If
your Disabled Modified Vehicle is driven daily then there is no need
bother.
Unless you left it unused for too long or left something turned on. The cars alternator charges
it at 14.4v (or close) as soon as you start it up and
charges the battery fast at up to around 100 amps at a fixed 14.4v. This is
ideal for a starter battery.
The danger is if its left unused for say a week or
longer. All modern cars have such things as immobilisers, remote locking, engine
management computers, alarms, various radio memory and other electronics that
drain the battery as the car just sits there. In some cases pretty quickly
over a week or so. With extra electronics such
as remote start, or say the computer in the boot of my wheelchair adapted minivan that controls the
ramp, electric doors, suspension lowering and more the battery has double the drain on
it while I get out and then again whilst it is sat unused on my drive!
This damages
ordinary Car Starter Batteries through sulphation fast even if there is enough energy
left in it to
start the engine later on most of the time. So you will necessarily not know
anything is wrong. You battery will just suffer an early expiry. See
All about Powerchair and vehicle batteries for
more info.
Every time you
switch off and get out, the ramp and suspension lowering (on mine) as well as
the door opening and closing motors all use a lot of power. Your battery is then
already in a slightly discharged condition even after you just exited it after a
long drive. Batteries store or age well in a fully charged state.. But they
all sulphate internally if left in even a slightly discharged
state for very long.
So
that's now happening. In a relatively short time the batteries capacity or starting capability is
reduced.
Compounded by
the fact that all those electrical systems mentioned above are gradually taking
more power out over time as it sits there.. So if you leave your car or van for more than a few days or a week
its a good idea to charge it. Or more accurately to "maintain" it in a
healthy charged state.
Buy a battery optimiser or
battery tender or battery maintainer as soon as possible if this sounds like
you!
Your battery
will love you and it will stay healthy much longer. It doesn't actually need a full charge (although
that wont hurt) but it needs a maintenance charger like this Optimate above (or
something similar)
connecting and leaving connected while you are not regularly using your car.
It may well still start
if you don't bother but your battery is suffering and will sooner or
later let you down. Another alternative is a good solar charger of 2 to 5 watts.
It wont "charge" your battery but it will keep it topped up hopefully
and prevent it going flat or sulphating. Less than 2 watts is a complete waste
of time unless you live in Arizona! I leave a 5 watt one above plugged into the cigarette lighter socket
and sat on my
dashboard when I am not using my van. It keeps my battery fully charged up and
healthy if the vehicle is unused for long periods. (a week or more)!
An Example with actual measured
figures...
See larger image of the
Hawker Odyssey battery under test.
Here is an example. My
Disabled adapted Rollx Van. Has all kinds
of immobilisers, sat nav, engine management, alarm and an extra computer in the
boot to control the ramp/door/lowering etc. Here it is with the vehicle
all locked up and the engine stopped. After 30 mins. The Clamp Ammeter shows a
0.2 amp (200m/amp) drain on the battery. This is quite high but similar figures may
be typical for some other modified
vehicles of this kind. 20 to 50 m/amp is more normal.
It initially starts as 10 amps plus after switching off getting
out and locking the van! 10 Amps! But gradually all the various electronics go to
"sleep" and it settles at this relatively low value. The voltmeter shows the
brand new Hawker Odyssey battery is fully charged at 12.8v. Now 200ma at
12v is 2.4 watts. Or about 0.2 amps lost per hour while parked or 4.8 amps per
day. This looks abnormally high but it always seems to settle at that figure.
50ma is probably closer for most vehicles.
That means that in ten days time if I don't drive it or charge
it the battery will be 2/3rds drained! that's right 2/3rds!!! It will have
suffered some sulphation and had its service life shortened. It will also probably
still start the Van - Just! After two weeks? Doubtful if it would. Now you
see why I use Optima or Hawker Odyssey batteries? They are both dual purpose
Deep Cycle and Starting Batteries. This way the slowly discharging battery
is much less damaged than an ordinary starter battery would be. Most modern vehicles are like this.
Have yours tested. A deep Cycle and Starter battery is often a much better
option in most modern vehicles even standard non adapted ones..
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Remember ALL lead acid
batteries HATE BEING DISCHARGED!
You may like to consider fitting a dual purpose battery to a
mobility vehicle if it has extra equipment like a powered ramp or wheelchair
lift etc. Because these are a special "breed" of battery that can both start a
car as well as being Deep Cycled like a powerchair or scooter battery.
So all
those times when the battery gets a bit low due to the extra drain after the
engine is stopped will do much less damage to your battery.
Examples of these include the
Optima, Hawker Odyssey. and a few others.
Not cheap but being disabled seldom
is. And we need the security of a good battery more than anyone else. See
All about Powerchair and vehicle batteries
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