I live in a cold climate and my R53 lives outside. It sometimes is undriven for several weeks or more. The battery will get low. I'm sure there is a small draw somewhere, but battery isolation is common here, and would be the simplest.

Would isolating the battery cause damage via the "memory" oft talked about when switching batteries?

Now if the battery is isolated, obviously door locks and windows are not working. Can I open with key without harm?

Lastly the battery is in the rear, which is OK except I can't open the hatch when it's off, except with the emergency cord.

I also have a R50 which I use in the snow when roads are salted, that has the same issue, but not the obscure battery location. It also will draw it's battery down in cold weather. I've kept these going for some years with my own work on various issues.

BTW with siped snow tires they are very good in winter, except for ground clearance. I have oversize snow tires for the R50, which makes a big difference.

Thanks for any help and suggestions.



Above 04 with 115K
Below 02 with 53k

 

I used to park my R53 for months at a time with the battery disconnected and there were no issues that I remember, except for the clock and trip odometers resetting, and the auto window drop not working. This is probably the biggest issue as my door would still open with the window all the way up, but wouldn’t close due to hitting the trim. Also, even when power is reconnected, the auto drop will need to be reset to start working again.

You can lock and unlock the driver’s door with the key, but I’ve seen a lot of posts about MINI and BMW door lock handles/cylinders breaking from regular manual usage. It might not be regular usage in your case, but the cold weather might put extra strain on them if stuck from the cold weather.

As far as the battery being locked in the back, an R53 should have a + jumper terminal next to the air filter. You can hook up a battery to this and a ground to power up the car with a dead or disconnected battery. Also, not sure if you are basing this off of your R50, but check to make sure your R53 actually has a hatch release cable under the rear seat as this wasn’t added until later and your ‘02 might not have one.

 

Thank you RB!

Invaluable to hear the battery can be disconnected without obvious downside. Look what I found today:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-Car-Bat...m/303670135696

$38 Wireless disconnect.

 

How far from the house is the car parked ?

I keep mine connected to a trickle charger when it sits.

Mike

 

I second the trickle charger. Mine sit that way a lot of the year round.

 

Not sure if I would trust that for the main power to my car and I would look into how it works before buying one. It might draw too much power for long term storage and kill your battery. If that’s just a big relay, it would be safest for it to be normally closed in case the control module or relay failed while driving. To disconnect the battery, a NC relay would have to be energized to keep the circuit open and the relay and control module would be constantly drawing power from the battery when stored.

Just thought of another issue with disconnecting the battery, it will reset the emissions readiness monitors and the car won’t be able to be smogged without going through the necessary drive cycle. Usually not a problem, but might take a day or two to complete, and even less of a problem if you live in an area which will let you still smog a car with some of the monitors not being ready. In CA all monitors have to be ready or no test.

 

TY very much for the replies. I have gone through a few trickel chargers and I have 3 rigs I use. They will all loose charge in winter after 2 weeks or so outside not in use. I vary my parking, so that means cords are all over the place. I did see a reasonable price for two:

I'm in Idaho and have never seen a smog check. The remote cuttoff might not work but would be great if it did.