Three weeks oversea and what to do with the battery

  • Thread starter Thread starter melklim
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 23
  • Views Views 3K
M

melklim

New Member
Going oversea for a 3 weeks vacation this summer and the 2019 Clarity will be in the garage. Should I keep the car plug-in? I use the app to set my charging schedule for everyday til the battery is full. Or should I just plug-in after I return?
 
I would keep your car unplugged. Your traction battery will lose less than 2% charge, if any. Before you leave for overseas have your traction battery at 50-70% SOC.

If you keep the car plugged in you stand the chance of an electrical surge via lightning strike. Also, if you have a power disruption and power resumption: the car will start charging and charge up to 100% SOC (which you don't want for an extended period of time).

Note: you will most likely lose your ability to keep track of your car through the HL app after approximately 7 days because the telemetrics of the car will turn off to save your 12v battery. You may want to consider using a battery tender to keep your 12v battery charged but because you are leaving it in warm weather you probably don't need to do that.
melklim said:
Going oversea for a 3 weeks vacation this summer and the 2019 Clarity will be in the garage. Should I keep the car plug-in? I use the app to set my charging schedule for everyday til the battery is full. Or should I just plug-in after I return?
Click to expand...

Sent from my SM-G955U using Inside EVs mobile app
 
I went on a 3 1/2 week vacation spring of 2018, came back to a dead 12 volt battery and the car would not start until it was charged. The next time I go for that long I am going to put a 2 amp charger on the 12 volt battery.
 
Leaving it plugged in and "fully charged" for a few weeks is very unlikely to harm the HV battery, but leaving at at a lower SOC will also not harm it.

Plug in vehicles are a mixed bag when it comes to keeping the 12v charged when the car is not driven.
The LEAF does nothing and a dead 12V is common after sitting unused.
If plugged in, the Bolt will periodically "wake up" and check the status of the 12V and add a charge if necessary.

I don't know what the Clarity PHEV (or BEV) does in regards to the 12V when not "started" for an extended time.

@bpratt - did you have the car plugged in while gone?

Putting the 12V on a trickle charger isn't going to hurt if you have one available, and I would definitely do so if the car is not going to be plugged in.
 
The wise choice would be to charge the main battery to 50-70%, then unplug the J1772.

I would connect a battery tender to the 12v battery. When I bought my Clarity, I knew the car has sat on the lot for at least 6 months with noone driving it. The 12v battery needed an overnight charge on the battery tender to get it up to full charge.
 
DucRider said:
I don't know what the Clarity PHEV (or BEV) does in regards to the 12V when not "started" for an extended time.
Click to expand...
The Clarity uses its DC-to-DC converter to charge the 12v battery only when the car is on. So for the Claritys that run down their 12v batteries when they are not used for a number of weeks (ours doesn't exhibit this problem), a battery tender is a good idea, as @Mowcowbell suggested.
 
Thanks for the suggestion about using charger for the 12 v battery. Previously, I had a 2008 Acura TL and if I didn't drive the car for 3 days, the battery would died. Found out later that the Bluetooth was constantly on and draining the battery. I disconnected the Bluetooth and problem solved.
 
bpratt said:
I went on a 3 1/2 week vacation spring of 2018, came back to a dead 12 volt battery and the car would not start until it was charged. The next time I go for that long I am going to put a 2 amp charger on the 12 volt battery.
Click to expand...

Deltran's Battery Tender products are known to be high quality and won't eventually cook your battery like some others. I use the Battery Tender Jr. to maintain my motorcycle battery. Works great. It has also successfully, although very slowly, topped up a car battery then tapered off to just a maintenance mode charge.
 
Last edited:
melklim said:
Going oversea for a 3 weeks vacation this summer and the 2019 Clarity will be in the garage. Should I keep the car plug-in? I use the app to set my charging schedule for everyday til the battery is full. Or should I just plug-in after I return?
Click to expand...
Just leave the Li ion battery at 50%. That's the general recommendation for storage of Li batteries. Don't worry. Three weeks shouldn't be a problem. Think of all those Claritys that sat on dealer lots for months on a depleted battery! Now, that's bad. If you're worried about the 12v battery, just buy one of those little Li ion jump starters. They do a great job of jump starting ICE cars so just providing the little bit of juice to turn on the computer (and hence, the car) is easy peasy for those. The traction battery will do the rest in charging the 12 volt. The important thing here is that you can keep the jump starter in the trunk so it's there should the 12 volt battery fail away from home.
 
PHEV Newbie said:
Just leave the Li ion battery at 50%. That's the general recommendation for storage of Li batteries. Don't worry. Three weeks shouldn't be a problem. Think of all those Claritys that sat on dealer lots for months on a depleted battery! Now, that's bad. If you're worried about the 12v battery, just buy one of those little Li ion jump starters. They do a great job of jump starting ICE cars so just providing the little bit of juice to turn on the computer (and hence, the car) is easy peasy for those. The traction battery will do the rest in charging the 12 volt. The important thing here is that you can keep the jump starter in the trunk so it's there should the 12 volt battery fail away from home.
Click to expand...
While that will work fine, doesn’t it greatly shorten the life of the 12 v lead acid battery if you let it drain to empty and recharge? If I had to let the Clarity long enough to significantly drain the 12 v battery, I would put it on a battery minder to extend its life. Better for your wallet and better for the environment (yes, I know they are recycled; but the fewer made the better).
 
FWIW, My 2018 Clarity PHEV was built June 2018, purchased July 2018. I made sure the turn off the auto headlight knob and locked the car to minimize battery drain. Car was not used while I was away on vacation for 2 weeks and 5 days. The car easily started yesterday. So, it may be OK to not use the car for 3 weeks.
 
12 days left outside in early Jan in NJ. Zero issues. Will be leaving it 3 weeks this summer outside as well. Hopefully it'll be ok as well.
 
Johnhaydev said:
FWIW, My 2018 Clarity PHEV was built June 2018, purchased July 2018. I made sure the turn off the auto headlight knob and locked the car to minimize battery drain. Car was not used while I was away on vacation for 2 weeks and 5 days. The car easily started yesterday. So, it may be OK to not use the car for 3 weeks.
Click to expand...
Wow, that was a short time from build date to purchase. Mine was built in July 2018, I purchased it in March 2019 (!).

I'm sure mine sat for most of that time with 2 bars of battery. It had 9 miles on it when I bought it. So far I haven't seen any loss in battery range. I've seen as high as 55 miles on the guess-o-meter.
 
I just got back from Europe and 2 weeks the car was in the airport parking lot not connected with 60% charge when I parked it and 2 weeks later it started right up without any loss of traction power (56%).
 
Here's another data point:

I just returned from 5 1/2 weeks overseas. I left the our 1-year-old Clarity with the traction battery fully charged but not plugged in.

When we got home, the car started up as if I'd never left, so the 12V battery had held up just fine.

I didn't check the % SOC via HondaLink (it was late and I was jet lagged) but all 20 bars were illuminated on the dash.
 
Great news for you, @Clarity Dave.
FWIW, my local Home Depot is discontinuing the Deltran Battery Tender that several have posted glowing recommendations on. I was able to get it for $40. I’m going to use it on the mower off season and the Clarity if I take a long trip away from home. It comes with one hard wire connection to the battery with a polarized quick connect and I’m ordering another. That way it’s easy peasy to move it from Clarity to mower and back. Although it sounds like from your experience it’s not a necessity.

Don’t know if HD is clearing it out in every market but if you’re interested in getting one it might be worth checking your local HD.
 
@Clarity Dave, a couple of questions for you:
1. What would you say the lowest and average temperatures were while you were away?
2. Did you attempt to check out your SOC through the HL app while you were away. If you did, when did the app stop updating after you left?
Clarity Dave said:
Here's another data point:

I just returned from 5 1/2 weeks overseas. I left the our 1-year-old Clarity with the traction battery fully charged but not plugged in.

When we got home, the car started up as if I'd never left, so the 12V battery had held up just fine.

I didn't check the % SOC via HondaLink (it was late and I was jet lagged) but all 20 bars were illuminated on the dash.
Click to expand...

Sent from my SM-G955U using Inside EVs mobile app
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top