Was given a card for a free car wash with all the options. My 2011 Sonata was in need. Soooooo I head out to the outboard garage and go to fire it up. All the idiot lights come on and it clicks. Argh! Called USAA roadside service which I've never ever used before. Also called the service manager at the local Hyundai dealer. Duh. Modern cars, despite being turned OFF, will still draw juice from the battery and, if not started every so often to recharge things, will die. Towing service shows up and gets it running. Learned about a transmission interlock switch (or whatever its called.... you can see the lock release just above the P in the picture below) that when depressed off allows the car to be rolled which was needed for the operator to get access to the engine compartment as the car was parked nose to the wall. He also admonished not to do what we did with "old school" cars and go drive it around immediately to charge the battery.. No no no. Let it idle at least 30 minutes, then go drive. Seems newer cars' alternators will go $%^& if you go old school on 'em. Also told to leave a key fob in the car while it idled or it would shut off. Seems that's a theft prevention feature that will kill the engine after x number of minutes if fob isn't in immediate proximity to the car. What do I know?



Now keep in mind that (1) I have had a battery disconnect terminal switch on my '03 S2000 for 15 years now which is used for winter storage, and (2) that since 2011 I've minimally driven the Sonata during warm months in deference to the S2000. Yes even at my age I love a two seater convertible. Would only use the sedan when it was raining cats and dogs and I needed to go somewhere like a doctors appointment. This year has been a bit odd in that I haven't driven the sedan since the first week of May. And FWIW the battery is less than 2 years old.

So I've ordered another battery disconnect terminal.....

Tow operator who happened to be the owner told me of new Subaru's using tiny batteries that will die if the car sits more than 3 days. OMG! This definitely unlike the '99 Forester I bought new that my son still drives. Then there are these new Fords that don't have any key access on door latches requiring the handle to be disassembled to gain entry if the vehicle is locked up when the battery dies. Engineers who design these things actually keep their jobs? WTFO?

Anyhow the car has now been washed! LOL



Here's an engine bay shot of my S2000. You can see the green knob on top of the battery's disconnect switch attached to the negative terminal.

Sounds like a perfect case for a battery tender.

I have a hard time believing a car left with the ignition off for 3+ days would kill the battery. I leave my '13 superduty in the garage with the key in the ignition for 15 - 20 days easy between drives with no issue.

I would imagine there would be a lot of disappointed travelers at the airport if cars drained their batteries that quickly.

The override he was speaking of allows you to shift out of Park when no power is available to energize the interlock, typically it is controlled by the brake pedal.

Too much parasitic draw on new stuff. Most cars and trucks now have 3 computers drawing constantly on the battery. My 07 Tahoe eats up batteries. I slow charge the battery for 24 hours every month. If it ever drops below 12 volts the CD changer will start and run until the battery is dead. This almost always happens during the night. Will not happen of course if being driven. Ah yes modern stuff. Wonderful if working right.

A friend of mine takes care of a 2016 Porsche 911 GTS4, if you don't drive it every 10 days the battery will be dead, happens even with a new battery. Supposedly according to the dealer, it needs to be driven 7 miles just to restore the energy the computers and starter used to start it. If the battery goes dead, you then can't open the hood to get to the battery to charge it, and have to hook 12 volts to these two little tiny posts inside the car and hit the hood button......isn't German engineering great?

quote:

Originally posted by Yellow Jacket:
Sounds like a perfect case for a battery tender.

I'm not big on the idea of unattended trickle chargers in a second outboard garage not attached to the house which is where the Sonata is during the warm weather months.

quote:

Originally posted by shiftyvtec:
I have a hard time believing a car left with the ignition off for 3+ days would kill the battery.

I was shocked as well but whose to argue with a guy basing his comments on multiple service calls.

I keep a Gooloo battery starter pack in the trunk of my S2000 for this purpose. Quicker than calling AAA!
Thanks for the advice, though...a battery disconnector switch sounds like a good idea...but does having the electronics disconnected affect anything?

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
I keep a Gooloo battery starter pack in the trunk of my S2000 for this purpose. Quicker than calling AAA!
Thanks for the advice, though...a battery disconnector switch sounds like a good idea...but does having the electronics disconnected affect anything?

Nope. Only thing you have to do is punch in the radio code when you reconnect the battery. Again I've been storing my sled for winters since I bought it in 2003 and have used this battery disconnect switch since day one without any issues at all.

Closer pic (taken before I upgraded to a red billet battery tie down bracket):

quote:

So I've ordered another battery disconnect terminal

Good luck with that. I know there is not many new car brands I would try that with. Your Sonata may be different. A good battery tender is the way to go.

quote:

Originally posted by Jelly:

quote:

So I've ordered another battery disconnect terminal

Good luck with that. I know there is not many new car brands I would try that with. Your Sonata may be different.

Eh? Please explain.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:

quote:

Originally posted by Jelly:

quote:

So I've ordered another battery disconnect terminal

Good luck with that. I know there is not many new car brands I would try that with. Your Sonata may be different.

Eh? Please explain.

With that Porsche GTS, when changing the battery or if the battery goes 100% dead, you have to have the computer reprogrammed at the dealership for $600!!!

“I'm not big on the idea of unattended trickle chargers in a second outboard garage not attached to the house which is where the Sonata is during the warm weather months.”


FWIW, I’ve had 3 occasional use vehicles in the “barn” at the ranch on Battery Tenders for years without any sort of problem. And two in the garage at our vacation home, as well. I think the Battery Tender line is pretty reliable. They’re not like the trickle chargers of yesteryear.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:

quote:

Originally posted by Jelly:

quote:

So I've ordered another battery disconnect terminal

Good luck with that. I know there is not many new car brands I would try that with. Your Sonata may be different.

Eh? Please explain.

With that Porsche GTS, when changing the battery or if the battery goes 100% dead, you have to have the computer reprogrammed at the dealership for $600!!!

Good to know. Battery disconnects on a Honda Civic and Lexus is350 both work fine.

quote:

Originally posted by black1970:
Too much parasitic draw on new stuff. Most cars and trucks now have 3 computers drawing constantly on the battery. My 07 Tahoe eats up batteries. I slow charge the battery for 24 hours every month. If it ever drops below 12 volts the CD changer will start and run until the battery is dead. This almost always happens during the night. Will not happen of course if being driven. Ah yes modern stuff. Wonderful if working right.

Dealing with parasitic draw on my 20 year old car. Maybe 5 hours and its dead. Keep dusconnecting and reconnecting. Get a volt meter this weekend as I got a short some place.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
“I'm not big on the idea of unattended trickle chargers in a second outboard garage not attached to the house which is where the Sonata is during the warm weather months.”


FWIW, I’ve had 3 occasional use vehicles in the “barn” at the ranch on Battery Tenders for years without any sort of problem. And two in the garage at our vacation home, as well. I think the Battery Tender line is pretty reliable. They’re not like the trickle chargers of yesteryear.

Are you using the Battery Tender Jr. models or the more expensive ones?

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
“I'm not big on the idea of unattended trickle chargers in a second outboard garage not attached to the house which is where the Sonata is during the warm weather months.”


FWIW, I’ve had 3 occasional use vehicles in the “barn” at the ranch on Battery Tenders for years without any sort of problem. And two in the garage at our vacation home, as well. I think the Battery Tender line is pretty reliable. They’re not like the trickle chargers of yesteryear.

Yep, this my experience as well. We store a motorcycle, tractor and rototiller on a trickle charger in the winter months in an out building and have done it for years without an issue.

Jim

Battery Tenders are good to go. Use them on cars and motorcycles in my garage all of the time.

I would recommend that you hook a battery charger to your battery now anyway, there is no chance that your battery is fully charged unless you drove for hours. Newer cars do not charge the battery all of the time, and you will be left with just a surface charge on the battery.

quote:

Tow operator who happened to be the owner told me of new Subaru's using tiny batteries that will die if the car sits more than 3 days.

I have an '18 Outback and have never heard of this. Nothing in the owner's manual. I have left my car sit for over a week and it fired right up and nothing is out of order. I call BS.

Bald1, I have a couple of “Juniors”. I don’t often use the Battery Tenders as chargers, but more as maintainers. I don’t know how well the Juniors would cope with a completely discharged battery. Lots of times the Battery Tender will show a battery I’ve just hooked it to as partially discharged, usually overnight it will bring the battery to a full charge. Sometimes the Junior takes a couple of days instead of just overnight.

I just went out to the garage and checked-grandma’s old Cadillac DeVille battery is habitually kept on a Junior when we aren’t at our vacation home. Sometimes for months at a stretch.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

Tow operator who happened to be the owner told me of new Subaru's using tiny batteries that will die if the car sits more than 3 days.

I have an '18 Outback and have never heard of this. Nothing in the owner's manual. I have left my car sit for over a week and it fired right up and nothing is out of order. I call BS.

BS indeed... There are a half dozen recent production Subarus of various models in my family. I have several other buddies with Subarus. None have any issue with their batteries draining from just sitting for a few days.