Temporary Storage Of Hybrid Suv's

[jr92591]

Many of us travel and leave our vehicles in our garage for short periods of time. In my case I will be in Europe for four weeks this year and have very little information on what I should do with my 2011 RX450h for these four weeks. It will be in my garage and not be started or driven. Can some of the battery load electical systems be disabled manually so as to not drain the 12V battery? I do not want to unhook the 12V battery for this period since so many features will have to be reset when the battery is hooked back up. I am hoping there is a master switch that can be turned off that will not disrupt all the memory settings but will keep the battery from discharging. Any experience or suggestions?

[TA in KC]

I've never owned a hybrid vehicle- so I don't know if there are any extra precautions to take when storing one. But, If you don't want to disconnect the battery, and don't want it to be drained, I would think a trickle-type charger such as a "Battery Tender" would do the trick.

I also have this little device (not sure what it's called, purchased in the auto section at Wal-Mart) that hooks up to a 9V battery and plugs into the car's accessory plug. It works great for keeping my radio presets, etc, intact when I disconnect the battery while performing maintenance on my car. I don't know if it would keep working for 4 weeks- but it's another idea.

[RX350lover]

Why not getting this, it is good enough to keep a Porsche for 6 months in the garage during winter... I have two such chargers and they are absolutely great. Read some of the reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/CTEK-Multi-Smart-Battery-Charger/dp/B000FQBWCY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304479513&sr=8-1