I recently purchased a car for an expected job change with more commute distance, so I've only been driving the Rover occasionally on the weekends. I must be letting it sit too long between drives because my battery keeps dying. Once I jump it off, it's good to go.

If anyone else keeps their D2 as a occasional drive, how often do you drive it to keep it charged up?

 

Not enough, bought the $15 solar battery charger from harbor freight to keep it charged.

 

Oh I didn't know they had solar, I was debating running an extension cord for a battery tender.

 

Battery Tender is pretty cheap and works well.

 

I have the same issue, don't drive it for 2 or 3 weeks and battery dies. I sometime don't drive my Nissan Pickup for months at a time and she starts everytime.

I've looked for a parasitic leak, but can't find anything.

 

Hard start, but turns over after a week or so here. Two to three weeks and have to hook up the jump box.

 

We have two but only daily drive one at a time for a few weeks at a time, then switch to the other. They're usually in need of a good charge after sitting for a few weeks. Even the daily-driven one, if driven on short trips around town, needs to be charged every few weeks. I can tell it's in dire straights when the M+S light starts greeting us. A good charge puts them to sleep.

 

Peak Covid our cars where seeing next to no use. I would put my D2 on a solar charger if sitting for more than week. Also found that about 2 weeks is long enough for the battery to get weak.

My car I often leave on a battery tender as it might go weeks between driving it.

 

I'm glad to hear that about the M+S lights, Jumped mine off this yesterday, let it sit for a bit before starting to leave. I noticed the M+S and started to worry. Tried to restart it hoping it would go away and it wouldn't crank back up.

Do the solar chargers work the same as a battery tender for prolonged use?

 

I like the Harbor Freight solar trickle charger idea. Redrover lives in the garage and gets driven only every 3-4 weeks. I'm now trained to connect the battery charger a few hours before driving the truck.

I back the truck into the garage on the left side as viewed from the exterior, so the truck's battery is on the side near the wall. I could look at mounting the solar cell outside the garage next to the garage door opener key pad and run the wire to an easily accessible plug hidden in the grill. I wonder how weather resistant the solar cell is?

I already have the winch cable connector mounted there. The plug would be wired permanently to the battery. With that setup, all I would need to do is disconnect the solar charger plug before driving the truck. For fifteen bucks it may be fine to try this.