Battery Life While On Vacation

[RockyMtHigh]

What are others doing to keep their RX400H charged while on an extended vacation? The dealer says the car will not last more than one week and yet the manual says something different. Would you recommend a battery charge and if so, which one?

[Jim Clark]

What are others doing to keep their RX400H charged while on an extended vacation? The dealer says the car will not last more than one week and yet the manual says something different. Would you recommend a battery charge and if so, which one?

One week? WTF?

I guess any charger that will automatically "maintain" the charge, one that recognizes when full charge is reached and then just keeps it there.

I think I might be a little nervous about leaving a charger hooked up while I went away. Even if it is an automatic one that supposedly can not overcharge.

[BobBass]

ONE WEEK? I was away for 10 days during Christmas with the 400h left out in the cold. It started and ran just fine upon my return.

If you do a search on this topic, you'll find that most owners have not had that problem for even longer periods unless they left an interior light on or inadvertently did something else to drain the battery.

[Gryphon]

I doubt that you will have a problem in as short a time as a week. That being said, I use a 2 amp motorcycle charger (Walmart $18.44), wired into the cigarette lighter plug, to keep my various cars/trucks charged when not being driven. Note that for this to work, the vehicle must have a non-switched lighter plug, otherwise you need to connect directly to the battery.

Tom

[LexRexBlue]

I have left my car for over a week with no problem. However, when we were going away for over a month they suggested we disconnect the battery. They showed me how, and I reconnected it when we returned. The battery was fine, but the settings for windows, roof, etc. had to be reprogrammed. However, this took about 5 minutes at the dealer who did it right away free of charge.

[rvtravel]

I left mine for 5 weeks at airpot garage. Car started with no problem when we returned.

[NeoN]

if your worried at all just disconnect the negative/pos cables before you leave the car and you'll never have to worry while your gone.

[RockyMtHigh]

if your worried at all just disconnect the negative/pos cables before you leave the car and you'll never have to worry while your gone.

Yes, discconnecting the battery would be the simpliest and safest way to take care of this issue. However, my dealer tells me not to do this as it will erase all my settings include the ones for the remote key. So, everything like seat adjustments, automoatic door locks, rear door, etc. would have be reprogrammed by a Lexus Dealer and they might charge for it.

[NeoN]

ive done this a bunch of times. Yes you'll lose your seat settings but big deal just hit the save seat 1 when you start up the car again, therefore you'll only lose seat setting number 2. none of the remote settings need to re-programed but you have to move the windows up and down from each seat (to get the rear right window to work, you have to sit in the seat and use the button on the door all the way up and down once, in order for it to be re-initialized and work from the drivers seat window buttons. they are just trying to scare you so don't worry

[Gryphon]

Actually, disconnecting the battery does not entirely stop it's discharge. Lead-acid batteries self-discharge at a considerably higher rate than one might expect. You will get longer battery life by keeping it fully charged with a trickle charger.

Tom

[RX400h]

Actually, disconnecting the battery does not entirely stop it's discharge. Lead-acid batteries self-discharge at a considerably higher rate than one might expect. You will get longer battery life by keeping it fully charged with a trickle charger.

Tom

I agree. Many Corvette guys store their cars for the winter and most use trickle-chargers. They are perfectly safe as long as they are set up correctly. I'd say anything beyond 2 weeks is reason to use one.

[NeoN]

Actually, disconnecting the battery does not entirely stop it's discharge. Lead-acid batteries self-discharge at a considerably higher rate than one might expect. You will get longer battery life by keeping it fully charged with a trickle charger.

Tom

I agree. Many Corvette guys store their cars for the winter and most use trickle-chargers. They are perfectly safe as long as they are set up correctly. I'd say anything beyond 2 weeks is reason to use one.

yea but you can't use a trickle charger when your parked at an airport. I have trickle charger for my supra as I don't drive it much throughout the winter but the lexus should be fine sitting in the airport for over 2 weeks

[SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME]

We keep ours up north, and it's not driven for over 4 months at a time. Our renter turns the trickle charger on just once a month, for a couple hours. It's worked every time for 2 years running. Now once the battery is maybe nearing 5 years old, then I might be concerned, but not until then.