Re: maintaining ex-35 battery on extended holiday

[rshazam]

« Re: maintaining ex-35 battery on extended holiday 6:15 PM 5/19/2009

My wife and I purchased brand new black on black 2008 EX-35 last Nov and love it-- except for our local dealer deciding to go out of business last month! It's a great looking and running car-- just hadn't bargained on having to drive 1/2hr plus to have it serviced.

re: battery-- we will be away visiting family back east for 2 mos during summer and contemplate purchasing 12V 1.25A Battery Tender Plus to safely maintain auto battery in our absence. Any suggestions/wisdom on the subject that might help us avoid/minimize problems would be much appreciated.Good wishes to all.

[gofast24]

I leave my boat battery unattended for about 5 month every winter and when spring comes around ( im in Georgia so the winters arn't very long) the battery cranks the engine no problem.Regarding the battery charger just get a 5 or 10 amp "Automatic" and it will maintain the battery and if you do need to bring it back for some other reason it wont take a week on the little 1.5 amp you mentioned.

good luck

[dividedhighw]

Welcome to NICO, gofast24!!

Thanks for your input - I think the EX will be quite different than your boat because it has a multitude of accessories continuously using the battery. BTW, even with a boat, it is recommended the battery be removed or at least disconnected.

Cheers,David

[kamiguy]

Do I remember reading in the manual that some settings will revert to factory if the car isn't started within 2 weeks? Maybe you have a trusted friend or neighbour that could come over every week and fire it up for a few minutes for you. That would solve all your issues

[cjre1]

Everyone,

What I do when I leave for months at a time, I disconnect the battery. When I come back, I reconnect it and start the car. No problem there. I would never leave a charger on while not at home. All of them tell you this in the instructions.

[gofast24]

Ya, I use to remove the boat battery over the winter when I lived in Wisconsin. Up there if the battery did discharge it could freeze and bust the casing and spill the H2SO4 all over the engine compartment.I guess the little 1.5 amp charger shouldn't be left on unattended either?When you actually disconnect the battery in the car dont you loose a lot of stored data etc from the ECU's, all your pre set radio stations, shift points, etc?

[cjre1]

I suggest that you remove the battery from the car and put it either in a closet in your garage or the house safe away from kids and pets. The battery will be fine in the house. Do not wrap it up in an air tight bag or cloth. The top of the battery needs air. Trust me, I know about batteries.

[EX35_bernard]

I went for a month off last March. It was ok when I got back, no hesitation at all 1st start. If anything, call the infiniti road side assistance and they'll come with a booster.

[rshazam]

"it has a multitude of accessories continuously using the battery"

That's exactly what I'm concerned about. The manual says if not using the vehicle for more than 30 days, simply disconnect the negative terminal to prevent discharging. That's exactly what I did with my prior vehicle-- no problem.

And I wouldn't mind doing it with the EX-35-- if all that was involved was resetting the radio. But what about other settings? Does anyone know of any other settings such as security or bluetooth are lost on disconnection of battery?

I have not been able to find anything further on the subject in the owners manual. That's why I was investigating purchase of the Battery Tender Plus which seems to be suited to this type of situation.

[cjre1]

Sometimes, I dont use my cars for 90 days at a time. I do start them at least every two weeks and run them for 10-15 monutes. The battery then charges right up. I have been doing this for years and never had an issue.

[SteveTheTech]

If you are going to leave the car and want to ensure that it will start when you return. There are a few things you can do. The easiest is remove the negative battery cable. However with all of the engine and transmission parameters that will be off for a while after word. You can also remove the extended storage fuse identified in the pictures below. This fuse controls the retained power to the audio unit and such things as the clock timing and if I my memory serves me I think it also cuts the power to the iKey antennas and Welcome Lighting.

All you have to do is remove the cover near the parking brake pedal, behind that you will find a fuse block, in the center there is a white fuse puller stuck in the black box, you can easily remove that by gently squeezing and pulling.



The below picture identifies the fuse to remove.



This is much easier than a trickle charger, and this is what the manufacturer uses when they ship most of these cars.

[rshazam]

Thanks Steve-- So I get this right-- are you saying to remove both the negative battery cable and the extended storage fuse? If so, is there a preferred sequence of removal and later restoration? Do I understand correctly that following these instructions will preserve the battery as well as my preexisting electronic settings (lights, phone, audio, etc)-- except for radio?Thanks again for your kind help.Richard

[dividedhighw]

I would think you'll definitely lose your seat memory settings once you disconnect the battery.

Just a thought,David

[SteveTheTech]

If you remove the extended storage fuse, it will cut the retained power to the AV units. So you may loose some of your information, but you will not loose the more important settings within the Engine Control Module.

Your presets can be reset and in the unlikely event that your phone ID is lost that too can be resolved relatively easily.

There is no need to remove both the fuse and negative cable. I would go with the fuse personally.

[cjre1]

Steve,

Will you lose the phone address book?

[rshazam]

I really appreciate the info Steve. Thanks. I'd feel a lot more confident implementing all those resets if not for my local Infinity dealer having abruptly closed its doors and gone out of business just a few months after we purchased the vehicle. Now, if we need any attention to the car, we have to drive a half hour+ to get to the next closest dealer-- and waste a whole lot of precious time-- not at all what we had in mind when we bought our EX-35. R

[SteveTheTech]

That's a shame I hate to see more dealers go under.

In this case I would go with the fuse, it should save you from a dead battery. You may loose something but they are things you can easily reset yourself.

[cjre1]

Does anyone know,if you change the battery, or take out the fuse, do you lose your phone book and nav settings? What exactly would you lose? I had a new battery installed at the dealer yesterday, maybe I will find out when I get my car, but I did hear that the dealer backs up all data. This is a good thing.

[EXceptional]

OK, there's 2 things out there for the concerns in this thread.

The first one is a Battery Tender. They work really well. I have one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ories

The second is what the Mechanics use and you can make one for yourself, if you'd like.

You use a Nine Volt Battery and a Plug that goes on to the Battery... and then you solder on a Cigarette Plug to the wires of the Battery Plug. This will keep your settings, while you jerk your Battery.



http://cgi.ebay.com/Memory-Sav...%3A50

[EXceptional]

Now, if we need any attention to the car, we have to drive a half hour+ to get to the next closest dealer-- and waste a whole lot of precious time.

It takes us 45 Minutes to get to the one and only Infiniti Dealer in the same City as us. The next closest one to me is... 2.5 Hours (one-way) away.

The longer drive for you, should be a pleasure to do, in an EX35, right ?

[SteveTheTech]

I have adopted a stance against reverse charging a battery like this. Back feeding power may damage some of the devices that have internal diodes. I am not saying it will cause problems using a 9V battery will not provide nearly enough power to damage anything but when you increase current the risk increases.

It takes us 45 Minutes to get to the one and only Infiniti Dealer in the same City as us. The next closest one to me is... 2.5 Hours (one-way) away.

The longer drive for you, should be a pleasure to do, in an EX35, right ?

That's rough.

My closest dealer and my second home is 1.7 miles door to door and there are 4 dealers within 35 miles, although they all have varied levels of service.

The area I grew up in doesn't have an Infiniti dealer within 50miles and last time I was there I didn't see a single Infiniti there. That has to be a pain. There are some members here that have to drive hours to get to the nearest dealer I feel for you all.

[EXceptional]

So you're OK with the Battery Tender, but not the 9 Volt Memory Saver ?

I think just about every Mechanic has one of these 9 Volt memory Savers in their arsenal of Tools and Equipment... and uses it, too.

[SteveTheTech]

Yeah that's just my personal opinion but then again I am pretty OCD about electronics and trying to play it safe as some of these computers are very sensitive. Many of the techs I work with are used to older ways of doing things.

If you are talking about a battery tender that hooks directly to the battery and provides a low amperage charge over a long period of time that is a great device, but not completely necessary for most cases.

The device illustrated in the picture can only provide 9 volts (specs for the average 9 volt zinc battery; 400 milliamp-hours @ 8 mA (primary cell)) although the current draw is pretty low while all devices are asleep (average current draw should be around 80mA, maybe lower) that type of device will not be a solution for an extended period of time.

[googleman]

Planning to be away for 28 days. Steve, do you think I need to unplug the fuse you describe?