Unless the battery is already very low, accessory mode won't drain the battery. It only stays on for 10 or 15 minutes specifically to avoid doing so.
If you do a lot of short trips so the battery doesn't have time to even recharge from starting the car, then it's going to be low to begin with.
If you do a lot of short trips so the battery doesn't have time to even recharge from starting the car, then it's going to be low to begin with.
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Short trips in the winter (with lights on more) tend to run down a battery. If I'm not driving much, I have to put a charger on it every month or so in the winter. I park my Superduty outside, and leave a solar panel (with charge controller) on the dash. The small 5w panels won't charge your batteries, but will keep it from running down. If you want a charge, I'd recommend at least a 10 watt panel. I use a 20 watt.
I have two 20 watt panels and even that isn't enough on my F150 during much of the year. We get almost 8 months of gray sky. Yesterday was one of the few clear days and the charge controller said it was only putting .8 amps into the battery.
I have about a 20-25 minute commute each way and my bettery gets down to about 80% after a week of driving. Heater and fan, rear (electric) defroster, and lights on. It evens out at about that 80% though, and hasn't dropped any lower.
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I think you need to have your alternator tested. You didn't say whether your commute is stop and go or highway, but I would think that 20 minutes each way would be enough .
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