Left Lights on - Flat battery - Where the hell is it?

[chezgilo]

I'll be damned if I can find the battery. Isn't it supposed to be near the passenger footwell? What a day for this to happen too - wet and muddy. Oh well, my fault. I've called out RAC and insisted that whoever comes out knows where the battery is. Back to work for 2 more hours I guess.

Can anyone in the meantime put me out of my misery and tell me where the battery is and how to get to it?

Thanks everso

[raceboy]

Passenger footwell, behind the upright panel, under the spaghetti of wires and the ecu, in a fibreglass box, just look a little harder.

[chezgilo]

ok thanks for that. Does the box have a lid? I'm trying to see if its possible to get jump leads on without having to take the battery out of the car. Surely this is possible but i'm a bit worried about jump leads amongst all that wiring.

[raceboy]

Some have been know to have a fibreglass lid but it's rare, usually it'll just have a carpet flap over the top.
It should be fine attaching jump leads to it in place, just move all the wires into the footwell infront of the battery.
If you can't get to it, the box is held into the car by 2 bolts which go through the floor of the car, undo these from underneath and it'll slide forward.

[chezgilo]

Thanks for your help. The RAC man seemed to be quite clued up and got it going. He told me to go for a 20 mile drive to charge it up. "Oh if you insist" !

[mad mitch]

Chezgilo. Just a quick tip. Running the car for 20 miles will not fully charge the battery if it was flat. It will seem ok but will only be partially charged. Combine that with the onset of colder weather, more dark time driving etc and it will let you down again..... Best to have the battery properly charged on a quality charger for several hours. Most garages will do this for you for a minimal charge.
Steve.

[raceboy]

Glad you got it going, but like has been said going for a 20 min drive, especially at night, with the lights on, etc, will not have put a great deal of charge back into the battery.
If you garage it, the best option is to invest in an Acumate Battery Conditioner (or something very similar) should be about £50 leave this plugged in to the car every night and you should be fine, unless the battery has actually died and needs replacing anyway.

[GreenV8S]

Also fit a remote power socket so you can connect jump leads next time without all the faffing about in the footwell, you can get them from various places such as the TVR Car Club. I thought the V8S was daft enough with the battery in the (electrically opened) boot, but th Griffith/Chimaera position under the ECU and wiring loom at the far end of the footwell requiring you to grovel around under the car to unbolt it, is even worse.

[theaxe]

BTW It's fairly easy to fit a lights-on buzzer to the Chim. Saved me loads of hassle...