[GroundhogSS]

Originally Posted by ember1205

I have three APC Back UPS Pro 1500 units that are unused. I believe one of them has a bad battery in it, so I'm going to charge all three of them up see if I can verify at least one of them as good. I'll then drop by storage and set everything up with either my 7.5W or 10W tender and leave it overnight to see what happens. I can do as you suggest and swap out a charged one for a dead one each week or something to keep the battery level higher in the car. I'll just have to be sure that I don't leave the UPS "dead" in the unit when the temps drop or the battery in the UPS will freeze....

Batteries + sells replacement batteries form those UPSs.

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by GroundhogSS

Batteries + sells replacement batteries form those UPSs.

Thanks. I have two Pro 1500 and one XS 1300 unit. The 1300 has a dead battery.

I've had really good luck replacing the batteries with non-OEM ones that I get through Amazon or a couple of other places on line. They are MUCH cheaper than the APC-branded ones and are of the same or better capacity, too!

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by UnknownJinX

I personally took mine out for a couple of months, which isn't too bad. The battery is freaking heavy, though.

I mentioned this in another thread, but if you have a second car, you could just hook up the jumper cables and charge the Camaro that way once in a while. You were concerned about AGM charging compatibility, but again, I have retrofitted AGM into cars not designed for AGM and had zero issues. These things aren't that fragile.

Otherwise, you would probably need something like a power bank that is capable of outputting 14V, and hook that onto the car battery. I don't know how well that works, though. Would need someone with more electrical knowledge to chime in.

Current flows from higher voltage to lower voltage. Battery tenders can vary their voltage so that the current flow will remain at or below a certain rate to not damage the battery. I dropped off one of the Pro 1500 units earlier today and plugged in my 7.5W Battery Tender. I went back about four hours later and the UPS was completely dead. I expect it ran for no more than about three hours, and it may not have been fully charged. I had left the second Pro 1500 plugged in at home for the afternoon and swapped them out when I was there a little while ago. The charged unit was showing roughly 262 minutes of run time with the tender plugged in while the other one only showed about 230 minutes of run time initially - that's why I suspect it wasn't actually fully charged.

Still, by midnight tonight, the car will have 4-6 hours of slow charge time on the battery that it would not have had otherwise. I'll stop back over tomorrow to swap the UPS'es once more then will probably do it once per week or so. Not an elegant solution, and certainly not perfect. But... it's something, and it's simple.

My solar Battery Tender is brand new in the box... If only they would let me hang it on the building - I'd buy a 15' extension to reach the car inside...

[Rock-It Man]

Originally Posted by ember1205

I appreciate the thought, but - Storage here is hard enough... Plus I have personal items to store as well. It's 0% worth it to me to locate a place that can store cars, find one with an available unit, AND pay the ridiculous costs for it... Just for the privilege of an electrical outlet. There are other options that will work for me AND still be fairly close to home.

The last car storage place I used cost less than "mini-storage". I encourage you to keep looking. As for personal items, the best place to store items you aren't using is a dumpster. If you haven't used them in 5 years, they are trash. Some people even say 3 years.

Just sayin'.

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by Rock-It Man

The last car storage place I used cost less than "mini-storage". I encourage you to keep looking. As for personal items, the best place to store items you aren't using is a dumpster. If you haven't used them in 5 years, they are trash. Some people even say 3 years.

Just sayin'.

My personal items are in storage because I just sold my house and we haven't yet bought another one. The majority of stuff in there would cost me 10x or more to replace compared to the cost of storing it for 18 months.

I looked long and hard to find this place. There simply isn't much out there in this area that is a) close enough to use as a garage for the car, b) reasonably priced, and c) provides "enough" minimum security / is in a reasonable location. I genuinely wish I had more options, but I simply don't unless I want to drop well over $200/month for the car and that would have to be all year because I don't have a garage for it at the condo.

[UnknownJinX]

Originally Posted by ember1205

Current flows from higher voltage to lower voltage. Battery tenders can vary their voltage so that the current flow will remain at or below a certain rate to not damage the battery. I dropped off one of the Pro 1500 units earlier today and plugged in my 7.5W Battery Tender. I went back about four hours later and the UPS was completely dead. I expect it ran for no more than about three hours, and it may not have been fully charged. I had left the second Pro 1500 plugged in at home for the afternoon and swapped them out when I was there a little while ago. The charged unit was showing roughly 262 minutes of run time with the tender plugged in while the other one only showed about 230 minutes of run time initially - that's why I suspect it wasn't actually fully charged.



Still, by midnight tonight, the car will have 4-6 hours of slow charge time on the battery that it would not have had otherwise. I'll stop back over tomorrow to swap the UPS'es once more then will probably do it once per week or so. Not an elegant solution, and certainly not perfect. But... it's something, and it's simple.



My solar Battery Tender is brand new in the box... If only they would let me hang it on the building - I'd buy a 15' extension to reach the car inside...

IMO, it really depends on how good you want your solution to be. If you want to be really good and insisted on not removing your battery, then the power bank solution is as good as it gets. You have already found the best answer within your constraints.

Using another car to charge the AGM battery might mean the AGM battery now last 5 years instead of 6 years, but that's a tradeoff for a bit more convenience compared to juggling with power banks. Again, never had trouble with an AGM battery when I retrofit it into an older car.

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by UnknownJinX

IMO, it really depends on how good you want your solution to be. If you want to be really good and insisted on not removing your battery, then the power bank solution is as good as it gets. You have already found the best answer within your constraints.

Using another car to charge the AGM battery might mean the AGM battery now last 5 years instead of 6 years, but that's a tradeoff for a bit more convenience compared to juggling with power banks. Again, never had trouble with an AGM battery when I retrofit it into an older car.

Agreed that the UPS devices is probably as good as it will get for me, and I'm ok with that overall. So long as the battery doesn't drop too low in charge level through the coldest part of winter, the battery won't suffer any damage and the car should start right up come spring time without issues.

Last winter, I had the car in the garage at my old house, on a tender. I had to take it out of the garage to drive it to the dealer, and then it went to the storage unit from there. It sat with a full charge from driving from about mid-January to about the end of April. No issues for that period without a tender.

This year, it has already been in storage without being started or driven Since the end of the third week in October. So, at 3.5 months in storage, I'm hitting it with the tender solution using the UPS devices to put back some of the charge before it sits for about 3 more months. I'm hoping this will be the last winter it sits in storage instead of sitting in my garage as we're going to be looking for a house... Hopefully, we find something to fit the bill for us in the next nine months.

We're very picky, though, so it might not happen.

[Rock-It Man]

I guess the easiest and least expensive solution, given all the circumstances you're explained, is to stop worrying and just plan on a new battery in the spring. A battery, installed, is about equal to a month of self storage.

[VINCETHEGIANT]

I'm not sure if it would work for that long but you could try putting your car in transport mode? i'm not sure how but you can search it

[donniedarko]

NOCO makes trick stuff. What I use.

[HDRDTD]

Originally Posted by VINCETHEGIANT

I'm not sure if it would work for that long but you could try putting your car in transport mode? i'm not sure how but you can search it

2010 Chevrolet Camaro Procedure
To turn Transport Mode On/Off, activate the hazard
flashers, turn the ignition key to the crank position, and
then hold it in the crank position for 15 seconds.
Transport Mode Off message will display and the
battery light will turn Off

[HDRDTD]

https://gm-techlink.com/?p=13719#:~:...20going%20dead.

Describes transport mode.