Charge or jump start?

[Flip Martian]

I've been recovering from an operation for the last 6 weeks and my weekend MK 3 MX5 has been in the garage for all of that time as a result. And the battery is flat. The remote control unlocks the car and all the warning lights come on when I tried the ignition...just wondering whether it's totally dead and needs jump starting or whether I can buy a charger and that will sort it out?

[Flip Martian]

Fair enough, thanks. Never had a car go flat on me before; not even one left in the garage a month or so.

[Flip Martian]

shake n bake said:

A battery charger will give it a thorough charge, if you do jump it, leaving it to just idle does close to nothing. Driving it's ok though.

True - at the moment I probably can't drive it far so maybe a trip to Halfords for a charger is the best option at the moment. Ta for the reminder.

[Flip Martian]

Thanks for the tips, guys - very useful!

[Flip Martian]

Thanks for that - just reading about the CTEKs now. My old Camaro never seemed to mind being stuck away for a few weeks - the worst that would happen is the electronic trip counter would reset to zero but it would always start first time. The MX5 I guess has a far smaller battery. Lesson learned! Looks like a CTEK is a good idea.

[Flip Martian]

All useful, thanks guys - I knew this was the right place to post. CTEK on order.

[Flip Martian]

CTEK arrived and plugged in. Put it on the full recondition setting and it started on stage 3 (bulk charging) within a minute. Nice and easy, thank God (for a technical numpty like me). Thanks once again!

[Flip Martian]

kambites said:

It'll probably take something like 24-36 hours to complete the conditioning cycle (from what I've seen it's not a fixed time, it depends on how the battery behaves).

Ta. That's fine then - will leave it as long as it needs. No rush.

[Flip Martian]

Pesty said:

Remember it's a trickle charger leave it plugged in for 24 hours.

Definitely - its staying on until the lights on it tell me its finished

[Flip Martian]

normalbloke said:

The poor chap only needed a maintenance charger.....

Well the CTEK arrived yesterday lunchtime and 24 hours later the battery was tested, desulphated, charged, tested and all done. Started like a dream of course. Wife is happy as her little Suzuki thing only gets driven short distances and gets left a bit in the winter, so she's reassured she won't be stuck with a car that won't start (although I doubt it would suffer that much). A great bit of kit - fit it, switch it on, let it work, take it off. Done. With 3 cars in the family, and possibly a 4th after xmas, no doubt it will prove a good buy.