Owens88 Posted February 15, 2015 Posted February 15, 2015 HiAs mentioned elsewhere I am planning to lay my car up for about 3-6 months at a time in France. Possibly some periods will be longer. If I use a solar powered trickle charger on the battery to maintain it does the C5 have any special peculiarities that I should be aware of? Thanks in advance John Quote
paul.h Posted February 15, 2015 Posted February 15, 2015 You would be best to disconnect the battery from the car, even consider removing it and taking it with you so you can charge it every month or 2. Not using a car has a few negatives and if not stored in an air conditioned garage it could suffer. The following are some thoughts but there may be things to advise on storage on the internet: The brake discs will rust and the pads sieze to them, so it may help to remove the pads or as a minimum leave the handbrake off but this may not be enough and will not help the rear brakes. You could consider putting something like polythene between the pads and discs. When you come to use the car again it may take a few miles for the rust to clear from the discs so normal braking is hopefully achieved - if not the discs may need replacing. The clutch may also stick to the flywheel so consider holding down the clutch pedal. It is likely the air conditioning seals will dry out if not used every month so that the refrigerant will leak out. If this happens it is likely you will need a new compressor to get it going again - or just accept the air con will not work again. The fuel may degrade, if diesel and there is any water in the tank you could get biological growth like jelly - there may be additives you could use and the marine industry might have something. Quote
Owens88 Posted February 16, 2015 Author Posted February 16, 2015 Thanks Paul. H The garage will not have power but will be dry and in an atmosphere that is usually dry and often warm but sometimes v. cold. I understand it is best to leave it topped up with fresh fuel to avoid the water problem. (thought . Do the fuel filters still have a water drain on them or was that a centuries-old thing for trucks?). Noted re: clutch. Going back to trickle charge thing. To be honest I might even would trust my battery to last three months without charge but then I cannot control the time gap. The solar powered battery 'maintainers' I have read about seem to suggest leaving the battery in place.Is disconnecting it a particularly good idea just because it is a Citroen and has such dependency on electrics, or just good general practice? Cheers John Quote
paul.h Posted February 16, 2015 Posted February 16, 2015 Our C5 does not get used much but after about 3 or 4 weeks the battery will go flat and not start the car once below about 12 volts. A recent new battery does not seem as bad though but it has been like this since we got it at about 4 years old and our previous C5 was the same. The alarm seems to use quite a lot of power - hence disconnecting it would prevent this. If a battery voltage drops below about 11 volts I think they may not be recoverable by charging. In the Technical Section there is a pinned topic on Common Problems with a procedure for disconnecting/reconnecting the battery. We keep it in our garage but the discs do get a covering of rust in this time and I leave the handbrake off (but in gear) but even then sometimes the pads stick on. If it is put away wet the brakes will stick so I try not to do this. The fuel filters do have a water drain. Quote
Owens88 Posted February 16, 2015 Author Posted February 16, 2015 Many thanks.I will use a solar powered trickle charger. Down in the Pyrenees the garage door will get plenty of sun :D I will just have to cross my fingers re: the aircon. John Quote
PICASSOCONVERT Posted February 24, 2015 Posted February 24, 2015 Just read this thread. I have not had any problems with brakes, fuel or anything else after my lay-ups of up to 6 weeks, apart from needing to charge the battery. However, my air-con hasn't worked for a few years, so I can't comment on that. Thanks for the pointer about solar powered trickle chargers - I hadn't thought about that. I will look into them, although there will be less sun here than in the Pyrenees! David Quote
PICASSOCONVERT Posted February 25, 2015 Posted February 25, 2015 A quick trawl on the net and off to Maplins - 2.4W solar panel £11.99 with several good reviews. It's now sitting on the top of the dash connected to the 12v outlet near the handbrake which appears to be permanently live - and it's sunny! The battery voltage at the 12v outlet before I connected the panel was 12.55 volts so we shall see what it's like towards the end of March when I will use the car again. When not in use in the car it will be useful in the caravan. David Quote
PICASSOCONVERT Posted March 19, 2015 Posted March 19, 2015 I've just used my car again and the solar panel seems to have helped to maintain the battery voltage - after unlocking the car with the remote and the pump running briefly to restore the suspension height the battery voltage was 12.05 volts, a drop of half a volt from when I left it 3 weeks ago. The car started first time with no low voltage "bongs" or other warnings. A three month lay-up coming up soon so we'll see how things go then. David Quote
paul.h Posted March 19, 2015 Posted March 19, 2015 When you checked the voltage did you wait for the bsi to shut down again - if not it tends to give a lower voltage. If the charger is still letting the voltage drop by 0.5 volts over 3 weeks I am not sure it has done enough and if you leave it for 3 months the battery may not charge up again. I am sure I have read if they drop below about 10 volts they can not be recovered. Quote
Parkesie Posted March 20, 2015 Posted March 20, 2015 I know that on my 08 tourer the 12v socket stays live until economy mode kicks in so a solar charger wouldnt work but the socket in the boot stays live and could be used. Quote
PICASSOCONVERT Posted March 26, 2015 Posted March 26, 2015 Parkesie, good point - I'll check to see if mine stays live. If it doesn't I'm surprised my battery lost so little voltage in three weeks, based on previous experience. I could use the boot socket - just park the other way so the sun shines on the tailgate. paul.h - batteries probably don't like being discharged to a low voltage but a few years ago I charged up the battery on my neighbour's Jaguar after it had been on his drive for over 6 months. That was down to about 6 volts and charging it slowly (0.5amps) recovered it. Hopefully there will be more sun for the next lay-up which will be for three months. David Quote
PICASSOCONVERT Posted July 28, 2015 Posted July 28, 2015 Just returned to my C5 after just over 3 months (before I went away I decided to put the solar panel on my wife's Clio and it kept her battery charged). So, I lowered the suspension on the C5 to its lowest setting, opened the bonnet, locked the car, disconnected the battery shut the bonnet and left it. On my return 97 days later I reconnected the battery without charging it, waited half an hour for everything to settle down, turned the key and it started first time. Everything works fine (except air-con, which has been U/S for some time). No brake pads stuck to discs (I left the handbrake on). Electric windows OK, including using key remote to part open them. Result happiness! Quote
Johndouglas Posted July 28, 2015 Posted July 28, 2015 The battery on my Saxo is two years old and last winter I used it last at the end of October. It stood outside until the beginning of March when I fully expected it to be fairly flat however, I got in, turned the key, waited for the glow lamp to switch off and it started first go. Well pleased! Quote
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