Goldenvodka 2nd Gear May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 A quick question here for the experts in this forum. Idle the car to keep the battery healthy or really need to drive it around the blocks. ↡ Advertisement 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beregond Supersonic May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Goldenvodka said: A quick question here for the experts in this forum. Idle the car to keep the battery healthy or really need to drive it around the blocks. yes its charging, and must charge.. when idling the rpm is lower, so for most car the charging is lower , if u drive around it confirm charge more and faster. Edited May 21, 2021 by Beregond 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kobayashiGT Internal Moderator May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 20 minutes ago, Goldenvodka said: A quick question here for the experts in this forum. Idle the car to keep the battery healthy or really need to drive it around the blocks. basically, the car engine will charge the alternator and it will charge the battery. This is a good video about the alternator. 🙂 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldenvodka 2nd Gear May 21, 2021 Author Share May 21, 2021 Looks like at least need to idle at least 20minutes if lazy to drive around the blocks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaiyotakamli Supersonic May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 Drive expressway best charge alot 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beregond Supersonic May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 5 minutes ago, Thaiyotakamli said: Drive expressway best charge alot find your favourite food drive to tabao come back, can park 1 week at least😁 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mkl22 Twincharged May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 FYI a dying battery will also cause slightly higher fuel consumption. As the alternator has to work more to top off the battery that cannot hold charge. IMHO, just buy those quick battery testers to check state of charge, state of health, internal resistance and voltage. Can tell you easily how the battery is. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mooose 6th Gear May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 i have looked after a neighbour's car when they were away for a few months. originally i only regularly start and idle for 20 minutes (including rev to 2000/3000rpm for short periods) until the temperature gauge reaches operating temperature where the needle gets to the mid point of the gauge .. reason is that i try not to drive other people's car in case accident etc but after about a month the battery becomes noticeably weaker .. cranking longer to start .. its not an old car, only about less than a year old so battery should be ok .. then one day, crank but couldnt start .. called AA .. thought need to change battery .. but AA man says battery still good but never run .. so he help me jump start and tell me drive for 10-20 min once a week .. i did that and the battery/starting etc all back to perfect .. so somehow idling alone over longer periods does not fully and properly charge the battery .. no doubting any engineer or someone who can explain otherwise that idle alone will be sufficient for recharging battery but just sharing true life experience. 9 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Didu Turbocharged May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 Is it many WFH, so car left unused for too long? Go for a relaxing drive on weekends. Charge and destress at the same time. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RadX Moderator May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 25 minutes ago, Didu said: Is it many WFH, so car left unused for too long? Go for a relaxing drive on weekends. Charge and destress at the same time. Agtee roads damn empty liao 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watwheels Supersonic May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 I think it is good to use a battery maintainer in times like this. It will be easy if you live on landed property. In hdb or condo you will have to remove the battery, bring it home and hook up with the battery maintainer. Quote A battery maintainer will keep the battery charged AND extend its life. ... When the battery is fully charged, the maintainer will switch over to float mode to maintain the battery at full charge. That means the battery maintainer will only charge the battery when it drops below a certain voltage I actually have one of this. Can be used on AGM battery. https://www.autoguide.com/blog/wp-content/uploads//2019/10/noco-genius-g3500.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mooose 6th Gear May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 1 hour ago, Didu said: Is it many WFH, so car left unused for too long? Go for a relaxing drive on weekends. Charge and destress at the same time. especially CB last year! drive 20-30 min .. good for the mind 😄 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kb27 Supersonic May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 (edited) As a battery seller, this is my opinion. Battery charge depends on alternator voltage. The higher the voltage, the faster the battery charge, but heats up more as well. Example, I go to a car with a really flat battery, I measure with a DC clampmeter, after jumpstarting the car, the highest it will go is around 50~60A for the first few minutes. As the battery is being charged, the current drops to 20A ~ +, and continues charging. It will go down to a certain lower level. Now this is all due to the alternator voltage level. A car whether moving or stationary has an alternator putting out more or less the same charging voltage. Alternator is belt driven by engine, so you would think, the faster the engine runs, (like when you go for a drive), the voltage will be higher. This is not true, bcuz the alternator has electronic control on voltage regulation. So the alternator, if it's putting out 14V at idle, it will more or less put out 14V at 6000rpm. Since the charging voltage does not change, charging the battery will take about the same time. If you want the flat battery to charge a lot faster, you would have to raise the alternator voltage (if that's possible) to say 15.8V which is the max, before the battery overheats and crack. The alternator capacity also depends on your car. The big cars may have 120A capability, while the smaller car may have 80A. If the battery is drawing a lot of current, the alternator is then limited by its capacity. If you want to fully charge a flat battery it takes time. It will charge quite fast for the first few minutes and then level off and slows down. But alternator is not build to fully charge a battery, but maintain about 80~90% or so of the charge. If you really want to fully charge a battery to 100%, it will take many hours, which is not possible, when you're driving a car normally. Edited May 21, 2021 by Kb27 14 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOBIEMKZ Turbocharged May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 44 minutes ago, Kb27 said: As a battery seller, this is my opinion. Battery charge depends on alternator voltage. The higher the voltage, the faster the battery charge, but heats up more as well. Example, I go to a car with a really flat battery, I measure with a DC clampmeter, after jumpstarting the car, the highest it will go is around 50~60A for the first few minutes. As the battery is being charged, the current drops to 20A ~ +, and continues charging. It will go down to a certain lower level. Now this is all due to the alternator voltage level. A car whether moving or stationary has an alternator putting out more or less the same charging voltage. Alternator is belt driven by engine, so you would think, the faster the engine runs, (like when you go for a drive), the voltage will be higher. This is not true, bcuz the alternator has electronic control on voltage regulation. So the alternator, if it's putting out 14V at idle, it will more or less put out 14V at 6000rpm. Since the charging voltage does not change, charging the battery will take about the same time. If you want the flat battery to charge a lot faster, you would have to raise the alternator voltage (if that's possible) to say 15.8V which is the max, before the battery overheats and crack. The alternator capacity also depends on your car. The big cars may have 120A capability, while the smaller car may have 80A. If the battery is drawing a lot of current, the alternator is then limited by its capacity. If you want to fully charge a flat battery it takes time. It will charge quite fast for the first few minutes and then level off and slows down. But alternator is not build to fully charge a battery, but maintain about 80~90% or so of the charge. If you really want to fully charge a battery to 100%, it will take many hours, which is not possible, when you're driving a car normally. Wow! What an insight! I used to think that when vehicle is idling, I can rev up the engine to charge a battery faster. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kb27 Supersonic May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 10 minutes ago, DOBIEMKZ said: Wow! What an insight! I used to think that when vehicle is idling, I can rev up the engine to charge a battery faster. Actually, nowadays smart alternators from luxury cars like Mercedes, will put out 13.3V normally. If it sense the current load is high, like from a depleted battery, it will push the voltage to go higher to charge faster and when it detects a lower load, it will alter the voltage downwards. This also reduce the stress on the battery. A lower voltage charge slower, but stays cooler and the battery should last longer. This is different from old-style "dumb" alternator which puts out fixed voltage, regardless the electrical load. 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturtles 6th Gear May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 4 hours ago, Mooose said: i have looked after a neighbour's car when they were away for a few months. originally i only regularly start and idle for 20 minutes (including rev to 2000/3000rpm for short periods) until the temperature gauge reaches operating temperature where the needle gets to the mid point of the gauge .. reason is that i try not to drive other people's car in case accident etc but after about a month the battery becomes noticeably weaker .. cranking longer to start .. its not an old car, only about less than a year old so battery should be ok .. then one day, crank but couldnt start .. called AA .. thought need to change battery .. but AA man says battery still good but never run .. so he help me jump start and tell me drive for 10-20 min once a week .. i did that and the battery/starting etc all back to perfect .. so somehow idling alone over longer periods does not fully and properly charge the battery .. no doubting any engineer or someone who can explain otherwise that idle alone will be sufficient for recharging battery but just sharing true life experience. Every cold start draws down the capacity of the battery greatly. Idling thereafter for 10 minutes may not be sufficient to charge the battery to a higher level of charge before the cold crank So possibly, you could start every week, but drive and for 30 minutes like normal should be a better way. Then again, quality of batteries these days are dropping. The simple math : 10 year COE / lifespan of battery COE / 3. years = 3.3 => 4 battery changes COE / 2.5 years => 4 battery changes The cost is the same... no point holding out on battery changes only to be stuck in office or some outdoor carpark at an inopportune time. The same goes for tires. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cephas 3rd Gear May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, Didu said: Is it many WFH, so car left unused for too long? Go for a relaxing drive on weekends. Charge and destress at the same time. Drive for pleasure and it helps to release pressure...😊 Edited May 21, 2021 by Cephas 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamesc Hypersonic May 21, 2021 Share May 21, 2021 If never use car just use a wall charger to charge up the battery. Helps if you live in landed property. A bit of a hassle if you need to take out the battery and bring it to your condo. That will fully charge the battery ↡ Advertisement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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