It’s not the easiest time to think about your old cars. There are competing agendas that include The Nutcracker (my son Bradley is taking me on my birthday, it’s a family tradition) as well as shopping for parents, siblings, children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.
New to our living room table this year is a Star Wars advent calendar, with tiny toys destined to be under our bare feet all year long.
Despite all this, I’m going to urge you to spend just a little time with your cars. You will be doing them a huge favor if you start them up, get them up to operating temperature, let the generator lights wink out as you drive them a couple of miles. Getting them moving is critical, as everything from hydraulic fluid to wheel cylinders to the oil in the crankcase likes temperature and agitation.
At the same time, check your maintenance situation with your batteries. I have an issue with the homeowners association at my condo, as they won’t allow trickle chargers to be plugged in, even for an hour.
“Fire risk!”
Even after I had the garage inspected and approved by the Fire Marshal’s Office, there are still a couple of people who are sure a one-amp charger will burn down our 24-story condo. When on the opposite side of the table from someone whose mantra is, “You’re going to burn the building down,” logic will never prevail.
Of course, these are the same people who bring scooters with exploding lithium-ion batteries into their 15th floor condos. But we can’t go there.
I have gone to installing blade-style cutoffs on all my cars. They seem to insure several months of battery life. Without them, the analog clocks in the Porsche 911S, V12 Jaguar E-type and Alfa Romeo S4 very slowly drain the batteries.
So if there is one thing on the gift list for your cars, get a blade-style battery cut-off installed. You’ll be glad you did.
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Read my previous blogs here.
My jump pack is handier than any other arrangement and probably simpler than having a battery tender for each car, but I think cars with “modern” electronics probably reward battery tending. We all know the best answer is to DRIVE IT OFTEN.
Merry Christmas, Keith, and Merry Christmas fellow SCMers
All six of my classic car batteries are Optima batteries hidden inside a case that looks exactly factory correct. Even down to the red lettering on the side saying, “Ford Power Punch,” “Autolite,” or “Delco.” Once a month I put an Optima charger on them. The batteries will typically last me 6-7 years.
I use the knife switches too. Simple and easy.
Keith, what do the owners of electric cars do? Charge them only at public chargers? Or does nobody at your condo have an EV?