Flat battery problems

Some of the later vehicles require a radio security code when you disconnect the battery. If it hasnt changed from new the radio manual may assist with the standard code.

Apart from that why worry about disconnecting battery as when it is stuffed it has to come out then anyway.

If you battery has the screw on caps have a look to see if it has fluid. You can take it to your mechanic who can tell you if it has a stuffed cell and therefore past it. RACV should also be able to tell you (as long as they dont want to push selling you a battery)

Not sure about your model with specifics. Hopefully someone here will help. Cheers

Hey Twinkles,
best thing i did was buying a ctek charger, only the 3600, I put the 60 series on it every 2 weeks for a day or so and it has been good. the old 60 does a lot of short runs so the battery doesn't charge properly but this has kept it good. It claims to be able to desulphate batteries some times so you might get yours back. I never disconnect it to charge, couldn't be bothered, it wouldn't matter anyway, no codes in a 60....

you still coming to the pyrenees?
Nick

I can't see any drama with hooking up a battery charger onto the terminals and turning it on in situ for a maintenance charge. If I was leaving my vehicle for more than a couple of weeks then I would probably hook it up and just leave it be until I returned (provided you have an appropriate garage type location of course).

I would love to know if this is not recommended!

As noted above it is a good idea to use a jump pack or a charger that has a "supply mode" to hook onto the terminals while you remove them from the battery to change batteries. Saves stuffing around with radio codes and retuning.

I have a Ctek XS15000 15 Amp charger and the documentation mentions that you can leave the charger hooked to the battery indefinitely to maintain it. It also has a "supply mode" that can make the charger act like it is a battery (at loads below 15 amps of course) to supply 12v power such as when doing changeovers.

Cheers

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'll get the RACV out and start me up with one of my daughters ready to take it for a run if it needs charging only.
A friend of mine told me that later model Toyotas need Toyota batteries as they have some smarts in them. Does anyone know anything about this?

Twinkles
I do agree woth Muddy's comments, short runs kill batterys, unless you are constantly topping them up, and there should be no need to disconnect anything, privided your charger will automatically switch over to a trickle charge.
I have had a similar problem, but with my auxillary battery. Thought it was dead, but I had boiiled it to not quiet dry.
Anyway I went to Autobahn and got some INOX battery conditioner, and brought the fluid levels up to its recommended levels.
Lucky enuf the battery took a full charge and has not missed a beat ever since.
Cheers Mate
Bucky

Hi Twinkles

I see your getting out the RACV and you might as well if your paying for them.

You can charge the battery in the car with just about any charger , so don't worry about it, the golden rule with unknown chargers is just don't leave it on for more than an hour.

If this doesn't crank over the cars engine then you may have a battery problem.

Nothing special about the battery , just know your prices and be prepared for the RACV guy to say "its stuffed and I can fit you up with a new one now".

Robin Miller

My current 05 landcruiser 100 book says simply to disconnect the vehicle's negative lead onto the battery, prior to charging (I use a 3 stage smart charger). I guess this is simply to avoid having higher than normal voltages buzzing through the system. When you put the charger clamps on the battery, the energy flow stays at the battery.