What’s the approved method of battery trickle charging.

[KK3960]

Hi all, what’s the approved method of trickle charging my V8R and do the battery leads need to be removed? My car is a weekend toy and will need to be kept on charge.

Thanks

 

[NCE 61]

There is normally a cigarette lighter socket in the boot, if not it is available as an optional kit. This is connects to the battery and you just connect the CTEK into the socket. Jaguar do there own version of the CTEK but it is about four times the price, just make sure the CTEK has the correct battery type option i.e. AGM I have a MXS 5.0 and I leave this on all the time if the car is not going to be used for more than a week.

 

[Anonymous]

I know this is a constant talking point but I've left mine for 4+ weeks at a time with no issues at all. Longest time left was 7.5 weeks. This is because I work away and don't take the car although the 7.5 weeks was because of my leg.

If the car is double locked and goes to sleep properly the battery drain should be absolutely minimal. I've not had an issue yet nor do I foresee one. I've not had any low warnings either.

If your using the car once a week at the weekend then why would you need to condition the battery? My neighbor has a very old MG and that fires up every Sunday morning!! Fair enough if your taking it off the road for 6 months I can understand that.

 

[scm]

On a pedantic point, the CTEK isn't a trickle charger, it's a battery maintainer, monitoring the state of charge and topping up as necessary, so your battery is always in tip-top condition. Great piece of kit!

 

[PussCat]

I sometimes use a CTEK and monitor day to day voltages with a meter/thermometer plugged into the cockpit cigar lighter. It gives a continuous voltage reading, whenever the doors are unlocked/ignition on.

The CTEK works very well, but after using it, the Battery Management System (BMS) on the car promptly drops the alternator voltage from 14.8v down to 12.2v as part of its battery state testing procedure (I've read about this online from the Jag site).

The net result is that if you charge up and then take the car out for an hour's drive, then when you park up, the battery voltage may be lower (say 12.3v) than before you put it on charge. So if you then leave it parked up off charger for > a week or so, your battery is likely to be much lower than you expected.

 

[scm]

The CTEK works very well, but after using it, the Battery Management System (BMS) on the car promptly drops the alternator voltage from 14.8v down to 12.2v as part of its battery state testing procedure (I've read about this online from the Jag site).

The net result is that if you charge up and then take the car out for an hours drive, then when you park up, the battery voltage may be lower (say 12.3v) than before you put it on charge. So if you then leave it parked up off charger for > a week or so, you think your battery is stuffed.

In the x150 XKs connecting the charger directly to the battery bypassed the BMS and caused problems, you had to connect to specific charging points to avoid this. I wonder if this could this be an issue with the F-TYpe.

How are you connecting to the battery?

 

[Tel]

Hi all, what’s the approved method of trickle charging my V8R and do the battery leads need to be removed? My car is a weekend toy and will need to be kept on charge.

Thanks

If you use the Search feature of the forum, you will see there is a lot of information regarding this subject here already...I used the terms "Battery Charging'' for example and it returned this:

https://www.ftypeforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1325

 

[KK3960]

Thanks for the replies all, I have a CTEK charger/conditioner from my 911 but it’s an older version. I’ve just ordered the MXS 5.0, I’ll connect this as advised, (One lead to the body’s earth stud and the other to the electrical positive bus bar)

Many thanks

 

[R Toy]

Hi folks,
I have recently fitted an external charging point via a magnetic plug/ socket which makes connecting a piece of cake and should you drive away without disconnecting it will snap apart with no damage.
Also the rear towing eye cover makes an ideal mounting point which saves drilling holes in the actual car and allows access .
Battery is in the boot and I found it reasonably easy to route wires from the battery fuse block , with an inline 5amp fuse.
The socket on the car has two stainless terminals which don't become live until the magnetic plug is attached so no chance of a short.
I had posted this on pistonheads so a link here if of any interest. https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=153&t=1784530

 

[KK3960]

Gents I’m confused to which charging mode on the CTEK to select, I assume it’s the standard car symbol and not the AGM? The CTEK instructions are a little vague?

 

[Tel]

Gents I’m confused to which charging mode on the CTEK to select, I assume it’s the standard car symbol and not the AGM? The CTEK instructions are a little vague?

Select the car symbol and AGM.

Doubke check that you hsgd an OE AGM Fitted... It will say so on the battery itself.

 

[Anonymous]

So can anyone help me with connections for an MY18 F-type convertible for a CTEK charger. I have looked at the previous threads but can't find anything resembling the distribution box shown in those threads in my boot, so I can't locate the positive bus bar to connect the charger to.

When I remove the boot lining to reveal the battery, this is what I see:



and this is the back wall of the boot:



Any suggestions gratefully received!

 

[scm]

Blimey, it's nothing like my MY18 coupe. So sorry, can't help.

That said, I use the clips to connect mine - it's too much hassle wiring in the CTEK connector, as there are no spare places on the positive bus. And, by coincidence, mine's charging as I type this!

 

[Anonymous]

So the red clip on the positive terminal and the other (black) clip on a stud on the floor would be OK?

 

[scm]

I clip mine to the floor stud and the positive on the bus bar. Another alternative I've seen is to use the booster terminals under the bonnet - someone drilled the positive "slab" to take a bolt and connected the CTEK cable that way, feeding the cable down into the wheel arch so he just had to poke around to retrieve it without having to open the bonnet.

 

[Tel]

@pinballpaul - The design has changed somewhat....

So, chase the Red wire from the battery terminal to the fusebox.
I have a sneaky suspicion it's behind the CVD + DVS 2 Can box, but check first.

Take a photo of the fuse box and its' connections and we can guide you from there.

The negative is not too much of a worry; you connect your charger (or lead) to the negative stud on the body, NOT the battery as you will sod up the Battery Monitor System (BMS is mounted on the -ve pole)

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks @Tel - will do.
In the meantime, is there anything wrong with putting one clip on the positive battery terminal directly and the other on the negative stud?

Thanks!

 

[Tel]

Thanks @Tel - will do.
In the meantime, is there anything wrong with putting one clip on the positive battery terminal directly and the other on the negative stud?

Thanks!

You cannot just connect the battery like the 'old days'.

On the -ve pole of the battery you will see a module mounted onto the post with the main black wire emanating from it...this is part of the Battery Management System BMS.

Whilst you 'could' theoretically connect directly across the battery, it is recommended not to do it, as it will confuse the BMS into thinking that it can throttle the output from the alternator back as the voltage will be higher than normal, and as I suggest earlier, simply connect the -ve from the charger to a suitable earth point/stud in the boot.
The positive you can go directly onto. Normally you would connect the +e to the +ve bussbar in the fusebox, however it is common to the +ve on the battery, so will work fine.

Hope that makes some sense.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks! As a matter of interest, why would one normally connect to the +ve on the bussbar in the fusebox rather than to the +ve on the battery? What wold the benefit of connecting to the busbar be rather than just connecting direct to the battery terminal?

 

[Anonymous]

The positive on my MY20 F Type R couple is directly connected to the busbar - nothing in between, other than about 40mm of HD cable so technically. The volts drop across that is negligable (I've measured it to 3 decimal places), so I'm assuming I could connect to the +ve terminal directly. Also the positive bus-bar box only has three connections in it.