Best Battery for Rarely Driven 100? (1 Viewer)

[MyLandy]

My 06 LC is typically driven roughly 100mi round trip once every one or two weeks, excluding some weekend runs around town or to the trails. In the winter it can sit for weeks if there is salt on the roads. Hence my dilemma.

I came out this morning to start it after at least 2wks of sitting and it clicked away. It has some juice, but not enough to turn it over even momentarily. The battery is only about 1.5yrs old.

What is the best battery to go with in this situation in terms of reliability and longevity? An Optima-type battery is fine, whatever is best.

Thanks!

 

[glovas807]

My 06 LC is typically driven roughly 100mi round trip once every one or two weeks, excluding some weekend runs around town or to the trails. In the winter it can sit for weeks if there is salt on the roads. Hence my dilemma.

I came out this morning to start it after at least 2wks of sitting and it clicked away. It has some juice, but not enough to turn it over even momentarily. The battery is only about 1.5yrs old.

What is the best battery to go with in this situation in terms of reliability and longevity? An Optima-type battery is fine, whatever is best.

Thanks!

This the brand I use. Works great and my truck sits for more than two weeks at a time.

X2Power Premium AGM Battery for 2006 Toyota Land Cruiser V8 4.7L 710CCA Car and Truck - SLI27FAGMDP at Batteries Plus Bulbs

X2Power group 27F AGM replacement battery designed for low maintenance and dependable engine starting power. Designed for BMW, Ford, Lincoln, Mercedes and more

www.batteriesplus.com

 

[1MOA]

get whatever battery floats your budget but I would get a trickle charger. Between cold and parasitic draw it can make fast work of a battery.

 

[MyLandy]

I wish I could but it sits outside with a car cover on it, unless I can find a trickle charger with a waterproof solar panel I can throw on the roof overtop the car cover.

 

[MyLandy]

I'll check out X2Power, thanks!

 

[emorth]

Parasitic drain is the killer. I use one of these battery disconnect switches. Best if put on the negative post. Downside: you will loose all of the radio’s preset frequencies and the alarm won’t work and the clock will be wrong.

 

[1MOA]

Parasitic drain is the killer. I use one of these battery disconnect switches. Best if put on the negative post. Downside: you will loose all of the radio’s preset frequencies and the alarm won’t work and the clock will be wrong.

View attachment 2580935

Another thing to consider is many transmissions and fuel management systems "learn" how to shift and drive based on how they are driven and store that as a shift point or fuel curve. That data is usually lost as well on disconnecting the battery for extended periods.

 

[bkfj40]

Solar charger will be your friend.

 

[Blue77FJ40]

My vote goes for the Battery Tender. Even my 14 year old Platinum Diehard (Odyssey) when left sitting in the driveway started to wind down after a month, so it's now on the Battery Tender that I had attached to the '40. When I have to go out, I move the Anderson 175V plug end back to the '40 until I return. I have Anderson 175V plugs on both trucks to power jumper cables/feed the battery/ and power the Puma air compressor on the Taco.

There's also one on the Harley. Although now they make models with multiple output lines vs buying single separates like I did. DOH'.

 

[mdcoa]

Also voting for the battery tender--when garage-less (5/5 most recent houses . . . I'm doing something wrong) I have often run an extension cord to the driveway and put a tender either under a motorcycle cover or under the hood of the car in question--if both the plug junction and the tender itself are tucked under the hood, you're fine. Anderson connecters, as per @Blue77FJ40 's suggestion, are stinking awesome and would make charging and disconnecting super easy.

 

[JohnVee]

I have the Battery Tender quick connect leads on all of my batteries, instead of using the clamps. Like mentioned above, there's plenty of room under the hood for the Tender itself. I'm trying to remember the brand/model of the trickle charger I have in Sarah's 450 - connects to the battery the same way and is mountable on the vehicle, leaving it's AC plug dangling and ready to be connected to an extension cord. Super easy. I'll report back after I go look at it.

I also ran a 20' quick connect extension through the firewall (plugs into the above cable) terminating in a female cigarette socket to get power to my fridge. Works great for my low draw fridge and is easy enough to switch to my other vehicles if necessary.

 

[Blue77FJ40]

I bought a couple of 25' battery tender extension cords to run out from my shed to the '40 and then the Taco. I had to make an adapter to connect the 175V Anderson to the 12v battery tender extension cord. IIRC, I split the end of the 12V cord, then used copper tubing to solder the wires to one end, the other to a thicker 10G wire, then soldered that to the inserts going inside of the Anderson. All wrapped with self sealing tape overlaid with heat shrink tubing. I also added an Anderson to the end of a 25' HD jumper cable, meaning I can park *behind* a dead vehicle on a road and start it from there. One sparking lesson I learned the hard way, was to always connect to the dead vehicle first, then plug into the front of my Taco! Sorry no pic of the jumper cables, but you get the idea.

Pics of how the Anderson is set up on the Taco follow.

 

[MyLandy]

This is great! I park in a shared parking lot that I can't get electrical out to so I'm looking at Battery Tender's solar chargers. I'd cut a clear vinyl window in the top of the cover for the solar panel sitting on the roof rack. Or I thought it would be cool to sew the panel directly into the cover, maybe like this:

 

[JohnVee]

I'm trying to remember the brand/model of the trickle charger I have in Sarah's 450 - connects to the battery the same way and is mountable on the vehicle, leaving it's AC plug dangling and ready to be connected to an extension cord. Super easy. I'll report back after I go look at it.

Noco Genius.

 

[1MOA]

I would just look to velcroing it to the cover. that way you are not messing with the water resistance integrity of the cover and you can pop it off to fold the cover up when you drive the truck.

 

[Jakes40]

I use AGM in my 40. It sets for 3-4 months with no problem. (Unless I leave the switch on) BUT there is not as much electronics in it. I have tried small 12”x12” solar sells that were sold to be Battery tenders in the past and it did not keep up with the drainage on the battery.

 

[VA.CRUISER]

As John said I have multiple NOVO Genius units including 2 that are vehicle mount units.