Hi all. I have a 2016 F-Type arriving shortly and it will not be a daily runner. I want to fit a maintenance charger to the battery while I am not using it.

I gather there are two batteries in the car and I am told there is provision for jump starting the car under the bonnet. My question is can these points be used to trickle charge BOTH batteries.

I hope you can help. My new car is a red convertible; it will look great alongside my red 2009 XK.

Cheers
Trevor from New Zealand

 

Any idea if either battery is original? Many of us removed the 2nd battery when it died (or sooner), as its only function is enabling start/stop. No warnings when it dies, and no warnings or errors if it’s removed.

If the primary battery is original, I’d replace it. The OEM battery is great, but asking 9-10 years out of it is pushing it.

Many of us have battery maintainers that hook up in the trunk, but the jump point is also fine for a maintainer. Not a clue if the 2nd battery gets charged. Many here use CTEK, but I bought a Battery Tender Jr early on and it’s been fine - just started the car’s 13th year of winter storage.

 

Just regularly hook up a maintainer to the under-hood charging posts and that will keep both batteries in good nick.
NOT a trickle charger as such, a maintainer such as a CTEK.

 

The reason I started down this track was because it is my intention to replace the battery as I have no idea how old it is.

Then I found out that there were two batteries. A guy on YouTube said one was for starting and the other for the electronics. I will dig deeper but if you own a F-Type I would rather believe you. I tend to stay with original so I would probably replace both.

Thanks DJS, much appreciated reply.

TrevorD from NZ

 

Oh God. Please don't tell me it has a stupid STOP/START system. Geez, why would they put that into a sports car?

I hope it has an easy to get at disable button.

TrevorD

 

Yes, it has stop/start but it also has a button to turn it off in the centre console.
But the system defaults to on every time you start the car so you have to remember to hit that button every single time.
Many of us can't be stuffed with hitting that button all the time so we have permanently disabled the system.
Two ways to do that, one dead easy and one a little more complicated.
1. Disconnect the ground cable which runs from the negative terminal of the secondary battery from where it bolts to the floor of the trunk. A thick black cable you can't miss it. IIRC a 13 mm nut, just remove the nut, lift the cable off the bolt and zip tie the cable up out of the way so the end can't contact any metal part of the body.
2. Completely remove the secondary battery from the car, a little bit of work as you need to remove two mounting brackets to get the battery out. It's under the tray in the trunk at the rear on the right hand side tucked hard up against the rear plastic panel. You will need a swivel socket to get at one or two of the nuts.
Whether you disconnect or remove the battery it permanently disables the stop/start system with no effect on anything else.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that disabling the system helps prolong the life of the main battery but that is yet to be proven.

 

Start/Stop is easily defeated:


While you’re back there, hook up the direct connect leads to a NOCO Genius 1. If you drive a fair bit every week then a maintainer isn’t really necessary but if you plan to let it sit for 4 or more weeks it definitely is.

 

I overlooked that the OP said he was getting a 2016 F-Type in which case it should have a single battery and the above method is correct.
The switch over from two batteries to a single battery was with the 2016 MY.

 

Trevor, the 2nd battery is used for start/stop. When the engine stops, the electronics are switched over to being powered by the 2nd battery. This avoids the sensitive electronics from crashing when the starter battery voltage sags during restart.

When they deleted the 2nd battery, they replaced it with a DC/DC converter (the VQM, Voltage Quality Module), which supplies a constant voltage to the electronics even when the primary battery voltage sags. My F-type has the 2nd battery; my XE has the VQM.

Edit: my F-type had the 2nd battery.

 

I expect that when your 2016 arrives, you'll find that it only has one battery.

 

Just a comment? You are not to start the car from the under hood charging points. That is to pop the trunk so you can gain access to the battery to install the jumper cables. Charging is also fine.
.
.
.

 

The owner's manual says otherwise. Those are the specified points for jump-starting.

 

I recently bought a 2018 convertible and want to set up a battery maintainer connected in the trunk. Using the jump leads under the hood means leaving the hood open and I don't want to do that. Looking through other posts about battery maintainers has been helpful but my battery setup seems different. There doesn't appear to be anywhere to attach the positive lead. Anybody with a 2018 have a solution? Here's what my battery setup looks like:

 

Not true - OzXFR uses the underhood terminals and stores his lead cunningly in the wheel arch. He's shown how he's done it on other threads on here, maybe he can point you in the right direction.

 

Yep, no need to even unlock the car let alone open the hood.
A bit of a hassle to track down the threads/posts where I show how I did it but put simply I hard-wired the maintainer wires/connectors to the charging posts in the engine bay.

 

Thanks. I found OzXFR's post here:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...3/#post1710314

I'll look into that solution.

 

Thanks for the update as the earlier cars had a warning to not use those points for starting the car.
Interesting in that Jaguar finally went back to what the old S-Type had in the passenger side wheel well over 20+ years ago!
.
.
.

 

That post shows how I hooked it up but it doesn't explain how I figured out that I could tuck the pigtail end of the lead up under the fender/hood when not in use.
In the first/top pic you can see the pigtail end dangling just below the wheel arch ready to be plugged into the maintainer lead.
You can also see under the plug the plastic lining piece which sits under the hood.
I worked out that I could tuck the pigtail end in under that plastic, between it and the hood, then Don Martin style just "fwip" it out using my pinky to connect up to the maintainer. To make it easier you can gently pull the plastic liner away a cm or so if you want.
As long as you tuck the plug fully under the liner it stays put and does not fall out while driving even on bumpy roads.
That way I can connect up to the maintainer as I said with the car fully locked and no need to open the hood at all.

 

While I intend to look into OzXFR's method for permanent attachment, I want to point out that you CAN close the hood with a battery maintainer attached via alligator clips to the front terminals, which is what I do with my Heagstat maintainer (a CTEK-type knockoff). There's an AC power cord-routing channel along the edge of the engine bay (directly aft of the +/ground connection points) that includes a cord-sized notch at the very rear, permitting the hood/bonnet to close without crimping the cord (to allow a full locking/shut-down).

 

I've charged my battery with the CTEK in the trunk/boot and a 10A extension power cord "trapped" by the boot lid. 7 years in and no issues at all.