mgordon18

I've got a vacation planned which will leave The Monster in the garage for a full 7 days. Do I need to hook it up to the trickle charger? My battery is only 4 months old - replaced as part of the CPO.

Thanks in advance...

Mojo31

You shouldn't need to.

I've let mine sit 2 to 3 weeks without any problems.

PHX 911

Same here, only 2 weeks, though. You should be OK.

street rod

Some cars are worse than others. Odds are you will be ok but it can't hurt to use a good maintainer.

USMC_DS1

Better safe than sorry... cheap insurance to through a tickle charger on it. Doesn't take long to render a battery useless if you have any deep discharge issues. I killed a new battery on my old m3 after 2 months due to this type of issue - discharge over a week then place on batter charger afterwards. Trickle charger is the way to go.

Domer911

warning: after a week of non-use the fob will not unlock the door. You will have to unlock the door manually with the key, then hit the fob button, everything will be back to normal.

theporscheguy

If you are concerned plug it in, but for a week during the summer months you should be fine.

Renzsport

You should be alright. I've done so for 2-3 weeks also and no issues. I think it would be a problem in arizona or texas due to the hot dry atmosphere (read something about this in R&T)
Another tidbit: if your battery does die and the trunk is locked, you have to boost it from the fuse panel in the driver's footwell in order to get the trunk open :s

P0rsch3F113

Whenever I park the car at home, I plug it in to my CTEK maintainer.
All the time.

docfink

Do it. What's the big deal?

John's 991

I always plug into a trickle charger if the car is going to sit for a week or more. I have it, and the hassle of the battery dying is WAY worse than the minimum amount of work of connecting it.

Also on the 991 the auto start/stop works better when the battery is topped off. If there is a downside to using the trickle charger, I don't know what it might be, so I'd just do it, put it out of my mind and enjoy the vacation.

MagnusB

Plug it in.

sy308

I store many cars (and motorcycles), some are stored winter and some are stored summer. A few see only a few hundred miles a year, other have thousands. In general, there is no reason why a well maintained battery and car without a hidden electrical issue will not start after a month (or even more of non-use). I do not charge my diesel tractors over winter and they always start after 4-6 months of sitting. Microprocessor chargers are new and some have reconditioning functions. I have seen some boil out electrolyte with constant winter connection, beware. In general, I have never had a problem with connecting a lamp timer to the charger to regulate the charge. I use 2hrs/day for cars and 1hr/day for bikes. You should avoid letting the battery go dead, then the emisions memory can give you problems, especially if a state inspection is just about due when the car comes out of storage. I would not charge your car for a 1 week vacation. It is unnecessary.

Mojo31

That did not happen with mine after a two week vacation in July.

USMC_DS1

If you don't have any electrical drain issues you'll be fine... if you do have a drain issue then it may be a PITA when you get back. It's really your choice how you want to roll. IMO the minimal cost of connecting a CTEK is not even worthy of taking the risk. BTW, I always connect my CTEK each and every day regardless and have not had any battery issues at all. It keeps my battery leveled off and sustains it's peak performance which is always the key with these cars.