Keeping Aux. Battery Charged During Long Storage

Hi Jill,

When 12V power is removed then restored, you will find that the clock, the radio station presets, and the driver's window auto down function all have to be reset. When you pull the DOME fuse, three diagnostic trouble codes will be logged. These DTC are unrelated to the clock and radio.

Probably the easiest way to manage the situation given your frequent absences is to use a battery minder so you don't have to worry about continually unbolting connections. Attach the positive terminal of the battery minder to the dedicated positive jumpstart terminal located under the red plastic cover within the main relay/fuse box near the inverter. Attach the negative terminal of the battery minder to bare metal in the engine compartment.

To open the relay/fuse box, press hard on the latch at the front of the box, then lift the box lid up (it is hinged at the back). Once you start to lift up the lid, then you can remove it from the box. Then you will see the red plastic cover for the jumpstart terminal near the back of the box. The cover is hinged on one side, gently lift it up to expose the jumpstart terminal.

Alternatively you could connect the battery minder directly to the battery located in the right side of the hatch area. However that is not as good because your interior lights will be on if you leave the hatch or a door ajar to snake the AC cord for the battery minder out of the vehicle.

 

Believe me I've figured out (after a lot of practice) how to get the plastic cover off the battery. Okay! So I'll go with that approach I'm taking off for a bit in a couple of days so it will be my trial run. Thanks a bunch and wish me luck!

 

If you have a garage, then you only have to snake the very small zipwire that VDC supplies, out the hatch. I have no problem closing my hatch after doing so

 

Does it make any difference whether I use the battery in the front or the one in the back? It seems easier to get to the one in the front. Do I need to know any details when I buy the tender other than that it needs to know when to stop feeding the battery? I think you called it "smart". Someone said I need to know how many amps or something? I spoke to a guy in a motorcycle shop and he said the ones they carry don't have enough power as they are built for motorcycle batteries.

 

There is only the one 12v AUX battery and it is hidden under the floor in the cargo/trunk area of the car. The jump start terminal at the front of the car is connected to the 12v AUX battery at the back via a 100A fuse block. I can't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to trickle charge from the front jump start terminal (or even charge the battery with a good quality intelligent battery charger at up to 4 Amps)?

 

There is no battery in the front. If you're talking about the jump start terminal, I suppose that could be used.

I personally wired my VDC directly to the 12 vdc battery. That was 4 years ago, the battery is still very strong

No battery tender has enough charge current to recover a battery that is already discharged. The instructions for my Battery Minder state as much. You must use a regular battery charger to fully charge a dead battery

The Battery Minder units I use are appropriate for any battery size from motorcycle to large tractor. Again, they will keep a "float" charge on the battery, they cannot recharge a dead battery. Most battery tenders are designed not to operate at all if the battery voltage is too low

If you have a specialized application, say keeping the batteries and emergency gear charged in a fire truck, you need a specialized charger system. Kussmaul makes a very high quality line of expensive standby units

Kussmaul Electronics Co., Inc. Fire Products Home Page

Kussmaul has units that will keep the firetruck battery charged, even with backup radios plugged in to charge. They also offer 120 v, or 12 v, air compressors to keep the rig air tanks and ping tanks, up to pressure

If a truck with air brakes has low air pressure, the brakes will refuse to release until you let the engine compressor run long enough to recover air pressure. The last thing you want to have happen in an emergency call

Kussmaul even offers an auto eject receptacle, so in an emergency call, once the key is turned to Start, the extension cord is popped out.

Kussmaul Electronics Co., Inc. Super Auto Eject Data Sheet

Sure beats driving down the road, flashers and siren going, with an extension cord whipping behind you