P38A Battery, to disconnect or not.

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pre-lockdown I was going overseas fairly often and would always disconnect my battery, for up to 3 weeks at a time, and never had an issue.

Make sure the car is unlocked when you disconnect (it will return to the same state when the battery is reconnected), you can of course lock it with the sill buttons, and door lock, after that. And sure, take the EKA procedure/ EKA code with you, but I doubt you'll need it. BTW, the EKA disable feature will ensure that if immobilised the car doesn't DEMAND the EKA, but it will still ACCEPT the EKA, if your key/fob doesn't clear the immobilisation, so still worth keeping the EKA info to hand. If you let the battery go flat while connected then it's pretty much certain that you will get immobilised - and so you may as well disconnect the battery when it's pretty much certain you won't get immobilised/ need the EKA.

I assume you have a working fob and door locks/ microswitches though? If not then all bets are off... Lastly, when you have disconnected the car battery, put the fob somewhere where the lock/ unlock buttons are not going to get pressed (else the fob will lose synch for when you reconnect the battery, and you can't resynch the fob while immobilised).

I've tested all this out on my car (4.6 1998) your model may differ.

If I disconnect the battery is it possible to lock the tailgate?
 
I've got a solar panel and obd2 connector. Left it in mine for 3 months whilst out of the UK and it was fine. Didn't work on the now sold TT for some reason, battery always went flat. Around £50 for panel and about £10 for the obd2 connector. Obviously park where your car is in the sun :D:cool:
 
If you have a good quality and power battery you’ll be fine. I only have the RF disconnected and the terminals taped up to stop any transmission and have left for longer than that with no issues. If I was concerned I would disconnect the battery. Think of the fun you can have resetting all the windows. If I was still having sleepless nights I’d put a booster pack in the boot. That runs on a battery too so next step is a genny. From there on it’s a slippery slope
 
If you have a good quality and power battery you’ll be fine. I only have the RF disconnected and the terminals taped up to stop any transmission and have left for longer than that with no issues. If I was concerned I would disconnect the battery. Think of the fun you can have resetting all the windows. If I was still having sleepless nights I’d put a booster pack in the boot. That runs on a battery too so next step is a genny. From there on it’s a slippery slope
Get one of the high power lithium booster packs, store energy for ages. Mine has been a god send wouldn't be without it
 
Disconnecting the battery is a very wise thing to do when leaving for a while. Always have the key in position II, igntion on, when disconnecting. This will stop any keycode lockout when re-connected, and always have the key back in position II when re-connecting. I have two P38's and I've fitted one of those little quick battery disconnect switches on both. I leave them parked at airports regularly for weeks and this saves an awful lot of trouble. There is always something that wakens up on both cars and flattens the battery if they're left for a while.
BatteryDisconnect.jpg
 
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