Trickle charger passthrough
 

With COVID-19, unfortunately I had to put the car to hibernate as I don't get to drive it.



First time hooking up my FR-S to a trickle charger, and "discovered" (don't know if it's known to folks here, but nothing came up when searched) a notch/pass-through in the plastic area just above the battery, on the passenger side under the wipers. See attached pictures.

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it's got a fused lead closest to the battery on the trickle charger? that makes me scared for reasons i can't explain.. you always fuse the SOURCE, not the DEVICE...

The source is the battery! The charger is internally protected, you need protection from shorting the battery.

I don't think I ever noticed that.

No, with a charger/maintainer, the source is the wall outlet.

Unless you're powering your house from the battery

I hope it is a maintainer with smarts and not a simple trickle charger.

Yes, it’s fully automatic.


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Those pigtails are designed to be left on the battery. The battery is a larger power source than the wall charger. Look at it this way, Everything is plugged in, short the 2 wires together, Where is the damaging current going to come from? About 2A from the charger, not enough to damage the wires, (Plus if it is a good charger it will be circuit protected) About 350A from the battery. That will smoke those wires in seconds. This is why the fuse is and needs to be close to the battery.

What other people do?
I went yesterday and my car barely started after 6 days of standing at parking lot.
I don't have option to put external charger.

Do you need to drive it around once in a while?


I started my Subaru legacy without any issue with a good crank. Looks like FRS keep using battery a bit more. Is there way to limit use without disconnecting battery all together?

I'd try testing your battery to see if it's still good. A lot of the chain auto stores will test your battery for free.

You can use a battery disconnect switch when parking for a while, But remember the car will have to relearn setting when you restart. An other option is a small solar charger, run the wire out the back of the hood and in the door to the dash. I use one on a boat during the summer. I used to use one on a tractor before I got power to the barn.

Solar battery maintainer will work also.

Thanks

Never noticed that pass thru before either.

What brand/model tender/maintainer are you guys using?

I’ve also noticed my relatively new/OEM BRZ battery does not like sitting idle for even short periods of time; 2 weeks max after which I’ve experienced pretty heavy degradation/drain.
15-20 miles continuous driving tops it back up, but like everyone else on the planet right now.... COVID.

Tender / charger suggestions welcome.

I use Duracell Ultra maintainers. I have 1.5 and .8 amp, both are good for maintaining. I use the 1.5s on standard batt, and .8 on tiny race batt.

And the best little battery charger I've ever had had been the Schumacher. Small, lite,does all kinds of batts, and cords fit inside when not in use.