Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - BATTERY MAINTENANCE

I thought it might be best to post the following thinking on battery maintenance in an easily searchable thread of it`s own, whereas it was contained in a thread with the heading

RE OVERSTEER WARNING LIGHT...thus unlikely to help someone looking for info on Battery maintenance...?

Originally Posted by Luddite
Originally Posted by aerotaff
Never knew that about locking the car. You learn something new everyday. Keeping everything charged up certainly keeps the gremlins out on the plus6

IBoth my 2012 ICE propelled car and my old Mog are permanently connected to their CTEK float chargers/battery conditioners when not in use, which assists in avoiding the multitude of possible dash warnings that can be randomly generated as the battery voltage diminishes over time on semi regularly used or worse still stored for months on end...Hmm..? (-:
Someone (sorry memory failure) typed that they had heard that having a CTEK almost permanently connected to a battery can cause issues....? Must have been in a different thread and I responded with a rough record of my normal usage over quite a few years with no apparent issues..... However, just spoken to a tec this morning who seemed to think while CTEK are quality units, his experience is that AGM and perhaps other battery types can have issues if spending the majority of time connected to a CTEK, and quoting that battery`s prefer to be regularly discharger and re-charged, which has ever been my experience with old style led acid batteries, though with AGM and later batteries... I have no real knowledge of the way they are likely to respond to long term CTEK connection

There is a recondition (recond) option built into the CTEK MX 5.0 charger I have for my 2012 non/Morgan vehicle with an AGM battery which I think at the time was fitted to cars with stop/start tec..

From the CTEK manual.. Recond your battery once per year and after deep discharge to maximise lifetime and capacity.

I have not ever followed this process, and should have... Duh. Just wanted to modify my original post, with a tad more info in the hope it assists in avoiding battery issues, of which there are ever many and usually at the beginning of the motoring season..

RICHARD V6 advised :-

Yes not optimal to leave any battery permanently on a battery maintainer or smart charger. As you suggest George battery longevity is greatest when it's regularly but lightly used discharging from fully charged to say 90% then back to fully charged.

Leaving it long term on a float charge causes stratification of the electrolyte on a lead acid battery and this whilst it's in its most acidic fully charged state causing plate errosion. Some sophisticated chargers are programmed to run the multi stage charge cycle every 15 days ago causing electrolyte to be stirred to offset stratification. You can of course simply cycle your charger off then on to provide same every couple of weeks.

The policy I adopt is to use my vehicles at least once every three weeks throughout the year supplemented by 24 hours on a smart charger every couple of months. This undoubtably pays dividends. Remember also batteries are consumables though and a regularly used one on easy starting car will mask the inevitable ageing process as sulphation of plates reduces battery capacity. Warning signs are when put on a smart charger it reaches fully charged in short order.

I know this is a pain in the arse. But when my MOG was my only car, I never had no trouble with my battery. However, those days are over and I don't use the MOG when the weather is rubbish. That's not to say anything planned, if it's planned, then I'm out whatever the weather. During the winter I just take the battery off and store it in a warm room. Takes 10 minutes to refit.

As you point out the answer is regular use of your Morgan and these many different maintenance issues seem to go away and the Morgan proves to be quite a reliable car to enjoy......idleness leads to more problems in my experience.