I just bought a 2016 F-Type. I love it. I don't use it as a daily runner, I just use it maybe once a week, but not every week. My question is, does the battery draw a lot and require a maintenance charger like my XK used to?

And, if it does need a charger, can I hook the leads direct to the battery? I do not have a power plug at the front of the car, and it is easier to open the boot to disconnect the wire.

I am sure some of you have had this dilemma and I am hopeful of tapping into you guys' experience.

TrevorD from NZ

 

I have a NOCO Genius 1 hooked up to the battery + and the body ground. The NOCO has an AGM mode and comes with a quick disconnect so you can leave 3ft of the lead in the can and the power head can remain at home. Make sure you get the optional direct wire kit. You can close the hatch on the cable. Yes, you should keep the battery charged up for The Jag to be happy. Make sure you get a battery maintainer not a trickle charger.

 

​​​​Here is a fairly robust discussion on using Ctek charger to passively to keep the battery alive during low driving.. ​​​https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...-280537/page2/

 

After reading forum posts and threads, I bought the Ctek MXS 5.0. As mentioned, it has an AGM mode as well as lead-acid. It also does 12V and 6V, car /motocycle. The Ctek package comes with a set of alligator clip wires as well as ring-ends if you want to do a more permanent install. The ring-end set has a long connector wire, so I am able to leave that connector above the trunk panel and just plug in the unit as needed.
Yes, there is a difference between a trickle charger and this CTek conditioner/maintainer. I have one for the F and bought one for the old wood boat battery. The 2018 Corvette came with a Chevrolet branded maintainer, but it's obvious that it was made by CTek. When that one died, we bought the MXS to replace it.

When I bought the 2017 in 2020, the battery was dying and it was replaced under warranty. The car is stored inside all year long, heated garage in winter. That replacement JLR AGM battery is now 6 years old, but apparently still going strong.

 

I'm now on 8 years of F-Type ownership and hte only time I've ever had issues with the battery were when the dealer put it into slow death mode by incorrectly existing form an obdii session. Most of my trips are less than 5 miles and sometimes I don't drive it for weeks at a time. Each time it fires up with no issue. I replaced the battery at about the 7 year mark.

 

Thank you Robtrt8 for your reply. I maintenance charged my XK like that, but an earthing terminal was provided for that purpose. But I still don't know where to earth the charger on the F-Type. What did you do? I have been told not to use the negative terminal, but I still don't know why not.

Yes, I know about trickle vs maintenance chargers. I have a specific maintenance charger that I used on my XK. Brand is Repco, I doubt you will have them outside New Zealand.

 

This is on my ‘16. I think JLR moved stuff around over the years. See my ground block? Yellow thumb screw holds on the plastic cover. Just below the yellow guy in the picture, between the two silver colored amp grounds, you can see the car’s grounding lug. The car’s ground cable is black and my ground block’s lead is smoked grey.

 

The Battery Monitoring System (BMS) is integrated into the negative battery clamp. If you connect straight to the negative post, it bypasses the BMS, which might confuse it.

 

My Jaguar tech advised me to connect the positive on the Ctek to the bar on the battery. I split the black/red wire and then connected the black to an upright bolt that was the ground for the battery. That is located on the floor of the trunk. There are many threads here on the CTek as well as how others have connected it.
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8 years and no battery maintainer.

We travel a bunch. After a two month trip the battery was low. Usually a month is no big deal.

I used the victron battery charger after it was sitting 2 months. It did start, but, I knew the battery was low.

 

I have solved my problems re charging, thanks to all you guys who helped me better understand the battery system.

What I did in the end was simply connect the maintenance charger positive to the positive battery terminal and the negative to a ground bolt on the boot floor. There is an abundance of bolts in the floor to choose from. This was exacyly the way I had my XK set up for 5 years.

So thanks again for all your replies,
TrevorD from New Zealand