R230 battery charging advice please

[derin100]

I have a 2008 SL350 that I have left unused in France for more than the past 2 months.
I'm shortly due to go over to bring it back to the U.K. I'm anticipating that the batteries will have run down and that it won't start when I get there.

I think jump starting is not a good idea, right?

That being the case which of the two batteries should I put a charger on to? The one under the bonnet?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

 

[ToeKnee]

The battery at the front is only for starting and shouldn't run down over the two months and could quite possibly start the car. The battery in the boot controls pretty much everything else and will quite possibly be flat. Once the car is started then the alternator will start to charge the front battery and once that is up to a certain charge will swap to charging the rear so you may have the battery warning light on for a while until the car had been driven for a while. If you have the time available I'd charge the rear battery for a while then start the car. HTH

 

[derin100]

Thank you. That's great!

 

[Denis O]

You may find your central locking will not work so if it's parked and locked you'll have to get into the car with the key. Procedure in the handbook.

Buy yourself a C-tek to keep your rear battery charged. I leave mine for up to 4 months at a time and it's fine. As it's locked in the garage with a bleedin' great Range Rover in front of it mine can be left unlocked.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Amen to Denis O. Buy a C Tek battery conditioner, which is much more than a battery charger.

Apart from topping up your battery it, genuinely, will recondition older batteries, saving you the expense and the ecological damage of buying new batteries.

That said, as Tony says, what's more usual is that the boot battery gets low when you leave the car for six months. Once started, and run around a bit, the battery returns to full charge.

But if you know you'll be leaving the eleven year old R230 regularly, just buy a charger. Amazon will provide one at a good price.


.

 

[alabbasi]

Just get two solar powered chargers and plug both batteries in or disconnect them before leaving.

Thx

 

[derin100]

Thanks chaps.

I do actually have 4 Cteks here in the UK for cars that are laid up. I also have another one actually there at the property in France but it can't be used when we're not there as the car is actually in our barn which has no electricity and running an extension line from the house means it would have to cross a lane which is the access drive to other house in the same hamlet. Hence, I have to leave with no charger.

The same goes for the solar panel chargers. I can't use those either on that car because the car is covered by the barn.

In the future maybe taking the batteries out and leaving them on a charge in the loft would be a solution or does actually removing the batteries from these cars cause problems in itself?

 

[flowrider]

Just get two solar powered chargers and plug both batteries in or disconnect them before leaving.

Thx

But don't shut the boot or you won't be able to gain access to reconnect the batteries.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Don't think this will really be a problem for you.

The battery running the starter motor seldom runs down. It's the one "consumer" battery which goes flat.

If you CTEK the battery while you're there, by parking the car by your house, you should be fine to leave the car unused for six months or more.

It's seldom a good idea to remove batteries on modern cars. There are too many circuits looking for power.

Conclusion: I think you won't have a problem in starting the car, but that it would make sense to drive the car across to the house to put the car on a CTEK for a few hours when you get there.

But, in the unlikely situation that the car won't start, obviously the answer is to take only the starter motor battery out, and take it over to the house for it to be charged standalone. It's always better to charge a battery than to jumpstart a car.

 

[derin100]

Don't think this will really be a problem for you.

The battery running the starter motor seldom runs down. It's the one "consumer" battery which goes flat.

If you CTEK the battery while you're there, by parking the car by your house, you should be fine to leave the car unused for six months or more.

It's seldom a good idea to remove batteries on modern cars. There are too many circuits looking for power.

Conclusion: I think you won't have a problem in starting the car, but that it would make sense to drive the car across to the house to put the car on a CTEK for a few hours when you get there.

But, in the unlikely situation that the car won't start, obviously the answer is to take only the starter motor battery out, and take it over to the house for it to be charged standalone. It's always better to charge a battery than to jumpstart a car.

Brilliant! Thank you!

 

[whitenemesis]

But, in the unlikely situation that the car won't start, obviously the answer is to take only the starter motor battery out, and take it over to the house for it to be charged standalone. It's always better to charge a battery than to jumpstart a car.

Keep in mind (according to WIS) if one removes the starter battery one must first disconnect the ground line of the systems battery. Always disconnect the rear mounted battery before the front mounted battery

 

[derin100]

Another good tip to know! Thank you!