Flat battery

[V6Leaper]

I have a  fault that is flattening the battery. Brand new battery fitted and flat the next day!  Charge battery and it starts ok but I think there is a relay or something gone into fault and draining the battery. I took it to Jagutech in Hessle today. They are the boys who service my car and know what to do.  Hopefully they will look after it for me.

It will be a merry Jaguar Christmas once my baby gets fixed!

Regards all Graham

[V6Leaper]

Got my XF back from the Jagutech guys in Hessle, Hull yesterday.  They did a Battery and Alternator test, a system diagnostic scan which showed NO obvious fault codes stored! and checked for battery drain. There was NO battery drain! They then reset battery monitor and a battery hard re-set.  They left it for three days and was minus 6 degrees on one of the days and started first time for them!  ALL OK!  Nothing wrong with the car.  How honest is that? Only £30 labour charge and only £90 in total which included the diagnostic charge and vat. I bet some garages would have made sure something was wrong!  Thank you Chris and Shaun.

The guys left me a message at the end of the job sheet. It read "Recommend to use vehicle more" (I only cover about 3000 miles per annum)!  Although amusing I can see the reason for this.  They had to give my car a thorough examination to try and find out why it kept on draining the battery.  They failed to find anything wrong which is good! However they noticed that my XF tends to only go on short (or very short) journeys and this in itself could be the cause!  Starting the car takes a huge chunk of energy from the battery as do the other electronics we take for granted before driving off - - - like the car alarm, door locks, auto seat position, auto folding mirrors, heated seats, fan, heated front screen, heated rear screen, auto defrost, auto ventilation system, radio, lights, wipers, dashcam and of course the main onboard computer system.  It appears to be that, these short runs are taking power from the battery and the alternator should put that power back in during the course of a journey which clearly it is not! 

My Conclusion: I have owned the car for three years now and my low annual mileage is about the same. The battery is brand new so if I give the car a LONG run each week it should hopefully stay charged. It makes some sense to go for a drive to charge the battery up. However, that brings other aspects to my Jaguar ownership i.e. higher mileage therefore higher fuel cost, higher insurance, premature maintenance cost of tyres brakes etc that might last much longer. I do have the obvious solution though. I have a Ring battery charger that can give a low 2amp trickle charge.  It is a bit of a pain to have to hook up to the battery each time I come home and vice versa but at least the battery will stay topped up.  In the longer term though I will look at having a quick connect system to an "onboard" charging system like some of you on this forum already have!

Regards

Graham

 

 

[Old Peter]

Hi Graham, 

After staring the car it normally takes about 7 miles to put back the power you have just used, so short runs will take its toll.  I do about 5,000/6,000 miles a year, and in the summer I don't have a problem, as being retired we can visit various National Trust and English Heritage properties.  In the winter I change the car up once a week, using a Ring Charger suitable for a big battery and with a fast or slow charging rate,

I will be doing it for this week in about ten minutes!

CTEK is also a good option  --  I have the connection in my boot which gives the battery status also.

Regards,

Peter.

[V6Leaper]

I did look at the Ctek a while back but for some reason opted for a "Ring" bench charger as it has several options for charging.  Excellent charger which will also charge my Shogun if required and it also has a jump start facility which might be useful if I ever have the "flat battery problem" again!  I have my eye on a Ctek one as well which I want to somehow install in the boot of the XF.  I'm looking at options of exactly how/where to lead the 240v power cable into the boot though. It's the cable being crushed when shutting the boot I don't like!

Regards

Graham

[V6Leaper]

On ‎15‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 9:57 AM, Old Peter said:

Hi Peter, I have just priced a Ctek from Halfords but no stock until Jan 8th so I will hang on a bit and gather further info to.  How have you got yours connected?  Ive seen those short cables with the traffic light system I guess you have that connected with the eyelets?  If so, that bit I am OK with. I guess you then fetch the Ctek and plug that to the short cable? Do you shut the boot? If so what about the cable crushing (fire risk) that bit bothers me seeing as I had a career in fire!

Graham

 

Hi Graham, 

After staring the car it normally takes about 7 miles to put back the power you have just used, so short runs will take its toll.  I do about 5,000/6,000 miles a year, and in the summer I don't have a problem, as being retired we can visit various National Trust and English Heritage properties.  In the winter I change the car up once a week, using a Ring Charger suitable for a big battery and with a fast or slow charging rate,

I will be doing it for this week in about ten minutes!

CTEK is also a good option  --  I have the connection in my boot which gives the battery status also.

Regards,

Peter.

 

[Old Peter]

Hi Graham, 

I am still using the Ring charger but will probably go to Halfords in January to have a look at the CTEK chargers and get the most suitable one.  I do like to see before I buy.

Peter.

[Old Peter]

Hi Graham, 

Just to add something concerning the boot closure.  At the moment, when charging the battery I reverse the car up to the garage door.  My s type is too big to fit into the  garage, as the door appears to have been designed for a  narrower car.  I pass the power connection under the garage door which will close without touching the lead, and then into the boot.

Unfortunately, the boot will not close but I keep it loosely closed with two bungee cables. Heath Robinson would think it OK!

There is an air vent in the s type boot and it looks possible to pass the charger connector though and connect with the "traffic light" unit which is connected to the battery with the eyelets.  A lot depends on the length of the connecting lead on the CTEK.

Mid January will see me in Halfords looking at CTEK chargers with my discount card at the ready.

SWMBO's Hybrid car [which does fit into the garage] will start in Electric car mode, so I don't think the charger will need to be used there.

Regards,

Peter.

[Old Peter]

Hi Ron, 

I am from Lancashire and we are not known for splashing money around when there is no need for it.  I will certainly get the best price, and I will even hold off a week or three to see if the price goes down.

Regards,

Petr.

[Leo]

I use my CTEK weekly, and close the tailgate over the mains cable without difficulty, running it through the curve in the corner. The tailgate seal is deep enough to do this without marking either the mains cable or the seal in any way. I must have done this several hundred times now.

[Old Peter]

2 hours ago, R2e said:

Hi Peter, 

Lancashire people certainly aren't mean Peter. I used to, in a previous life during the 70's, work abroad for Leyland Truck and Bus and made regular visits to the Parts Operation in Chorley and the office in Preston, so have the greatest respect for Lancastrians!  Yorkshire people on the other hand...... (let's start another war of the roses  )

And don't forget, prices can go up as well as down. If I had waited it would have cost me an extra fiver that could have been better spent on a new pair of clogs 

That is correct, Ron.  Very generous folk are Lancastrians, but they are agin being diddled, particularly by Yorkshiremen.

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Perhaps the Yorkshire King bought his satnav in Glasgow market.  Dead (!) loss.

I can feel the walls going up in the Welsh Marches.  Tis the season to be jolly.    Ho ho ho and gadzooks.

[Carole Simpson-Hadley]

Do they even pay for things nowadays?  Oops, looks like Christmas will be spent in the Tower.             Significant other says he, also, was liberated in Pontypridd as his first girlfriend was from there.  Too much information!

The S is now about to depart for Worcester Sixways where Worcester Warriors Rugby are playing London Irish.  We don't need Tomas Tomas as we know the way well.  

Happy growling and good luck with the new battery/seat presets et al.

[Old Peter]

On 22/12/2017 at 1:24 PM, Carole Simpson-Hadley said:

Perhaps the Yorkshire King bought his satnav in Glasgow market.  Dead (!) loss.

I can feel the walls going up in the Welsh Marches.  Tis the season to be jolly.    Ho ho ho and gadzooks.

Richard  III  was really from Leicestershire, but thought the House of York could beat the House of Lancaster  --  mistakenly.  We live about 15 miles from Bosworth Field and know the scenario quite well.  Richard III and his army stood at the top pf the hill and waited for the Lancastrians to start walking up the hill to fight them.  The Lancastrians sent a few soldiers  to the bottom of the hill and when the Yorkists charge  they fled and the Yorkists though they had won when they got to the bottom of the hill.  The Lancastrians then charged, and Richard III's horse got scarred, threw him  and he had to fight the cavalry on foot.  He then blamed the horse, "My kingdom for [because of] a horse."  The descendants of that horse  are regular runners at Haydock Park, but true to form have never won a race.