Leaving a Rx450h garaged over winter

[Daniel Raess]

I am leaving a 2014 Rx450h in a garage in the NE over the winter. 
Would it be better to place a trickle charger on the 12 volt engine battery or better to just remove the battery (which is new, btw).?

[Les Lex 2018]

The maintenance charger is certainly a lot easier than pulling the battery. For fire safety, I would put the little charger in a metal popcorn can with a lid just in case the charger should short out and throw some sparks before tripping a breaker.  My brother is a Snow Bird and does that every year when he packs up the truck and trailer in Nebraska and winters down in AZ. His Ford Hybrid seems to fire up ok when he gets home. Detached garage with zero heat.  Going on 3rd year now.

[Daniel Raess]

Thanks for that. I assume if I do the charger idea, that you use the jump post in the engine compartment vs directly to the battery under the cargo hold?

[Les Lex 2018]

Just flip up the protective cover on the Plus terminal on the battery and attach the red alligator clip there.  The Negative black clip can go anywhere on the metal frame or on the negative terminal on the battery if you like.  I use the 55 dollar Model# 021-0128 Deltran Battery Tender.  It takes about 12 hours to bring the battery up to 14.7 volts (full charge). And that's after a short 2 mile trip to the store.  I don't use a tender like you will need.  I use it to test my generator's ability to keep the battery fully charged, and I found that both my 18 and 20 RXs did not keep the battery fully charged after short drives.  That's probably a good thing for lead-acid batteries because the more amps you jam into the battery (charge rate), the more wear and tear on the lead plates meaning shorter the life.  It's the Vehicle's Voltage Regulator that determines charge rate into your battery. And since they are all pretty much off the shelf standard units, I'll bet all modern cars charge the same way.  Nothing wrong with that - it works fine.

 The real trickle charger is designed to charge up the battery slowly, and then, at no more than the rate of discharge according to the specs.  IF this is true, your battery should not be worn down by sitting on a maintainer for 3 months.  But know your charger specifications before you leaving it alone in the garage un-attended for months on end. Test your unit before you leave.

[Les Lex 2018]

Ya, you NEVER wanna go near the Hybrid battery in you Vehicle.   That thing will KILL you dead. There are NO owner-serviceable parts on that battery.