Some Advice Please Guys & Gals, with this COVID19 and we cant drive

[carolinewoodley]

But the engine will still be full of condensation unless the oil gets to full temp. In which case, the water will be circulating with the oil. Better to charge the battery by other means. 300hp is a bit much for a battery charger

But my precise issue is that I DON'T have any other means....

 

[DWaldie]

40Ah battery from Eurocarparts - £33, plus a few quid for a cable and connector. Assuming you have some kind of charger, you're sorted. Looking at the news tonight, we might be at this for another 3-6 months. We might all need to get creative. I'm now using mine to get to work as the weekend drives are gone

 

[Motorhead]

But the engine will still be full of condensation unless the oil gets to full temp. In which case, the water will be circulating with the oil. Better to charge the battery by other means. 300hp is a bit much for a battery charger

But my precise issue is that I DON'T have any other means....

My point exactly Caroline.

Although it's not ideal you're not going to be doing it every day, and there's no load on the engine as there would be when you're driving. Although I agree with DW's comment, I'd also point out that that will be the case even when you're driving the car, so you could argue that's even more harmful since the engine's under load, although the engine will reach operating temperature faster thus boiling off the water content faster too.

Jeff

 

[Motorhead]

If you lock the car, the under bonnet light goes off...mines on trickle with the bonnet open.

That's good to know Paul, but don't you get a 'beep' when locking the car indicating that the bonnet is open? I don't know what that means in terms of alarm activity or additional current drain.

Jeff

 

[DWaldie]

Mines in trickle with the bonnet closed. The cable is fine enough to fit easily.

 

[CLIFFWILKINS]

Mines in trickle with the bonnet closed. The cable is fine enough to fit easily.

Agreed []

 

[Craiglm68]

As others have said, skip the sitting at idle for extended periods...the short answer is, it's not good for most cars, included Porsches for a couple of reasons. Mine can sit happily for a up to weeks (when we've gone overseas) and fires up 1st time without a problem. At this tricky time, my strategy is to pick a couple of 24hr supermarkets that are a reasonable distance away, and happen to be close to a couple of quieter roads where "legs can be stretched " briefly both on the way out, and the way back.

 

[Brian_Innes]

Caroline,

You have tricky problem here. I'm also with the others in saying that warming the engine at rest is not good. Revving the engine "empty" for periods of time, (not under load), creates "mayonnaise-like" sludge deposits inside the engine.

I would take Craig's advice and take a drive to a supermarket a reasonable distance away. I'm sure you can have a good excuse ready if challenged.

Give your car a blast through the lower gears if you can without causing unwanted attention.

Brian

 

[kitchens]

All right for you Brian getting out and about up your way ...your nearest shop must be 50 miles away so you don't have to worry about popping out for a pint off milk[][] stay safe

Brian

 

[carolinewoodley]

All right for you Brian getting out and about up your way ...your nearest shop must be 50 miles away so you don't have to worry about popping out for a pint off milk[][] stay safe

Brian

Ha ha well living in London there are supermarkets everywhere, however my excuse for going to one a bit further away (still no more than 5 miles though) is there was nothing at all (shelves literally bare of anything one might actually *want*, like fresh fruit and veg, pasta, milk, toothpaste, cereals, tea bags, soap and of course the now-infamous toilet rolls) in all the ones closest to me last time I ventured out to do the shopping - and the one I intend to go to is probably the biggest supermarket I have ever seen, so I'm hoping it will actually still have stuff on the shelves once the key workers' first hour is over. Am hoping that will be a good enough excuse to avoid the £35 fine for being out and about without a good reason anyway!

 

[Brian_Innes]

All right for you Brian getting out and about up your way ...your nearest shop must be 50 miles away so you don't have to worry about popping out for a pint off milk[][] stay safe

Brian

Yes Caroline, living where I do has its advantages at times such as these. Sainsbury's is less than 2 miles away, but Tesco is a round trip of 30 miles so I have an excuse for a drive should that be needed. Currently my 718 CGTS is resting in my garage with the C-Tek plugged-in.

I hope you get a chance to drive your Cayman S with good reason, or at least with a reasonable excuse, before you run into battery problems.

You stay safe, (and free from fines).

Brian

 

[Motorhead]

Caroline,

I don't think that the Met has been as rigorous as some police forces in enforcing the curfew with fines, so I'm sure that you'd be able to get away with a short journey. That would be better than nothing to keep the battery charged and to get the oil circulating, etc.

Just make sure you have some shopping bags in view ... good luck.!

Jeff

 

[DWaldie]

I live near the S York's/Derbyshire border. I drive and cycle north. Out of range of their drones and definitely more than six foot away from the constabulary []

 

[AndrewCS]

Daughter, living near Croft - Manchester was stopped at the weekend … on her (permitted) way to the stables to tend the `nags`… was also breathalysed !

 

[Motorhead]

Oh dear Andrew! With everyone confined to barracks, maybe the police now have more time to perform that essential function which has been lacking for many years - actually policing the streets?

Jeff

 

[DWaldie]

And the woodland trails

 

[Motorhead]

Indeed. And with lighter traffic on all roads, motorways and main arterial routes in particular, it should be much easier to pick out the drug dealers' private cars on their daily runs amongst the commercial traffic.

Jeff

 

[DWaldie]

Indeed. And with lighter traffic on all roads, motorways and main arterial routes in particular, it should be much easier to pick out the drug dealers' private cars on their daily runs amongst the commercial traffic.

Jeff

 

[carolinewoodley]

Going back to the idea of a solar charger, how long would it take to trickle charge the car if I left it outside? My insurance does not cover it being out of the garage at my home address overnight so I don't want to leave it outside permanently but I could possibly just take it out for 10-12 hours during the day once a week if the charger will do its thing in that sort of time.

I see there are several models of the Optimate solar charger that has been mentioned on this thread, they are all very expensive compared to what I have been looking at on Amazon, although Optimate is obviously a trusted brand. Does anyone have any particular recommendation for which particular Optimate model, or any other brand/model?

 

[Twinfan]

I had Optimates for our motorbikes and they're superb, so I wouldn't buy anything else.

I've just ordered a 20w solar charger plus the cigarette lighter adapter to keep my GT4 in tip-top condition during the lockdown. £135 all in which isn't cheap, however it's cheaper than a new battery and I can use the charger in the future. I may well keep it on charge 24/7 as my car is for weekends only and lives on my drive.