Abandoned car/dead battery considerations

I don't think that no power to the memory systems should be a concern. Not driving it for that period of time is a killer to many other systems on the car. Brakes, tires, fluids, electrical systems etc. You should have no problems being able to mount a battery switch and being able to easily turn on and off power to the battery.

I'd highly recommend just paying someone to drive it for a day for their errands or whatever once a month.

Something like THIS on the main cable a couple of inches from the + battery terminal will work just fine. When you're parking the truck for any prolonged period just pop the fuse out and the power will be 100% cut off from the rest of the truck.

HOWEVER make sure your door locks work with zero current in the truck before you lock the doors and walk away.

Dead Battery on abandoned cars

This is a very common problem even on brand new cars sitting in the showrooms of car dealers in Germany. If potentially buyers leave a car door open over the weekend (in the showroom) for example or play with the multiple gimmicks in those cars, the battery is dead on monday. Modern cars need a lot of electrical power, when they wake up, like opening a door or leave the glove compartment open.

Disconnecting the battery for a longer period from a modern complex car is not a good idea. If my Audi A8 would be totally disconnected from electrical power for longer than a few days, he would be completely dead and some of its many little black boxes would need a software reload .

Just buy a little mobile 3 step battery charger which charges the battery, refreshes it while charging and keeps it topped up (IUoU automatic charger). The picture below shows the type of charger, which is recommended by Mercedes. I use it for my historic cars (they only run ones a year). But there are cheeper ones on the market. Any car shop should have them.

Amazon offers several:

Amazon.com: 3 stage battery charger

Guys, the OP says that it sits outside in a parking lot.....

Why don't you just hire someone to drive it once a month? If it's in the Fort Lauderdale area, I could recommend someone that has a CDL license and is cheap.

Realize you are not camping in your Mercedes; but this blog may provide some insight for rigging a solar charging system.

RV Solar 101: Part 1 - Solar Power for your RV

What kind of place are you keeping it? Are you paying for parking? I only ask because one possibility is to find a different way to store it when not here. There are a lot of cars stored down here, from garages people don't need to rental storage units set up for boat, RV and boat storage.

How much do you use it? Would renting a car on those occasions or hiring transportation be cheaper?

I've stored and assisted in storing a number of cars from BMW, Jags, MB, Nissans, and Rovers. We have always disconnected the batteries and never had any issues. Other than that I would recommend the solar charger. If you Google "solar battery maintainer for mercedes", you will get a lot of results from some of the MB forums. I have used them in the past with no issues. The biggest issue with the Mercs is the consumables/auxiliary battery.

The only problems I have heard about with them is people not getting one that will put out enough juice.

Hi,

That is an excellent bit of advice.

If it does not have a key lock to operate at least one of the doors things might be a little tricky when you come back to it.

I have a vehicle in storage which has had the battery taken out, I also had to turn off the back up system which sounds the alarm if the power is cut to the main system.

I prevously had this vehicle in another location for three years and used a Solar Charger with great results.

It is not possible to rig it up again in the vehicles present location so I have had to opt for what I hope is the next best thing that achieves the desired result.

As for getting a CDL Holder who is cheap.

Insurance and liability is such a minefield in FL and the US in general would you really want some potential crackhead running around in your car?

Beware taking battery leads off modern cars.

Back in the '90s, I once had a flat battery on my simple little hatchback. My landlord (Chris Green, if you remember him, K1W1) offered to give me a jumpstart from his new Renault 21 Baccara. That model had every electronic gadget known to mankind fitted to it. All electronic dashboard, keyless entry, in-car entertainment system, alarm system; you name it, this car had it.

The battery terminals had so many cables coming off it, we couldn't get the jaws of the jump-leads on. Chris decided to lift all the cables off to get the clamp on. Great, my little car started first time. On the other hand, when the terminals went back on the Renault, the alarm went off, the doors locked, the dash screen just flashed blank....etc, etc.....!

The car had to be trailered away and the garage bill was so high, he had to claim on his warranty/insurance.

A lesson learned and the reason I hate electronics on vehicles and boats that have no manual over-rides.
.

Hi,

Fish, French Car electronics are and were never much cop for anything after leaving the showroom.

An early 90's Renault 21 electronics would have been the versions that had just moved from wood and coal to make the fire which boiled the water to produce the steam needed to run them, now they are firmly on gas heating the end result ain't much better.

Beware taking battery leads off modern cars

Would one of those little solar chargers, placed on the dashboard, be able to keep a car battery alive ?

Beware taking battery leads off modern cars

We had one of our company cars, a VW Phaeton V10 TDI, in the local VW shop for a regular service. For some odd reason, the mechanic took off the battery and went home for the evening. On the next morning, the car had forgotten everything (I mean everything). The engine was dead, the car could not be moved, not even towed, no door opened, nothing! The car had to be transported on a trailer to the factory in Dresden and all firmware and software be reloaded. It took a complete week for the car to return to us.

If I remember the good old days in school, when my very first car, a 34 HP, 1968 VW Beetle needed about 3 tools for all neccessary repairs and inspections. An complete engine change with this 3 tools took about 30 min.

And this is the last french car, I really did like, the Renault Dauphine (b.t.w. designed by Ferdinand Porsche). But there are things, the French are really got at, Cheese, Red Wine and Champagne .

The CDL license he has is equivalent to a 1600 ton masters Captain's license for ships. The person I had in mind is retired 66 years old, owns his own condo and does not use drugs or drive under the influence of alcohol, EVER. He would have no problems stopping by once a month and drive it around a little bit because he has nothing better to do anyways for probably $20 a month. The battery gets charged, the tires get rotated a bit, the brakes get used, the a/c and electrical gets worked, etc etc......He is licensed to drive tractor trailers with double and triple trailers and tankers. He also happened to be the heir to Borg Warner's Captain for about 15 years.....up until the mid 90's until old Charlie (the owner) got to be around 90 hehehe. A CDL license holder has to submit to drug tests and physicals just like a Captain. He also holds a FL security guard license as well. I've know him since 1998 and he's 100% reliable and honest. I just threw it out there as an option.

Hi,

Really?

Why doesn't the USCG or anyone else seem to be aware of the amazing versatility of this license?

How many days on the road do you need to get an entry level one?