P38A Parking her up for 6 weeks. Disconnect battery?

Hi all (1997 4.6 HSE,)
I won't be using the RR for the next 6 weeks and I wish to avoid a flat battery. Can I leave it disconnected without losing sync or getting key-code lockout, provided that I follow procedure when I disconnect? (ignition on, then off and remove battery lead within 20 sec).

Thanks!
Henrik

I would. I left mine for 4 weeks and have been left buggered.

I know. It happened to me last time and it's always such a pain tu get her up and running again.

Not a range but I left both my golf and my defender unused for about 6 months.

For the golf which was outside I got a small solar panel top up charger that topped the battery via the cigarette lighter as a trickle charge.

For the defender in the garage I just connected the battery to a float charger

Both were absolutely fine like this, might work for you? The solar panel just sat on the dash, about the size of a magazine

Henrik97 said:

Hi all (1997 4.6 HSE,)
I won't be using the RR for the next 6 weeks and I wish to avoid a flat battery. Can I leave it disconnected without losing sync or getting key-code lockout, provided that I follow procedure when I disconnect? (ignition on, then off and remove battery lead within 20 sec).

Thanks!
Henrik

Click to expand...

As long as you follow the disconnection procedure loosen negative but leave attached then switch ignition on then off and disconnect within 17 seconds before alarm activates it should not be a problem. Then lock the car manually. When you reconnect DO NOT have doors and windows shut and keys in car.

Thank you, that's pretty much how I planned to do it.

I use the Ctek chargers to maintain batteries when the cars are stored. about £50 and it maintains the battery condition.

On a battery trickle charger you're not going to have to deal with the EKA code input (PITA) and possible BeCM re sync

ukadamwest said:

I use the Ctek chargers to maintain batteries when the cars are stored. about £50 and it maintains the battery condition.

On a battery trickle charger you're not going to have to deal with the EKA code input (PITA) and possible BeCM re sync

Click to expand...

If you disconnect it properly you won't have to deal with any of that either.

The other thing is.. i find a battery charger or two a lot cheaper than having to replace toasted batteries !!! That s**t starts to get expensive !

Or use Brian's 12V remote switch for the RF receiver.

My RF receiver was changed to the new version some time ago and it helped a lot. She will now maintain a healthy battery level for about two weeks, but after that it's touch and go. I have no power source where I park, so a trickle charger is out of the question. The sun never shines in Bergen in October, so that's the solar panel out. Really, it doesn't bother me at all having to disconnect the battery, so long as I know I won't have to go through the hit-and-miss EKA process when I hook it back up. I have followed procedure when disconnecting the battery before, and it's worked without problems, but then I've typically reconnected it after a few hours - not 6 weeks. I'll trust Wammers and cross my fingers.

Thanks

Better safe than sorry. Maybe if the ultrasound detectors were disabled? Be interesting to find the drain.

Maybe. Although I seriously doubt that a P38, fresh out of the factory with nothing at all wrong with it (except all those faults that were engineered in by the goblins), could be left for 6 weeks without draining its battery. Seems to be true for a lot of other cars as well.

Henrik97 said:

Maybe. Although I seriously doubt that a P38, fresh out of the factory with nothing at all wrong with it (except all those faults that were engineered in by the goblins), could be left for 6 weeks without draining its battery. Seems to be true for a lot of other cars as well.

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All my others have been fine. Mind you, they've all been simple. And of course, we don't get Scandinavian temperatures so much here.

Just got back. Reconnected battery. Had to sync the key in the door lock, but no EKA input required and she fired up without a hitch. Recommended!

Henrik

Grrrrrr said:

Or use Brian's 12V remote switch for the RF receiver.

Click to expand...

Or remove fuse 15

Speaking from experience, disconnecting the battery (as per the manual) caused me mega problems. I leave my car now with a maintenance charger attached, and the second remote fitted, never had a problem since. Not a £50 charger bur a £12.95 one from Aldi.

Henrik97 said:

Maybe. Although I seriously doubt that a P38, fresh out of the factory with nothing at all wrong with it (except all those faults that were engineered in by the goblins), could be left for 6 weeks without draining its battery. Seems to be true for a lot of other cars as well.

Click to expand...

Mine regularly sits for weeks at a time with the battery connected and no issues, although it tends to get driven more in the winter which keeps the battery levels up when it matters.
I do keep a PowerStart 700 (The same Jump start pack the AA use) in the car just in case, but I've never had to use it on the Rangey yet - only on my other car!