avoiding draining the battery when doing interiors

[paudashlake]

Re: avoiding draining the battery when doing interiors

When I disconnect the battery in my car, I need to reset all of the preset radio stations in the radio. It is a real pain, and if it is not my car, I don't want to mess anything up. So I usually just turn the lights off in the car and I am just fine.

[atikovi]

Re: avoiding draining the battery when doing interiors

What are you all working on, antiques? Most modern cars have battery run down protection that cuts power after about 20 minutes. The '07 Chevy and '07 Mercedes I was driving had it, even my 2005 Smart does. Otherwise they sell some kind of clip you can attach to the door switch to keep it closed. It was designed more for mechanics who where working on the interior with the key in the ignition to stop the annoying buzzer from driving them crazy.

[Bunky]

Re: avoiding draining the battery when doing interiors

A battery in decent ondition is supposed should 90+ min at 25 A (called reserve capacity) when fully charged The interior lights draw a small fraction so if the battery is dying after 3 hrs, they really need a new battery.

[AdvanceDetail]

Re: avoiding draining the battery when doing interiors

What i do if iam working on a vehicle for some time in the interior is to use a screwdriver to lock the door mechanism, most modern vehicles have the usual door light pin conected to it, its something i learned when working in my audio shop and had to work lots of hours on an instalation. maybe this pic will explain it better. then remember to unlock it by lifting the door handle and using the same screwdriver to "pop" open the lock before slaming the door shut!

[CumminsCrazed]

Re: avoiding draining the battery when doing interiors

every vehicle ive worked on automatically shuts off the lights after 15 r 20 min so i have no issues.

[dantheman]

Re: avoiding draining the battery when doing interiors

Hah, my exact same problem. Luckily I can turn off all of the interior lights (that turn on when the doors are opened). I have a boom-box in the garage so I don't have to use the car's radio for music while working. As the car wakes up every time a door is opened or closed, I always open or close the doors (boot and bonnet) immediately one after another. When the car wakes up it'll do a cyclic check on equipments like CD changer etc. and it'll stay awake for about 10 minutes before going to sleep again. I never use the 12V outlet from the car.

[roushstage2]

Re: avoiding draining the battery when doing interiors

I leave my doors open for extended periods of time, with the radio on most of the time, and have yet to kill a battery while cleaning the interior?

[dantheman]

Re: avoiding draining the battery when doing interiors

Like this:

Drying after being washed. The rear door wasn't completely closed hence not triggering the car to start its wake-up cycle.