Disconnecting 12v / storage

[IB_NYC]

I am planning on traveling for a few months and according to the manual I should disconnect my 12v battery. My car will be outside so I will need to close the hood.

If I do this, lock the doors, and close the front hood, how will I be able to get back into the front hood area to reconnect the 12v battery?

I am guessing I will need to open that small front panel in the front of the car, get a boost to open the hood again? Any easier way ?

Do you think its safe to store the car for approx 2 months and just leave the 12v connected? Assuming the car will go into deep sleep mode.

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[HuntingPudel]

Applying 12V DC power to the two leads behind the access panel in the front bumper is the only way to open the frunk lid if the 12V battery is disconnected or dead. If you have access to a trickle charger, just connect that to your 12V and disconnect it when you get back. ??‍

 

[smurfdeth]

Applying 12V DC power to the two leads behind the access panel in the front bumper is the only way to open the frunk lid if the 12V battery is disconnected or dead. If you have access to a trickle charger, just connect that to your 12V and disconnect it when you get back. ??‍

( Tangential non-storage question - can you connect a trickle-charger to the front bumper panel to open the frunk if the 12V dies someday, say, 3 amps? Or is a full jump-start required? )

 

[HuntingPudel]

( Tangential non-storage question - can you connect a trickle-charger to the front bumper panel to open the frunk if the 12V dies someday, say, 3 amps? Or is a full jump-start required? )

No. People have reported that they needed either a power supply or a 12V battery in order to get the lid to pop via the leads in the front bumper. ??

Once you get it open, your charger must be more than a trickle charger, as there have been reports of boot loops happening when modules come online and aren’t able to get enough current to fully boot up. ??

 

[superdave80]

Once you get it open, your charger must be more than a trickle charger

If all you have is a trickle charger, you can disconnect the 12V, trickle charge the battery for a while (hour(s)? Not sure how long), and then reconnect the battery once it is charged up enough.

 

[generaltso]

Assuming the car will go into deep sleep mode.

It won't go into any mode because if the 12V battery is disconnected, the car will be dead. You better make sure that all the doors are closed and locked BEFORE the 12V is disconnected.

 

[PEldridge]

I am planning on traveling for a few months and according to the manual I should disconnect my 12v battery. My car will be outside so I will need to close the hood.

If I do this, lock the doors, and close the front hood, how will I be able to get back into the front hood area to reconnect the 12v battery?

I am guessing I will need to open that small front panel in the front of the car, get a boost to open the hood again? Any easier way ?

Do you think its safe to store the car for approx 2 months and just leave the 12v connected? Assuming the car will go into deep sleep mode.

Glad you asked this question. With summer travel approaching, I am wondering this same thing - especially your last question of just leaving the 12v battery connected. I hope this would be okay.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I somehow missed the last paragraph. Several of our forum members left their MMEs for 2 months without undue weirdness. I would guess that as long as you have more recent software than early 2021 your car will be fine with the 12V still connected. ??

 

[Maquis]

I somehow missed the last paragraph. Several of our forum members left their MMEs for 2 months without undue weirdness. I would guess that as long as you have more recent software than early 2021 your car will be fine with the 12V still connected. ??

Agreed. For 2 months, I probably wouldn’t do anything special other than have the HVB somewhere close to 50%.

If we were talking 6 months, I’d probably disconnect the 12V. Since I have a locked garage, I’d just leave the frunk open.

 

[IB_NYC]

It won't go into any mode because if the 12V battery is disconnected, the car will be dead. You better make sure that all the doors are closed and locked BEFORE the 12V is disconnected.

Deep sleep if 12v stays connected, I meant.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

@IB_NYC, I was gone for a month over the holidays and left my MME as-is, nothing special. (I had expected the trip to be shorter, but it unexpectedly extended to help an ill friend.) My car was fine even with my dash cam powered in park mode (triggers recording if there is an impact). A few days before my return the car went into deep sleep, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary happened. I was happily surprised that the car woke up from deep sleep without issue. It really was a non-event. Of course we're talking about 1/2 the time you're planning for, but were I in your shoes, I'd be inclined to just leave the car as is and take my chances that the 12V would be fine. (If it gets too low, the car should wake up and charge it with the HVB. If it doesn't and the 12V gets too low, then you'll need to charge it when you get back and to do that you'll need to pop the frunk with a (non-trickle) charger. As long as you have reasonable access to one, I'd roll the dice.

 

[Tampamike]

I recently left mine for 6 weeks in the garage at about 84% charge. It just went into deep sleep. When I came back it woke up and started up with no problem. It lost 1% of charge sitting there for six weeks. I didn’t disconnect anything. As far as I can tell, it suffered no long term ill effects.

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