Flat battery this morning....aaaarrrgghhhh!!!
Discussion
After trying several things to start my Chimaera I was faced with a choice.....take the battery out or charge it in situ....after consulting the 'bible' I opted for the easier choice....pushing the car 300yds on my own so it was outside my house 
10 minutes and one rather sweaty 300yd journey later I connected up and all is now fine....why is it such a nightmare to get the battery out, surely a better storage position for the battery could have been devised????
10 minutes and one rather sweaty 300yd journey later I connected up and all is now fine....why is it such a nightmare to get the battery out, surely a better storage position for the battery could have been devised????
Guess it's the cold weather, saps strength from older batteries. If it's an idea for the future, mine came with a built in charge connection in the boot. Any flat batteries from cold or standing for too long and plugs/chargers or jump lead connections go to that. Not sure how much they are or the exact name. Easy to get at and a good idea though.
>> Edited by steve1c on Thursday 9th December 18:55
>> Edited by steve1c on Thursday 9th December 18:56
>> Edited by steve1c on Thursday 9th December 18:55
>> Edited by steve1c on Thursday 9th December 18:56
No difference at all. It's the battery you are charging, not the body!
Nick P said:
Get an Accumate, plug in and forget.
Just leave it connected until you want to use it.
Starts evertime after that.
all very well when you have a garage that is integral or next to your house....as i said above, mine is 300yds from my house and un-powered
Fit one of those Leven jump lead things if your garage has no power.
Not used mine yet.....but as I sometimes have to leave the Chim parked up for 3 weeks or more ,for about £100 odd fitted (iirc) well worth it.
The connections are near the front wheel arch..so no wasted time buggering about trying to get into the car with a flat battery and all that hazzle of the secret way in etc.
steve1c said:
Or a wind generator at the bottom of the drive... 
>> Edited by steve1c on Saturday 11th December 19:54
Good idea if thats the only power you have
Heres another
get yourself another battery keep it charged and lug the bloody thing down to your garage when the Chim is dead 
You can get a pack for just this sort of problem. Basically, its a car battery in a slim case with built in jump leads, internal charger and plug. You just keep it in the garage/house fully charged, any probs with the car, whip it out and put the jump leads on your car, it provides a temporary extra high power boost to start the car. Handy to keep in the boot if going away and unsure about battery condition or low charge. It's heavy and about £50 though.
My mate has a handy gadget, basically a solar panel plugged into the cigar lighter socket. It gives enough of a trickle charge to keep the battery good. He keeps it on an XJS that only moves once in a blue moon, but it always starts. It also seems to work inside the car inside a not very well lit garage.
I've got the same problem and i have an accumate!!
Works great when plugged in but when kids unplug it without telling you then close the boot.....problems! I've now got no power and can't even open the boot to get to the recharging plug!!
Does anyone know if it is possible to get into the boot without electrics or am i going to have to fiddle around in the footwell and recharge the battery to sort this out?
Works great when plugged in but when kids unplug it without telling you then close the boot.....problems! I've now got no power and can't even open the boot to get to the recharging plug!!
Does anyone know if it is possible to get into the boot without electrics or am i going to have to fiddle around in the footwell and recharge the battery to sort this out?
steve1c said:
You can get a pack for just this sort of problem. Basically, its a car battery in a slim case with built in jump leads, internal charger and plug. You just keep it in the garage/house fully charged, any probs with the car, whip it out and put the jump leads on your car, it provides a temporary extra high power boost to start the car. Handy to keep in the boot if going away and unsure about battery condition or low charge. It's heavy and about £50 though.
yeah, thinking of getting one from halfrauds
I have an airflow trickle charger which works great. However it always seems to be charging. ie the battery never gets up to full.
It lives in the garage so I have tried it without the alarm on, surely the radio doesn't draw that much current. It only seems to have started doing it of late so maybe its just the cold.
Anyway, the charger doesn't get hot and the car starts on the button so who cares?
Just wondered if anyone knows why these cars drain batteries so quickly.
Cheers all
Ed
It lives in the garage so I have tried it without the alarm on, surely the radio doesn't draw that much current. It only seems to have started doing it of late so maybe its just the cold.
Anyway, the charger doesn't get hot and the car starts on the button so who cares?
Just wondered if anyone knows why these cars drain batteries so quickly.
Cheers all
Ed
MIWalters said:
Does anyone know if it is possible to get into the boot without electrics or am i going to have to fiddle around in the footwell and recharge the battery to sort this out?
Well that was a smart place to put it wasn't it!
If you have another 12v battery you can connect a jump lead to the +12v terminal on the alternator (other lead to any convenient earth of course), this won't take enough current to start the car but easily takes enough to open the boot. You can also operate the boot release directly by pulling the relay out and applying 12v on the appropriate terminal. On the V8S there happens to be a convenient permanent 12v supply on one of the adjacent relays so it is just a matter of sticking a wire between the two, perhaps it is similar on yours. If the battery is flat you can connect to an external battery instead, a big 9v torch battery is adequate, this is probably more useful on the V8S since the battery is in the boot! If all else fails you have the emergency mechanical release, which as an owner you should know all about.
>> Edited by GreenV8S on Sunday 12th December 15:31
I seem to have answered my own question.
Even though the interior light was switched off the door switch (which is a bit dodgy) thought the door was open. This must draw a current to the interior light delay relay or something.
Anyway, fiddling with the switch seems to have solved the problem and now the battery is fully charged.
Hooray
Ed
Even though the interior light was switched off the door switch (which is a bit dodgy) thought the door was open. This must draw a current to the interior light delay relay or something.
Anyway, fiddling with the switch seems to have solved the problem and now the battery is fully charged.
Hooray
Ed
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