2 cents, hope this helps,

Andy

 

[babytruk]

I often leave the truck for 2-6 weeks and never a problem although I’ve never looked to see if the dome light is out when I return. If you have seen battery problems on your car, I would go with the battery tender. Somebody recently asked about 5 weeks so maybe they will see this thread and report how it went for them.

 

[okgaz]

Tender to avoid having all settings reset. It’s just easier.

Otherwise / if you don’t care about that, both will work fine.

But definitely do one of those. Six weeks is a long time for any vehicle battery to sit - yet alone the Mav with known issues here.

 

[Fcarl]

We’re going on an extended trip for about six weeks. Would it be better if I left my battery tender hooked up or should I just unhook the negative cable from a fully charged battery? What are you all think?

We would travel to AZ for 2 months then come home , we had to drive to Great Falls MT ,then fly to AZ from there , truck being parked where there is no power to plug in i just disconected the positive cable, when i returned hooked up and had no problems !

 

[DonnyDuck]

Shouldn't it be the negative (ground) cable?

 

[Fcarl]

dunno, thats what i disconnected ! all good for me

 

[okgaz]

Should be disconnect the negative. Much safer.

If the disconnected positive cable touches any grounded metal on the truck, it will create a direct short to the battery’s negative - which can cause sparks, blown fuses, fire, etc.

 

[Fcarl]

I was very careful ! not to much metal in that area to touch on , tucked it into battery case ! all good

 

[RideSolo]

When we leave town to go south for the winter I always plug the Escape Hybrid (Same basic running gear as a Mav Hybrid) into a battery tender. Never have a problem. That's what battery tenders are for. I do the same w/ the battery in the old BMW R90, again no problems.

 

[Fcarl]

no place to plug in when your at a hotel parking lot

 

[Suzukiridr14]

Shouldn't it be the negative (ground) cable?

I've read both options on which battery post to disconnect first. I prefer disconnecting the + terminal first, to kill the circuit. you can't accidently power up with that terminal lead off. On the other side of the coin, with the ground cable still on the car, you could get a spark when you reattach the + cable with gas fumes in the area. Just be careful either way.

 

[HeyBales]

Should be disconnect the negative. Much safer.

If the disconnected positive cable touches any grounded metal on the truck, it will create a direct short to the battery’s negative - which can cause sparks, blown fuses, fire, etc.

Ehhhh - no for the reason why.

If positive is disconnected there is no connection to the battery - touch the cable end on anything there is no circuit to/from the battery.

The problem occurs during disconnection/connection - if your wrench touching the positive touches any other grounded metal - now you've created a short.
Just as bad as touching the positive to the negative directly with a wrench - just less resistance.

If you do that with disconnect/connect of the negative though - doesn't matter since that side is already grounded.

So indeed safe doing negative first/only.

 

[RideSolo]

no place to plug in when your at a hotel parking lot

I was responding to the OP.

Sponsored