Since COVID, and everything got locked down, and I don't drive as much, I've been putting my Escape on a battery tender after most every drive, if I don't expect to be going anywhere in the next day or two. I used to go to the mall and gym, 14 miles away, 5 am every morning, 7 days a week. The mall and the gym closed up, so no more daily drives. The benefit? My battery in my Escape lasted almost 7 years before I decided to proactively replace it before it died on me.I know this is a source of huge debate, but I'll just throw out there, I've had my battery tender connected directly to the positive and negative posts of the battery for nearly three years. I put it on whenever I park for more than 3 days or when I notice the auto start/stop working less during a drive. As it does more now that the car is running lights and such in the winter dark. I've never had an issue with the "charge level" going wonky. I have a voltmeter plugged into the 12v port so I can see what level the alternator is running at. 14.9 is the highest I've seen and 12.1v is the lowest I've seen when the car is autostopped. I got that message one time when the car was almost new and that was what prompted me to get the battery tender hooked up. I have not seen that message since 2021.
I estimate that I'm about a week or 2 away from delivery of my '24 Badlands, and I'll be taking it straight away to the local park or State Park for some picture taking, them home and put it on the battery tender, while I start pimping my new ride.
I long for the good ol' days when the only vampire drain on the battery was from the analog clock. Now we've got CPUs and sensors always draining the life blood from the battery.
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