HELP!
Please tell me there is a way to open the hatch on the Ftype that the dumb owner disconnected the battery to.

Im troubleshooting some battery gremlins and suspect perhaps a poor installation of a BlackVue dash cam backup battery contributing to my low battery warnings despite me keeping a Ctek battery tender on her.

After a brief drive, I checked battery voltage with the car off and noted it to be 12.4 and dropping so I decided to disconnect the battery positive terminal then connect the Ctek direct to the battery terminals for a few days to recondition the battery that I bought only 5 months ago. My plan was to top off the battery before chasing the source of the drain.

Here is the stupid part…I manually shut the rear hatch because it will get smacked by my garage door if left open. I now realize that I have no way to access the battery to reconnect it without climbing through from the inside and somehow removing the luggage privacy thing because at least the driver side door is open.

I can’t be the only dummy to do this….😊

 

A few threads/posts on this problem around here, you are by no means the first!
I can't recall the best (only??) solution but the first thing you could try is to use jumper leads to connect a good 12v battery to the under-hood charging posts, that might just supply enough electrons to the hatch motor to get it to work. Probably won't work though (how is the motor supposed to get power with the battery disconnected?!?) .
The only other thing I can think of is to find a way to poke something long through from the cabin to the panel on the rear of the hatch where the emergency hatch release pull handle/cord is and try to hook that handle so it can be pulled. Like a broomstick with a large picture hook screwed into the end. Might require some dismantling/removal of panels behind the seats though, and then plenty of fishing!

 

OzXFR

I'm comforted a little that I'm not the only idiot. Thankfully, with a lot of exertion and choice words, I was able to open the hatch using some of your advice. I'll share so the next idiot can learn from my mistake.

As a larger and not so flexible fella (6' 230 lbs) I was discouraged by how difficult it was for me to even reach past the seats to try and unhook the tethers for the luggage platform.

Having done that, I then realized that I would need to push the platform back towards the rear of the car to unhinge the front peg supports. This was a challenge as it is nestled in with no front to rear play at all. Somehow a combination of pushing and lifting and a lot of cussing I was able to lift it off the peg supports and remove it from the car through the driver side door. This was the hardest part!

Now, with the manual hatch release in view I fashioned a hook onto the end of a 4' rod I had to remove the hatch release from where it attaches to the lining of the car then fashioned a lasso of sorts using cable ties to grab the release and tugged to the satisfying sound of the latch releasing!

Lesson learned! Now I am hoping I can resolve the dreaded Low Battery warning which is my next daunting task.

Some background on this in case some wish to chime in:
- I don't drive the car more than a dozen miles or so every few days - maybe once a week during the winter months
- battery is only 5 months old
- I use a CTEK battery trickle charger when the car is idle
- I recently had a local installation business install a Blackvue dashcam backup battery
- I suspect they did something wrong and has somehow tapped into the wrong fuse for power

I now need to inspect and reverse engineer their work. Why did I pay them to do it in the first place??

Great community guys!!

 

Given that you are using a CTEK unit but still experiencing a battery drain, it does seem likely that the installation of the camera is the culprit. The obvious way to determine if it is at fault is to disconnect its power source from the car’s system, then let the CTEK bring the battery to full charge (which may take a full day or even longer).
Your pattern of use is typical of those who find electrical problems caused by low battery voltage, but on the positive side you have the CTEK unit working for you. Please let us know the outcome.
Don’t close the hatch 🙂

 

And you don't need to disconnect the battery when charging with the CTEK.