Alarm / Immobiliser question

[Daveb99 69]

I'm due to pick up my Exige S soon (look out for the new car thread!) , and have a question about storage.   This may be planning in advance, but next year the car is likely to be stored at my Dad's for a few months while we embark on the joys of having the builders in.

Whenever I've done this with my S1 in the past, I've left it safely in his garage without the alarm activated - so there's only the immobiliser to drain the battery.   Every week or so my Dad would switch on the battery conditioner for a couple of days to top it up.  I don't like leaving it on charge all the time because it's ultimately a fire risk, although I know it's a low risk.

Is there any reason why I can't do the same thing with the Exige?

I presume, like the S1, the immobiliser arms itself a minute or so after you remove the keys (even without locking it), and by locking it you then also automatically set the alarm?

Does anyone know typically how long it takes for the battery to drain, if left with (a) just the immobiliser on (it's about 10 days with my S1), or (b) both alarm and immobiliser?    I suspect nobody has tested this (deliberately, anyway!)...

Any help would be much appreciated.  It's a 2013 plate.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Daveb99

[Kristof Thys 197]

Hi Dave, 

If you close the doors, they will lock after a few minutes and the alarm is armed. During winter I have a CTEK trickle charger on a weektimer so it charges on Saturdays when I often can go 'look at her'.  I've had her as much as 4 weeks without driving without charger, alarm armed with no issues at all. Garage is heated, never gets below 15°C or so, that might help preserve battery power too. 

 

I do think most importantly you need a good trickle charger with a maintenance program, like the ctek? In that case 3 weeks or so between a days' charge should be fine. 

 

When is the pickup foreseen? 

[Daveb99 69]

Thanks, I have a Ctek already so will be using that.   I presume I can wire my charging connector from the Ctek onto the battery terminals (depending on what happens when you disconnect the battery......) ?

It surprises me that the doors lock themselves after closing the doors (after a delay) though...

[chumaxa 97]

I a pretty sure my doors do not lock after a couple of minutes ... 3 weeks is ok, I have done it a couple of times. Why do you want to disconnect the battery ? I have not checked, but I reckon the v6 battery could be mre powerfull than S1 and S2 anyway, as the engine would need more to start up ? 

[French Frie 401]

I experimented once the dreadful low battery ... it took about 3 weeks to happen, in winter (cold garage).hopefully, it was low enough to prevent the siren to scream  !

 since then, I wired the conditioner and let the connector going out through the small hole (hand grab) in the battery blanking plate, the connector lying in the small net,  so no need to remove it ...  Doors do not lock after a while, though ! and I let the conditioner wire plug going on the boot's seal, to allow the boot to be shut . no need for conditioner in warm seasons though, as the car is used a lot  !

[Kristof Thys 197]

5 hours ago, French Frie said:

Doors do not lock after a while, though !

Oliver,  the doors should automatically lock but only if you unlock the car but don't open any door.  So unlock, wait 2 minutes and they lock again.

If you open and close a door, they don't lock automatically.  Doesn't really make sense, I know 

 

As per the service notes, Section MV, page 4:

 

Alarm Operation
Disarming the Alarm/Unlocking: When approaching the car, it is likely that the vehicle is locked and the alarm armed.  The alarm red tell tale lamp in the speedometer face will flash once every 3 seconds.  
To disarm the alarm and unlock the doors: Press the central, unlock, button on the transmitter key.  - The    first    press    will    unlock    just    the    driver’s    door.        Two    presses in quick succession will unlock both the driver and passenger doors.  This command will be acknowledged by a double flash - of the hazard lamps. The engine will be mobilised (see below).- The interior lamp will fade on, and remain lit for up to 2 - minutes (if set to the 'courtesy' position). The alarm tell tale will be extinguished.- 
If a door is not opened within 2 minutes, the doors will passively re-lock and the alarm system re-arm. 
 

[Daveb99 69]

1 minute ago, Kristof Thys said:

Oliver,  the doors should automatically lock but only if you unlock the car but don't open any door.  So unlock, wait 2 minutes and they lock again.

If you open and close a door, they don't lock automatically.  Doesn't really make sense, I know 

 

As per the service notes, Section MV, page 4:

 

Alarm Operation
Disarming the Alarm/Unlocking: When approaching the car, it is likely that the vehicle is locked and the alarm armed.  The alarm red tell tale lamp in the speedometer face will flash once every 3 seconds.  
To disarm the alarm and unlock the doors: Press the central, unlock, button on the transmitter key.  - The    first    press    will    unlock    just    the    driver’s    door.        Two    presses in quick succession will unlock both the driver and passenger doors.  This command will be acknowledged by a double flash - of the hazard lamps. The engine will be mobilised (see below).- The interior lamp will fade on, and remain lit for up to 2 - minutes (if set to the 'courtesy' position). The alarm tell tale will be extinguished.- 
If a door is not opened within 2 minutes, the doors will passively re-lock and the alarm system re-arm. 
 

Thanks........are the service notes downloadable?   I have them for my S1, would be great to have them for the Exige...

[Kristof Thys 197]

2 minutes ago, Daveb99 said:

Thanks........are the service notes downloadable?   I have them for my S1, would be great to have them for the Exige...

IIRC I got them from here: http://vsic.lotuscars.com/

 

[Daveb99 69]

4 minutes ago, Kristof Thys said:

IIRC I got them from here: http://vsic.lotuscars.com/

 

Thanks that's great.  So there are 22 sections for the Exige S - do you reckon they could all be downloaded in an hour subscription (or is the bandwidth limited somewhere)? 

[Bravo73 1,396]

As long as the connection at your end isn’t too slow, you won’t have any problems. Each file is only a few Mb. 

 

 

47 minutes ago, Kristof Thys said:

Oliver,  the doors should automatically lock but only if you unlock the car but don't open any door.  So unlock, wait 2 minutes and they lock again.

If you open and close a door, they don't lock automatically.  Doesn't really make sense, I know 

It does make sense. 

The system is designed to guard against inadvertent pressing of the unlock button (say, in a pocket or a handbag). If the door is subsequently opened, then the button press must have been on purpose. 

[vd9 149]

9 hours ago, Bravo73 said:

The system is designed to guard against inadvertent pressing of the unlock button (say, in a pocket or a handbag). If the door is subsequently opened, then the button press must have been on purpose.

Exactly, and it is done like that in some other cars as well - makes perfect sense to me. :-)

[French Frie 401]

14 hours ago, Kristof Thys said:

Oliver,  the doors should automatically lock but only if you unlock the car but don't open any door.  So unlock, wait 2 minutes and they lock again.

yep, that's what I was meaning ... but I (and @chumaxa, I assume) thought you were saying that it locks after a certain amount of time, no matter a door has been open or not  !

 

[Daveb99 69]

Thanks for all the replies.  

So put simply, storing it at my Dad's it's likely there will be say a week with the battery conditioner turned off, then 1 day with it switched on.  

So I can assume that with a fully charged battery, leaving the car either locked, alarmed, and immobilised, or unlocked and immobilised, won't drain the battery and cause the alarm to start going off?

Edited October 10, 2017 by Daveb99

[chumaxa 97]

I guess if you unlock, open the door and close, lock the door with the key, should drain less battery ? In that case I guess the sensors won't work ? (2 weeks is ok, as long as you look after the battery).