News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Who makes the most reliable new cars? by TacticalCoder on Wednesday November 29, 2023 @05:39PM (#38466293)
Happened to my wife's ex-Toyota CHR hybrid (not plug-in hybrid) after 5 weeks of vacation. I hooked a CTEK charger to it for 8 to 12 hours and all was good again. I didn't leave the car on the CTEK charger for five weeks because it was parked outside and not at our place.

Otherwise CTEK chargers are really nice. Certain car brands like Porsche while sell you a "Porsche charger" for two or three times the price but it's just a CTEK charger re-branded with the Porsche logo on it.

If you've got a garage with electricity, it's an option. If you don't want to let the car on the charger during 5 weeks, just connect it as soon as you come back and in a few hours the car is ready.

Re:Who makes the most reliable new cars? by jacquesm on Wednesday November 29, 2023 @06:15PM (#38466698)
I have a VW bus that doesn't see a lot of use and with a bit of fiddling it was easy enough to run a (fused) connector to just behind the grill with a little rubber lid to make it waterproof. That allows me to plug in a trickle charger without having to open the hood. That little trick has saved me multiple batteries already.
Re:Who makes the most reliable new cars? by ct0 on Wednesday November 29, 2023 @09:44PM (#38468780)
I can use the cigerette lighter on my tt roadster's trickle charger. Does the bus have one?
Re:Who makes the most reliable new cars? by jacquesm on Wednesday November 29, 2023 @10:24PM (#38469133)
I could have gone that route but it would require the cable to go into the interior from the outside so that's why I hardwired it to the front. It also helps that I park it with its nose to the garage so the wire is very short and I just let it dangle down when it isn't in use.