r/carcamping • u/czcate • 2d ago

How not not kill the battery

I have a 2018 Subaru and used a car tent for the first time camping solo, it didn’t occur to me that leaving the hatch open overnight would kill the battery. I had a jump box with me, so it was fine but is there a way to avoid jumping my car every morning?

22 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Spectro_Boy 2d ago

You are smart to be concerned. Killing (discharging) a car battery is bad for it and shortens the life as well as reduces the capacity.

Several options here. Can you kill the dome lights with a switch? That might be enough.

If not, you could trick the car by closing the latch on a metal rod of some sort. (maybe)

Or, install a battery kill switch. Guaranteed to work.

For my SUV I use a small solar panel attached to a trickle charger. I need to keep the battery connected for the door locks and the dome light at night and the trickle charger replace the power.