01-06-2013, 01:23 AM | #1 |
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How long can the car sit between drives?
Featured on BIMMERPOST.com With the inclement weather, it can be 5 days between drives. The drives tend to be a good hour long so the battery would be pretty topped up. Ideally, I would put a battery tender on it but my one car garage is taken up by a collector car that is currently not insured. I may have to move cars around to keep the batteries both in tip top shape. |
01-06-2013, 01:46 AM | #2 | |
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01-06-2013, 09:56 AM | #3 |
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Good question. There's a ton of parasitic drain these days. I DON'T think I'd go a full month without a tender. Under normal conditions, the F30's alternator only charges during decelleration or coast, not 100% of the time as we're used to. Perhaps this changes if the battery is low, but I don't know for certain.
I personally wouldn't go past two weeks without a trickle charger. At least until there's more feedback about how well they manage their charge. |
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01-06-2013, 10:06 AM | #4 |
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01-06-2013, 10:14 AM | #5 |
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I believe the condition under which the alternator only charges on deceleration is in Eco-Pro mode, so if you drive in that mode a lot, you would have to drive further to get the same amount of charge as with other modes. With a new battery, you could easily go 2+ weeks without needing a charge. When the car passes the 3-year mark, that interval could shorten, as our batteries have tended to last roughly 5 years. That's when my E92's battery needed replacing.
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01-06-2013, 10:42 AM | #6 |
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Unless a BMW is crappier than a Ford, I doubt there needs to be concern about this. I've left my 2002 Ford for well over a month at a time without driving it, no problems with battery at all...
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01-06-2013, 11:37 AM | #8 |
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Thanks for the replies everyone. It looks that I don't really have to worry as long as I'm taking the car out for a good drive once a week. And it looks like I could go a couple of weeks without worrying. That makes sense as the car would be sitting idle if I am on vacation for a couple of weeks.
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01-06-2013, 11:43 AM | #9 | |
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01-06-2013, 02:34 PM | #10 |
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The only things you really have to worry about are the battery and the tires. The battery charge can be stabilized using a battery maintainer and the tires can become out of round if left for too long. It's best to leave the car slightly raised on jack stands to relieve the pressure on the tires. I'd say you can go about a month or two without any fear of damage, but any longer can cause problems with the things I just mentioned.
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01-06-2013, 02:45 PM | #11 |
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I wouldn't worry about it - if anything the RFT's will give you the most hassle, flattening out and requiring a few miles to become round again before you'd have to worry about the battery.
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01-06-2013, 02:48 PM | #12 |
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Mine charges in all modes. You can see the curved blue bar extend towards the battery icon during coasting & braking. When that happens, the battery is being charged.
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01-06-2013, 07:53 PM | #13 | |
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01-06-2013, 08:31 PM | #14 |
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01-07-2013, 12:14 PM | #15 | |
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Since the F30 is a very new model (with many new technologies), I personally would err on the side of caution "just in case". Once bitten, twice shy I suppose. Batteries don't like being fully drained and recharged too many times. |
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01-07-2013, 03:01 PM | #16 |
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Just make sure you lock your car properly and it'll put some of the functions to sleep, reducing battery drain.
A month shouldn't be a problem for anyone however. |
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01-07-2013, 04:31 PM | #17 |
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I had to leave my 335i at the airport for six weeks, when I came back everything was working excellent, also I checked the tire pressure and no problems at all.
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