Not the car to have in lockdown

[paulca]

My battery has been fine in the GT86, even when left sit for nearly 2 weeks over christmas, but being in self-isolation / social distancing / lock down and only using it to go to the shops half a mile away once a week has been hard on the battery. I went to ground in the first week of March, so it's a month basically ... stuck in the house, working from home.

It has kept going with 15 minute sprints before the shops to try and put some charge into it, until today when I went to wash it and it was dead.

Jumped it after washing with the solar panel 100Ah marine deep cycle, left it running for 20 minutes to fully warm up and then was planning to leave it knowing I'd need to jump it again.

But I took the risk instead and put my 6A battery charger on it with the battery still connected.

How is everyone else coping with the static drain on the battery these days?

[tehShirt]

How old is your battery? My OEM battery had to be replaced just shy of 3 years old. Do you have any accessories that remain powered like a dash cam?

[Ernest72]

I just take it for a ride through some nice roads. No real enforcement of the lockdown if you are in a car here in NY (outside the city). My car sits about 3-4 days at most before use. June will be 4 years on stock battery. It will probably go soon based upon others experience here.

[Leonardo]

I used to work 1 mile from my house. My battery would die in a week if I only drove to work and back. The car needs to be driven more to charge the battery.

I had to jump my car yesterday to get it started. My van too. But that's a different story...

[StraightOuttaCanadaEh]

like tehshirt said, the battery lasts less than 3 years. So if you're on your original battery since 2014, that in itself is a miracle. If you changed it in say 2017, then it's time to have the second one changed. I have a 2017 86 and mine was dying half way through 2019

[DarkSunrise]

Mine's on a tender, but the battery is OEM and almost 8 years old now. According to the charger, the battery still holds 70-75% charge after 3-4 days, but my experience has been that it can't start the car unless its close to 100%. (I'm running an e85 tune so it usually takes 2-3 cranks to get it going in colder weather.)

Switching out batteries soon.

[paulca]

It's coming on three years, OEM, 2017 Pro model.

I stuck it on a charger, but it's taking it's time, 13.15V with the charger putting 4-5A into it, it will take about 10 hours to charge. But I'll cut it off later on before dark.

Looking for replacements online, Halfords are open locally, but might wait till this lurgy stuff passes.

The outdoor temp might have got down to 2-3*C while it was flat. So it just got to the "suspect and replace" zone.

[evoto86]

Yep mines a 2016 and the battery is noticeably struggling to start after a few days of sitting, I don't think it helped I accidentally left the boot open a few time during the last few months over night. If It completely goes out good opportunity to get a light weight one instead. Im in Sydney we are not on complete lock down we can go to work and shops but I have been on leave for a 3 weeks and have not been driving. Back to work soon.

[NARFALICIOUS]

"Not the car to have in a lockdown"

Why is the 86, battery-wise, or for any other reason, any less useful during a lockdown than other cars?


Most of my drives are short as well nowadays with a lot of sitting. But if I need to drive it, I can. No one is getting in trouble for driving here.


How is enforcement in the UK, do they actually stop you for driving around?



My battery is more than 4 years old. It also has an OBDLink connected all the time, with a flashing light and I haven't had problems. Although I'm also in warm climate.

[paulca]

Originally Posted by NARFALICIOUS

How is enforcement in the UK, do they actually stop you for driving around?

It's irritating. Because some people are ass holes with the "1 hour exercise" guidance crowds of people tried to go to remote tourist attractions to "exercise", otherwise known in normal times as family days out.

So they banned travelling FOR exercise. Which basically means to enforcement the only valid reasons to drive are going to shops, to get medication or help a vulnerable person do the same.

Basically some people need guidance rather than figure it out on their own... but some people can't even follow "guidance" and so they need to enforce it instead.

If you get pulled over they will ask you your intent of travelling and if it's not essentially they will turn you around. If you give them lip or repeat offend, they will fine you or even arrest you.

The GT86 is known to have battery issues, especially with the locallised alarms in the UK, but these circumstances are particularly hard on it.

Starter batteries are fine if you can keep them up in the LOD of 20% or so. Once you drop them closer to 50% they struggle.

[JD001]

Originally Posted by Leonardo

I used to work 1 mile from my house. My battery would die in a week if I only drove to work and back. The car needs to be driven more to charge the battery.

I had to jump my car yesterday to get it started. My van too. But that's a different story...

I used to work about 2.5miles from my home and used to walk unless it was raining.. went through loads of running shoes.. unsure if they worked out cheaper than driving.. but it was nice to unwind from the working day.

[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by JD001

I used to work about 2.5miles from my home and used to walk unless it was raining.. went through loads of running shoes.. unsure if they worked out cheaper than driving.. but it was nice to unwind from the working day.

I am a runner too. I would run on the days that it wasn't pouring rain. Usually about 25 miles a week. I could make the 1.1 miles to work in 6:50. Not fast, but not bad. My best 5k time is 24.30.

[soundman98]

I CAME HERE FOR ZOMBIE SURVIVAL ADVICE!!!

i really don't think there's enough info here to proclaim any vehicle is better/worse than another..

[Mr.ac]

Simple fix:
Buy new car.

If you cant figure out you need a new battery... #*#+#*\£\>>~£~¥\=]^••+\£|€%{**€\>|*{\*}€€ (insane amount of verbal abuse?)