Hi All,

My car is parked in my garage (w/o electricity) for weeks at a time when I'm out of town on business and after 2-3 weeks my battery is practically fully drained. I have a rather 'thirsty' car alarm system required for insurance here in Holland.

I have a portable starter power pack (I charge that at home) and that has worked fine for me. However, it's a hassle and that's why I would like to know if there is a solution in installing an Optima Yellow Top D51.

Changing out the alarm or something like that is not an option...

From what I gather is that the deep cycle battery is suitable for running car stereo etc. with the engine shut off for long periods.

But would it also be helpful for me to install this battery, i.e. will it take significantly longer to discharge this battery compared to a regular one?

Simple logic makes me think that the battery would last longer, but I'm not an electronics expert and my logic regarding this could be flawed.

Are there any owners here with experience that can help me?

I look forward to your replies and insights.

Thanks!


Siepel

 

A fresh battery that has as much cranking amps as possible and that has been properly and fully charged will generally hold its charge, even with a constant drain, much longer than an older batter. However, with the kind of draw I think you have, it's far better and advisable to attach some kind of battery "smart" charger when leaving the car for weeks at a time. If you don't have the ability to hook up to "land based" power, do you have such things in Holland that look like this:
http://www.canadiantire.ca/assortments/pro...D=1129930386536

I hope you can see the above. It's a solar powered auto charger that plugs into the accessory plug. (If it asks you for a "postal code", use something like "T3B 0Y6".)

 

Couple of things:

"Normal" (as fitted to our cars) batteries do not like to be deep cycled (it shortens there life quite rapidly).

Even if you fit a deep cycle battery, you still have the problem of coming back to a flat battery ! (does your alarm still work after this period ?)

As you have an unpowered garage, I would suggest that you rig up a system where you can attach a (removable) deep cycle battery to your current system in parallel while the system lies dormant in the garage (possibly in the boot ?).

There are ways to isolate your standard battery while doing this, but I am sure some of the deep cycle batteries (like the ones used for electric bass motors and camping) should be adequate in maintaining the charge of your standard battery while your alarm system presents it's insatiable thirst.

-- Paul

 

deep cycle batteries are able to recover and recharge after a full discharge.. where regular car batteries suffer damage everytime they are discharged too much..
Each time you kill a car battery, it gets weaker and weaker.. thus making it easier to kill each time after. basically killing a deep cycle battery is the same as killing a regular battery except you can fully recharge the deep cycle battery.

could be quite a bit of work, but you could try putting the alarm on a separate battery source than the car. depending on your needs, you can install a "alarm backup battery". These used to be ni-cad batteries, but they may have newer stuff now. since the alarm is constantly drawing power, if it kills the "alarm battery", then only the alarm dies, not the car.