Just a little something for guys to consider for your "not a 'Vette" car.
With the Covid lock-down becoming a more prolonged thing, we need to consider things that we normally don't have to worry about.
Before covid, we woudl drive to work every day in our daily drivers. With the lock-down, everyone is traveling much less. I know I haven't filled the truck in at least a month and it's still around 3/4 tank (admittedly, I have the tow package which means an oversized tank). With this level of inactivity, machines begin to break down from the sitting. Machines need to run or things start to dry out, rust, leak or otherwise just break down.
Now, a month of light use isn't going to mean you need to think about things like flat spotting tires, gas going bad, etc. But what you do need to think about is the battery.
Most people don't think about it, because they drive at least 20-30 mins each day. This is usually enough to restore the charge in the battery that was depleted during the start. this means your battery has a good chance of living it's full life.
But now, most people are only using the car to run to the local grocery store or pharmacy. This means the battery does not get properly replenished and that can lead to sulfation in the battery itself.
So here's what i recommend: once a week, go throw your battery tender on your daily driver.
So get up Sunday morning, grab your coffee, head out to the garage and move your tender from the 'Vette in storage and put it on your daily driver. Let it run until it says the battery is up to charge and on float.
If you do this, you protect your battery and help prevent and early demise as a result of all the sitting our vehicles are doing these days.
Should this lock-down continue, topping off that battery is going to become even more important as you don't want to have to spend a couple hundred on a new battery before you have too. Modern cars it's even more important to keep topping up that battery as there are many parasitic loads keeping things like memory and settings alive when you walk away. Left too long, it will drag the battery down and you're then in "sulfation" territory.
Better yet, go buy another tender and leave it on your daily until you need to take it somewhere. It doesn't need to be anything expensive. I actually have a NOCO Genius 1 (about 30-40 bucks a piece on sale) on everything. I've got something like 5 of them for stuff in the garage, a waterproof "on board" mini on the Argo and a NOCO G3500 for when I want a bit quicker charging. They've saved me more money than they've cost me by extending battery life. You don't need to buy NOCO brand stuff, just make sure whatever you buy has a "float mode" to maintain the battery and not try to boil it dry.
If you do buy a dedicated charger for your daily (or even use what you've already got), I suggest you either leave the hood up or put a note on the steering wheel to disconnect it before you drive the car away. Nothing worse than trying to drive off and then hearing that sickening "gronch" noise as the cord rips in half.
Don't worry about the rest of the "storage" things we do for our 'Vettes, as long as your daily gets out at least a couple times a month, you don't have to worry about anything but topping up the battery. Things like gas are good for around 6 months, which is when you have to start worring about it breaking down. It will still run on 6 month old gas, it's just not going to be "optimal"....
With the Covid lock-down becoming a more prolonged thing, we need to consider things that we normally don't have to worry about.
Before covid, we woudl drive to work every day in our daily drivers. With the lock-down, everyone is traveling much less. I know I haven't filled the truck in at least a month and it's still around 3/4 tank (admittedly, I have the tow package which means an oversized tank). With this level of inactivity, machines begin to break down from the sitting. Machines need to run or things start to dry out, rust, leak or otherwise just break down.
Now, a month of light use isn't going to mean you need to think about things like flat spotting tires, gas going bad, etc. But what you do need to think about is the battery.
Most people don't think about it, because they drive at least 20-30 mins each day. This is usually enough to restore the charge in the battery that was depleted during the start. this means your battery has a good chance of living it's full life.
But now, most people are only using the car to run to the local grocery store or pharmacy. This means the battery does not get properly replenished and that can lead to sulfation in the battery itself.
So here's what i recommend: once a week, go throw your battery tender on your daily driver.
So get up Sunday morning, grab your coffee, head out to the garage and move your tender from the 'Vette in storage and put it on your daily driver. Let it run until it says the battery is up to charge and on float.
If you do this, you protect your battery and help prevent and early demise as a result of all the sitting our vehicles are doing these days.
Should this lock-down continue, topping off that battery is going to become even more important as you don't want to have to spend a couple hundred on a new battery before you have too. Modern cars it's even more important to keep topping up that battery as there are many parasitic loads keeping things like memory and settings alive when you walk away. Left too long, it will drag the battery down and you're then in "sulfation" territory.
Better yet, go buy another tender and leave it on your daily until you need to take it somewhere. It doesn't need to be anything expensive. I actually have a NOCO Genius 1 (about 30-40 bucks a piece on sale) on everything. I've got something like 5 of them for stuff in the garage, a waterproof "on board" mini on the Argo and a NOCO G3500 for when I want a bit quicker charging. They've saved me more money than they've cost me by extending battery life. You don't need to buy NOCO brand stuff, just make sure whatever you buy has a "float mode" to maintain the battery and not try to boil it dry.
If you do buy a dedicated charger for your daily (or even use what you've already got), I suggest you either leave the hood up or put a note on the steering wheel to disconnect it before you drive the car away. Nothing worse than trying to drive off and then hearing that sickening "gronch" noise as the cord rips in half.
Don't worry about the rest of the "storage" things we do for our 'Vettes, as long as your daily gets out at least a couple times a month, you don't have to worry about anything but topping up the battery. Things like gas are good for around 6 months, which is when you have to start worring about it breaking down. It will still run on 6 month old gas, it's just not going to be "optimal"....
Last edited:
?
oh yes I can use it to charge my cell phone and GPS for my yardage. It’s useful somewhat. 
️
