Ariel.Club Forum

I have recently taken my Atom 3 out of the Cyprus Motor Museum after it's winter display/storage and discovered that the the Odyssey PC680 battery was not too good - started the car OK but sooo s-l-o-w-l-y!

Removed, cleaned,  and petroleum jellied the terminals - better, but not really a long term fix so I finally ordered a new Varta Red Top 25 from Demon Tweeks.

I hummed & haa'd over the Odyssey PC680 vs the Varta 25 but the Varta was on a special Easter offer price and, into the bargain is a 20amp/hr battery rather than the PC680 which is 16amp/hr - before finally deciding I checked with Steve at the factory who said that the Varta is fine to fit!

Now to the main point of this post - after removing the Odyssey I discovered a label on the bottom of the battery case stating that it was manufactured during 05/2010 so was obviously fitted to the car when it was originally built during Dec/Jan 2010/2011 so the battery had lasted almost exactly 7 years while being almost continuously on an intelligent battery gharger when the car was not in use.

So it appears to me that continuously using a modern 'intelligent' battery charger appears to had no detrimental effect on the battery as - to my mind - 7 years is a pretty good life for such a small battery?

So new battery arrived from Ariel ( they sent an Odyssey pc 680 racing battery) fitted in about 5 mins and works perfect, put two cable ties around the old bosh terminals for a makeshift handle and it lifted right out, starts a bit faster now too! Enabling me to go for an early New Years winter blast this morning whilst the sun was out today! God I love this car haha!

I was pretty confident based on Henry's info:

[quote="HenryJS"] if you are going to leave the car for more than 6-8 weeks, i would disconnect the battery from the car all together.
[/quote]

[quote="autobackup"]
Bruce

If that were to be the case then purchasing a new immobiliser with it's paired fobs would be problematical?

I had perforce to purchase a completely new immobiliser in November as my original factory installed unit went 'tits up' at the end of a timed rally and I had to be towed home.

- given several previous posts in this forum about broken aerial sensor loops due to vibration I thought that my problem might simply have been my loop that had failed but, in the event, after replacing the immobiliser I am still using the original loop and am carrying the new loop as a spare in my Atom's cubby.

The new immobiliser had a slip of paper in the box showing a manufacturing date of 07/2015 so it had probably been 'on the shelf' either at the distributor or at the Ariel factory and it had remembered it's unlock code for well over a year (obviously unpowered) before I received it.

- I encountered no immobiliser fob problems after I received it and also successfully managed to reprogram both my old fobs to the new immociliser - so now I have a total of four working fobs!!
[/quote]

Cool. I wasn't certain that removing the battery would screw things up - like it does coded radios, for example.

If it's all good, then brilliant!

Bruce

If that were to be the case then purchasing a new immobiliser with it's paired fobs would be problematical?

I had perforce to purchase a completely new immobiliser in November as my original factory installed unit went 'tits up' at the end of a timed rally and I had to be towed home.

- given several previous posts in this forum about broken aerial sensor loops due to vibration I thought that my problem might simply have been my loop that had failed but, in the event, after replacing the immobiliser I am still using the original loop and am carrying the new loop as a spare in my Atom's cubby.

The new immobiliser had a slip of paper in the box showing a manufacturing date of 07/2015 so it had probably been 'on the shelf' either at the distributor or at the Ariel factory and it had remembered it's unlock code for well over a year (obviously unpowered) before I received it.

- I encountered no immobiliser fob problems after I received it and also successfully managed to reprogram both my old fobs to the new immociliser - so now I have a total of four working fobs!!

[quote="CambsBill"]
[quote="Tommycupra"]
[quote="meladdo"]
Do you use a battery conditioner or trickle charger through winter?

The gel battery supplied bt the factory is as about as high quality as you can get! and reflects the standard the factory adhere too in the build process.


[/quote]



It's the first winter I've owned it, but no as I start it up and run it every few days, the garage it's kept in doesn't have any power to run a charger from...yet. I'll have to try giving the battery a good tug as it seems wedged in there!
[/quote]

I'm in the same boat - garage is part of a block so no chance of mains being installed.  Is there anything electronics-wise which would be affected if I just took the battery out for ambient storage during the winter?
[/quote]

You might want to check that the immobiliser fob doesn't unpair though... I wouldn't know but I'll bet that there's only a small residual charge that remembers which fob is yours...

Thanks 

Only if there's a tracker of some sort fitted.  Otherwise no issue with removing it that I'm aware of.

[quote="Tommycupra"]
[quote="meladdo"]
Do you use a battery conditioner or trickle charger through winter?

The gel battery supplied bt the factory is as about as high quality as you can get! and reflects the standard the factory adhere too in the build process.


[/quote]


It's the first winter I've owned it, but no as I start it up and run it every few days, the garage it's kept in doesn't have any power to run a charger from...yet. I'll have to try giving the battery a good tug as it seems wedged in there!
[/quote]

I'm in the same boat - garage is part of a block so no chance of mains being installed.  Is there anything electronics-wise which would be affected if I just took the battery out for ambient storage during the winter?

[quote="phil4"]
Optimate chargers are pretty popular in the tiny bit of the bike world I've seen....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/h7b/OptiMate-TM-180SAE-6-ampmatic-12V/B003L192E0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1483555047&sr=8-6&keywords=optimate

They're truly idiot proof in that there are no modes/buttons to press.

I've got one on my bike, but use CTek on the Atom, as I prefer the connector.


[/quote]

Optimate here too. Connected for more than 3 years 24/7 without issue (except when I left the ignition on one time!).

Optimate chargers are pretty popular in the tiny bit of the bike world I've seen....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/h7b/OptiMate-TM-180SAE-6-ampmatic-12V/B003L192E0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1483555047&sr=8-6&keywords=optimate

They're truly idiot proof in that there are no modes/buttons to press.

I've got one on my bike, but use CTek on the Atom, as I prefer the connector.

Digger

You are entirely right about limiting charging times when using a bog standard trickle charger (e.g. Halfords etc) however the latest generation of intelligent smart chargers are safe to leave connected 365/24/7 as they continuously monitor the battery state and have anti sulphation and other programs (pulse/monitor/float) built in

A couple of excellent alternatives to a Ctek charger include :

1. Sterling Power (http://sterling-power.com/products/portable-global-smart-charger)
2. NewMar (http://dcpoweronboard.com/phase-three-series-12-volt-battery-chargers/)

both of which are better known in the marine world but are both high quality well built units.

Note that a NewMar charger would need to be permanently mounted on a suitable wall close to the vehicle - I had a high power NewMar PT80 80amp NewMar charger (charging 3 banks of batteries - total of 600amp/hrs) fitted to our Morgan 38 sailing boat (now sold) and it was absolutely brilliant - the boat was permanently connected 24/7 to shore power when docked and not in use!

tks Paul

Digger

Yes I do and have done with no problems whatsoever for almost the last 2 years!

- you will find the reference quoted below in the 'blurb' on the right hand side (at the bottom) of this Ctek webpage :

http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/CT5%20TIME%20TO%20GO

Extract from Ctek webpage:
".............FULL CONTROL OVER CHARGING TIME - ... it is completely safe to leave the CT5 TIME TO GO charger connected 24/7, all year round..........."

autobackup do you leave the Ctek permanently connected?  I read somewhere (sorry I cannot recall where), that you shouldn't? 

I have mine switched on for a week then off a week, and occasionally start the car also.  Am I doing the right thing?