Guest wally888 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 My poor old 90 Reatta ragtop is still sitting in my driveway sans a garage. golf cart shoved her out. She has a new battery but it keeps going dead after no use for some time. Wonder how long the new battery should hold a charge, after recharging w/ charger, w/o driving starting/driving the car? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steveskyhawk Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 In normal use I get 5-6 years out of a battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wally888 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 In normal use I get 5-6 years out of a battery. Gosh, wish mine would stay charged that long! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Do you have any aftermarket electronics in it, such as an alarm system? It is also possible there are other current draws in the car. (E.g., bad trunk light switch keeps the light on 24/7, etc.)And yeah - a decent battery in mild weather should last at least 5 years. But starting batteries really don't like to be 'deep discharged'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCReatta Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I would just disconnect the battery when you're not using it.. that's what I do with all of my cars when I don't use them for over a week or so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booreatta Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I would just disconnect the battery when you're not using it.. that's what I do with all of my cars when I don't use them for over a week or so...It is a good policy to unhook your battery when the car is not being used for a long period of time. I had a neighbor who had his garage burn down, fire started in the battery area. There are many stories of cars starting on fire while in storage, as wires get older and more brittle they can short our causing a fire. Why risk it. Even new cars can have that problem, if my memory serves me correct, Ford has had several issues of wires shorting and causing fires in the steering column, and that would not happen with out an elect sourceChuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 In normal use I get 5-6 years out of a battery.It appears Steve's answer doesn't fit your question. If I understood you correctly, you wanted to know how long the batter should retain a charge when the car is not being driven. Steve's reply seems to be referring to the life of a battery in a car that is being driven. The Reatta electronics will drain a battery that is not being recharged in a month or so, depending on the battery and the condition it is in, to the point where the starter will not turn the engine. That is normal and doesn't mean anything is wrong. If the battery goes dead in a week or so you have a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I have my 1999 Riviera in storage for the winter. I hook up a Float charger and have it on a Lamp timer and charge it 2 hours daily. This is the first year I have tried the Lamp timer, in the past I just left the float charger on all winter.Several years ago I just let it sit with no charger and the battery went so low it messed up the computers which took a while of driving to get everything back to normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 (edited) I just connect a little HF float charger (Item #42292 & often on sale under $5) to cars in back garage. Think it is good for about 50 ma.Cars in front get driven at least every two weeks so I don't bother.BTW, think the normal Reatta drain with everything off is about 20 ma. Edited February 6, 2011 by padgett (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wally888 Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 "The Reatta electronics will drain a battery that is not being recharged in a month or so, depending on the battery and the condition it is in, to the point where the starter will not turn the engine. That is normal and doesn't mean anything is wrong. If the battery goes dead in a week or so you have a problem. " Think mine stays charged for about a month. Guess I should charge then disconnect the battery. Thanks to all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Richard D Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 If you have left the battery discharged for a week or more or let it die several times it has probably lost 50% of it's capacity. On the other hand sometimes you get lucky. The no-name battery that came in my car lasted about 2 months. I took the 1992 Delco that I had saved from my Dad's Eldorado when he really needed a starter but put in a new battery. For 5 years that Delco sat with a charge once a month and it has been in my Reatta for over 20 months and going strong. That beats my second longest battery, 11 years in a 91 Miata. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gotitright Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) I use battery tenders on all 3 Buicks, 3 motorcycles + my riding mower during Winter. They are really cheap and eleminate any worries. I killed my 5 year old battery on my Park Avenue by forgetting to hook up the tender for 2 months. Edited February 8, 2011 by gotitright Last sentence. (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrentS Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 The float chargers are awesome. I've noticed battery life go up significantly in my boat batteries, since I started keeping them on float charge all winter (as opposed to re-charging them every few weeks). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I read something about a Float charger going bad where it damaged the battery, thus I use a Lamp timer and only charge it a few hours a day with the Float Charger. Any thoughts ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry yarnell Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 The only thing i can think of that 'may' damage a battery, is the diode short out and put AC into the battery. Putting it on a timer isn't going to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnelle Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 I have been using float ( I call them trikle chargers) anyway they are 1 or 2 amp maintainers that are supposed to turn off when the battery is a full charge. I have had no problems until this year. The one on my MGB blew the caps off the battery and actually burst the top of the battery making a pretty big mess. Another one I had on my 91 Reatta just quite charging and let the battery go dead. I am now either driving the car once each month or in the case of the Reattas that have computers draining them constantly, I disconnect the negative cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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