how long can i leave my car with battery disconected

[jgs600]

hi guys well ive parked my merc ( 1998 w202 c250td estatae ) up for the winter and i was bought a nice stormforce 4 layer cover for the old girl, last night the alarm went off im wondering if its a combination of low battery and having the cover on the car and it was really windy too.....

anyways ive decided im quite happy to just undo the terminals from the battery. now will this have any long term issues with the car ( not worried about the radio setting..!!) just wondering if it would effect the likes of the ecu or dashboard settings and so on.

 

[markjay]

Typically disconnecting the battery means that the ECU and TCU 'forget' their adaptive settings.

When you reconnect the battery, it will take the car some time to 'learn' your driving style and adapt the shift patterns accordingly etc (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

On a practical level, I regularly disconnect the battery on one of my cars and have friends do the same on theirs, never had a problem with it.

Alternatively you could consider a trickle charger (assuming the car is not parked in the street). EDIT: just noticed the photo...

 

[Dieselman]

Other than the comfort features, it won't have any effect at all.

 

[jgs600]

cheers guys thats great, will keep the battery disconected for now.

 

[guydewdney]

consider a solar panel charger if you dont remove and keep the battery indoors on a charger

 

[SamW]

I would check under the cover every so often to make sure it's dry. I had a car under cover for about 6 weeks and the paint started to bubble in a really weird way (I haven't seen it before)

Seems it's happened to a few people but others have been fine. Worth checking tho.

 

[jgs600]

yes cheers for that guys, will probably either take the battery out and keep it charged or might treat myself to a trickle charger too

 

[amg3.6]

Trickle chargers are cheap on ebay a great investment to keep battery charged up.

 

[baldsparky]

Have my W220 S class connected to a C tec mxs 5 intelligent charger. Good way to keep the battery optimised without disconnecting it

 

[Dieselman]

It looks like the O/p's car is remote from their property and electricity, so why are people saying they have their car connected to a mains power battery charger.
How will that help the O/p?

 

[jgs600]

Well car is parked on driveway but to be honest im quite happy with the battery being disconnected. . Can't see anyone nicking the car...!!!! And I have an old charger that I can whack on once in a while to keep the battery charged. Now just need some bags of silicone put in the car to keep the moisture away.