Avoiding the LRA call out to the long term car park after your holidays

(07-12-2011 10:21am)Evo-king Wrote:  I'm pleading complete ignorance here, I know what the solar panel is capable of, but I have heard that in some modern cars the way the electrical systems are configured a solar charger cannot have any input power wise.

Does the Evoque have similar issues or as has been mentioned earlier you connect it to an alternative point in the car?

Sorry if this seems a daft question.

The power port in the boot of the Evoque is permanently live and therefore takes the panel input. Tim has explained this in more detail above.
Cheers

Thanks guys, off to Maplins shortly.

These things aren't miracle cures... they won't charge the battery particularly, especially the smaller ones, they will only provide a few mA just about enough to stop it degrading and being run down by the alarm etc.

I seem to remember that on my handover the dealer told me that the RRE "shuts down" if left for a long time to preserve the battery.
this means that you cant open the car with the remote, what you have to do is take out the physical key and prise off the cover from the passenger door handle then unlock the car, this will set off the alarm, you then place the smart key under the steering column buttons facing down and then press start. This should stop the alarm.

What a faff

My Audi could be left for weeks without getting a flat battery

(05-04-2012 08:22am)speary Wrote:  I seem to remember that on my handover the dealer told me that the RRE "shuts down" if left for a long time to preserve the battery.
this means that you cant open the car with the remote, what you have to do is take out the physical key and prise off the cover from the passenger door handle then unlock the car, this will set off the alarm, you then place the smart key under the steering column buttons facing down and then press start. This should stop the alarm.

What a faff

My Audi could be left for weeks without getting a flat battery

I don't think its an issue if you are leaving the car for a few weeks. As Tim has said above, sometimes he is away for months on end, and its this that may cause battery problems.

I don't know about RRE, but the only Land Rovers that I know about that have an "awake" and "asleep" mode are those with air-suspension - FFRR, RRS and D4/D3. With those if you leave the car with the suspension at "Normal" height (the height you drive on the road) then the car didn't shut down completely but remained in a state of limbo waiting to detect your key fob. When the car was lowered to access height before parking up then on locking it would go to sleep and shut down everything IIRC 10 minutes after you had locked it. Sort of like the difference between shutting down your computer and hibernating it.
Leaving you car in the on-concourse car park at the airport without lowering it to access usually meant a flat battery when you came back to it two weeks later because the Vibration sensor of the car alarm was sensitive enough to detect the vibrations of aircraft jets as they took off and landed and would keep waking up the car every time a plane took off or landed.
A solar panel charger is mis-named, it is really only a battery conditioner or trickle charger - it keeps the battery topped up. Since 2003 I have never suffered a flat battery on my RRS's, FFRR's or Evoque because I have left them trickle charging, even the coldest weather in winter has not killed the battery. However 4 years ago and this winter I have had to replace the battery in my Defender because of lack of use when I have been away, I haven't been able to use the solar trickle charger as that car is kept locked in a large, dark shed with no power supply or windows. I couldn't use one anyway as the only power point is the cigarette lighter on the dash and it doesn't remain live when the ignition is off.

FL2 goes to sleep mode too Tim, my Father spends 3-6 months at a time abroad and every time he came home he had to open the FL2 with the key and start it up to reset everything. As he has a single garage this was a real pain as the passenger key slot was against his garage wall and he needed to call out LRA who bounced the car free to gain access. however, nowadays he has a neighbour visit monthly to start the car to avoid a repeat of this fiasco....

Will i be getting this dead battery problem if i leave my evoque in underground parking for say up to a month untouched? - the solar trickle won't work down there (as obviously there is no natural sunlight)

(05-04-2012 11:55am)Spiderman Wrote:  FL2 goes to sleep mode too Tim, my Father spends 3-6 months at a time abroad and every time he came home he had to open the FL2 with the key and start it up to reset everything. As he has a single garage this was a real pain as the passenger key slot was against his garage wall and he needed to call out LRA who bounced the car free to gain access. however, nowadays he has a neighbour visit monthly to start the car to avoid a repeat of this fiasco....

I find that it's not just the battery, the brakes lock as well. The environmentally friendly (crap) non asbestos brake pads wear as well without use (don't know why). It'd be worthwhile if the neighbour takes the car out for a short drive now and again. We insured our one and only neighbour for that, but alas he let us down!

Mine gets driven by my brother every 5-6 weeks when I'm away for 3 months, never had a problem with the brake pads and unlike the RRS's and FFRR's I don't get the EPB binding on like it did in those cars if they were parked up for any time. Beemer, a month should be OK but expect a flat battery if you leave it much longer. The solar panels don't need sunlight to work, they need "daylight" and should work under fluorescent tubes if you left the panel on the front dash or rear paprcel shelf if you don't have privacy glass. You will be surprised how little light the panels need to trickle charge the battery. As Maplin has reduced the price to £9.99 it might be worth trying one - if it doesn't work then you can put it on ebay!