Hi Everyone!

Not sure if you can help, but my new 1.2 Pop is going up to live in Rosedale Abbey (near Pickering) where we have a second home. The idea behind buying that is that if my wife and I go up on our motorbikes (as we often do) then we'll have a car to use if we need to go anywhere and we don't fancy riding.

The car will be used relatively infrequently and will live in the garage so I thought I might put the battery on a charger so that it doesn't go flat, like we do with the motorbikes.

It says in the 500 handbook that the battery should be disconnected but, if it's on a trickle charger, does this still need to be done?

Any advice most welcome.

Thanks

J

If you disconnect it then reconnect it the battery should still have enough charge to restart?

Should be fine connected and on trickle charge, I do that with my bike over winter unless something unusual about cars. As Ahmett says just disconnect the batt when leaving.

What bikes you riding out of interest? mine's a 97 Blackbird, don’t do much mileage but not worth selling a 180mph machine for ~ £1.5k

arorat said:

What bikes you riding out of interest? mine's a 97 Blackbird, don’t do much mileage but not worth selling a 180mph machine for ~ £1.5k

Click to expand...

BMW R1200GS Adventure and Mrs J has a Moto Guzzi Breva 750ie.

Great bikes. Done some serious touring across Europe (France, Switzerland, Spain and Gibraltar) and Scotland (Outer Hebrides & Highlands). How about you?

J

On the 500 you can cause a few problems if you leave the battery disconnected for too long.
The milage will start to flash and will need to go to a dealer to get fixed.

RUI said:

On the 500 you can cause a few problems if you leave the battery disconnected for too long.
The milage will start to flash and will need to go to a dealer to get fixed.

Click to expand...

Ian what has happened to your website as displayed to the left of your message? Or have you gone "hard core"?

Jonothan said:

BMW R1200GS Adventure and Mrs J has a Moto Guzzi Breva 750ie.

Great bikes. Done some serious touring across Europe (France, Switzerland, Spain and Gibraltar) and Scotland (Outer Hebrides & Highlands). How about you?

J

Click to expand...

boxer & v twin, fantastic sounding engines and designed for distance !! I got the blackbird in a rage to munch M25 in 1997, now working from home it does <100m between MOTs. Have taken it to Barcelona via France & Pyrenees couple of times, would love to do it again.

The idea behind removing the battery prior to charging is to protect the Start stop module i believe

RobinPJ said:

Ian what has happened to your website as displayed to the left of your message? Or have you gone "hard core"?

Click to expand...

I am no longer a registered trader on the forum so I cant have advertising.
I just did it like that because I could not think what to put in its place.
Cartel parts is still going I am just not advertising on the fiatforum anymore.

Oh yes I remember - you did mention it the other day...

Andy Monty said:

The idea behind removing the battery prior to charging is to protect the Start stop module i believe

Click to expand...

At the moment I'm in the middle of charging a battery in a Marea and I have the battery disconnected from the car and it's charging. But with the 500 I was always of the belief that it shouldn't be disconnected for too long because it would trigger the 'flashing mileage' as mentioned by RUI. I can 'live with that' but could there we an issue with the immobiliser circuit as mentioned on the posting below ?
If I had to charge a battery on a 500 I would intent using a spare battery to keep it connected.
Also if the 500 didn't have a S/S module would a trickle charge e.g. from a solar panel unit cause any problem whilst leaving the battery in a 'connected state'.

rossco1978 said:

disconnecting the battery or trying the spare keys will not work. The immobiliser get its information from the can network. If the can network is faulty it will not start. There is no back up for the immobiliser circuit unlike the earlier fiats which have a k-line as a back up. If you have a multimeter i could give you the voltages and pin numbers to check the can network at the diagnostic plug which is at the lower right hand side of the steering wheel behind the cover but it will be under warranty so you would be as well to get it up lifted

Click to expand...