omygod711

My RDX been parked on the street for over a month. I am just wondering how the battery will fare after this. I read that starting the car up and keeping it idle will not charge the battery enough. You wasted more battery starting the car than running it idle for 30 mins. Should I get a jump starter now in anticipation of a dead or nearly dead battery? What are your experiences? Thanks

Madd Dog

Take it for a pleasure drive this weekend. Get it up to highway speed, but not too fast, and drive around for an hour or so.

fiatlux

Just throw a battery tender on it. They're only $25 or so at Costco.

I'd be more concerned about the gas sitting in the tank more than the battery going flat.

DJA123

If you have a way to bring power to the car, a maintainer/charger will keep it charged if it has to sit for long periods now. Just be sure the device clearly says it supports AGM batteries.

omygod711

Pleasure driving isn't really my thing, no road that is pleasure to drive around I live. I park too far from the outlet to use a maintainer. Bought a jump starter online just in case. Thanks for the ideas though.

Madd Dog

Make sure you are certain how to jump this car. New car electronics are sensitive.

omygod711

I am not expecting any difference... Will need help with this... Where can I find such info?

JB in AZ

Do you have the owner's manual? Page 604

omygod711

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Thank you.

ceb

I love the first part that says "turn off the engine"..... Why would you jump start the car if the engine is running?

kboo74656

You would be surprised at some of the things people would do. I bet someone has done this with a car running!

Rocket_man

Consider it preventative maintenance. The engine needs to turnover and get up to temp for a bit. Your tires will get a flat spot (temporary). Just take it out on the highway and come back home. Drive it 30-40 min at least. Fluids need to pump, seals need to seal. What other plans do you have this weekend?

Wander

I think you're thinking too hard. Cut and paste at it's finest, without thinking.

DJA123

It could be a mistake, or perhaps they mean ignition off?

Even if jumping a running engine is not actually their concern in this instance, I do agree that people do goofy things, and bizarre-sounding warning messages are often the result of actual occurrences. Warning people not to use a hairdryer while bathing is probably due to a coroner's report and related lawsuit.

kboo74656

Heres your example, the couple in Arizona that drank FISH TANK CLEANER thinking it would cure the Chinese Virus. People that strap couches to the top of a sedan! Got this pic a few days ago!

Consultantmom

It sounds like you are 'wondering' about your battery...did you try to start your car yet? Did it start?

If so...then just go drive it.

Run errands, get gas, grab lunch, or just put the windows down/roof back & enjoy some fresh air. Get drive time in for the battery/engine and hopefully you won't have to worry about it again.

NooYawkuh

They're doing it wrong. They're supposed to have their hands out the side windows, holding it down. That's how real bubbas do it.

Wander

Yeah, but they get points for the taped-over taillight.

As for the chloroquine couple, it's sad really. They were just following instructions from THE ONE WHO KNOWS ALL ( "What do you have to lose?" he said... ). And not really a "fish tank cleaner", chloroquine is an established medication for treatment of parasitic infections in aquarium fish. But the fish tank formulations may be relatively impure and/or mixed with other potentially toxic chemicals. And pure chloroquine has a narrow therapeutic index in humans when used for established indications, such as malaria treatment and prophylaxis. In other words, it doesn't take much of an overdose to have toxic effects. A particular toxic effect is potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmia. So, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!

R. White

Stick with bleach. It's recommended by a stable genius.

kboo74656

An ingredient with a similar sounding name was one of the ingredients in the fish tank cleaner. POTUS NEVER to anyone to drink it. If you watch and listened to what was said( which I have) he said hydroxychloroquine had shown promise in treating the Chinese virus! The woman later confessed and she admitted to being a DNC supporter and hated POTUS. If your dumb enough to to do what she did you deserve what’s coming. Back to the original thread topic. This is done!

DJA123

C'mon, there are many places where people can argue about politics. Let's keep this a safe place to talk about something we all have in common.

kboo74656

I agree with you now let’s talk about letting a car sit and dead batteries plus flat spots on tires from sitting too long. Have you ever had flat spots from your ride sitting too long? I had one of my previous vehicles in storage for 3 years while stationed overseas and was worried about them starting and moving the vehicle periodically to prevent such thing and to my surprise when I got back no issues at all.

Waetherman

When I was growing up, I was taught that if you're trying to get your car battery back up to charged, you have to run it at least 20 minutes at RPMs more than idle. Ideally this means highway driving but if you're not able to do that, driving around locally is often good enough as long as you keep the RPMs up. If not able to drive, idling the car in place at 2k RPM is probably good enough too. That said, the RDX With all the on-board electronics and such seems like it needs a lot of juice compared to older cars. If the auto stop-start function is any indication of battery charge, I'd say driving around for 20 minutes probably isn't enough to keep it fully charged.

I have a backup battery myself that I keep in the trunk. That's something I've kept with me for many years because of too many times that I've found my car drained for one reason or another (I'm not naming names but a certain 5 year old liked to play with the dome light sometimes....). For the price, I think these batteries are a great deal - not only do they provide a jump in case of emergency but they usually have an onboard flashlight and USB chargers for cell phones and other electronics. That's a lot of peace of mind for $50-$70.

kboo74656

I keep one of those in my car. I hate the jumper cables and the battery is a lot easier to use since I’ve had 4 carpal tunnel surgeries in my hands/wrists in the last 3 years.

DJA123

Yep. Although the RDX uses an AGM battery, which typically has a higher rate of charge, and slower self-discharge compared to flooded types, it does seem to take a long time for AIS to begin working after sitting for a few days -- assuming battery charge state is the cause of the delay.

kboo74656

I haven’t had any issues with AIS. As soon as I start the car I just press the button and turn it off. Hell I’ve even jumped a few cars and trucks and AIS was still working after that.

charizard

is a special jump starter needed to jump start an rdx because it has an agm battery?

DJA123

No. The AGM battery is just a different type of lead-acid energy storage device. The discussion here was mainly related to the difference in things like charge rate and maintenance voltage provided by AGM specific chargers. There are subtle differences in the requirements between AGM and conventional flooded batteries.