Will my battery hold out

[pembssurf]

Off to Brasilia for 5 weeks in January. About to book parking long stay at Heathrow itself but do you think my W204 2011 reg C180 battery will still be alive when I get he. Worth investing in a starter pack?

 

[Meldrew2]

Many long stay car parks have booster batteries on site.

Worth checking first before buying a starter pack - and don't forget that you will need a powerful one for a C180. The cheap ones just aren't up to the job.

Alternatively, AA or RAC membership might be the answer...

 

[whitenemesis]

Make sure the metal blade emergency key will open the car...

 

[GLK]

I stick a solar power trickle charger into a permanently live socket, when I go away for longer than 2 weeks. Cheaper than starter pack and certainly less stressful for the million little computer gremlins inside the car, just waiting for an excuse to throw a tantrum ...

 

[harvin1975]

I don't know a thing about cars - but couldn't you simply unclip the battery?

 

[whitenemesis]

Modern cars don't like to be without power, various modules 'forget' their settings

 

[pembssurf]

All very good points. I have RAC and mobillife cover but after 24 hours of travelling don't want the fuss of having to wait around.

 

[bpsorrel]

Two years running I left my SLK250 for 2 months in the summer and a month in the winter. Didn't have a battery problem either year. But, just in case I left my hybrid Lexus with a solar trickle to keep the starter battery alive during the summer break!

 

[190]

If the battery is newish maybe you will just get away with it. Doing this in winter at least the batteries self discharge rate will be low. The real issue is knowing what the current draw from the alarm and other systems are in total. With my old 190e I knew exactly what the current draw was - 34mA which with an estimated 1AH per week of self discharge comes to approx. 28 AH over 5 weeks. Hard to see how yours would be less. My gut feel and experience so far is that modern cars are worse than that which is why they have batteries far bigger than should be needed to crank the engine.

I have to say with my 2009 W204 still on it's original battery (which means the capacity must be significantly diminished) I wouldn't dream of leaving it for 5 weeks.

 

[219]

Do you really need to take the car , and leave it at risk of damage by joyriding car park attendants or others who may reverse into it , as well as the anticipated battery problem ?

Can't you get a friend or relative to give you a lift / collect you on return ?

Get a bus ,taxi or the train there / use one of these 'airport transfer' services ?

Get a cheap rental car from someone with a depot at the airport ( so you only need to hire for the two journeys and not the period in between ; eg Enterprise "we pick you up" will bring the rental car to your house and collect it from your home afterwards )?

Leave your Toyota at the airport instead of the Merc ?

Leave the car at home on a maintenance charger .

 

[pembssurf]

Do you really need to take the car , and leave it at risk of damage by joyriding car park attendants or others who may reverse into it , as well as the anticipated battery problem ? Can't you get a friend or relative to give you a lift / collect you on return ? Get a bus ,taxi or the train there / use one of these 'airport transfer' services ? Get a cheap rental car from someone with a depot at the airport ( so you only need to hire for the two journeys and not the period in between ; eg Enterprise "we pick you up" will bring the rental car to your house and collect it from your home afterwards )? Leave your Toyota at the airport instead of the Merc ? Leave the car at home on a maintenance charger .

Wish I could use public transport but I live in myWest Wales. One bus a day to Heathrow. Toyota it is