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Great post, I’m doing it the JLR way right now but stopped short of getting the BT’s positive lead hooked up. Apparently I don’t have a socket to fit. What size do I need to remove the nut where the positive BT lead is supposed to go?
A quick safety suggestion - if you’re tying into the bus bar on the trunk floor, be very careful with your socket wrench. Not hard to create a short. I’d disconnect the battery first. I didn’t, and while I didn’t short or damage anything, the intermittent created when I removed the nut caused some impressive sparks.
After my recent purchase of a 2018 F-Type Base V6 convertible as a weekend car, I knew I was going to need to utilize a battery tender. My first experience with using a battery tender was on my previous BMW convertible, and seeing as I got 10 years out of the OEM battery (and even then it was still at 61% of its capacity) from using it I knew I'd be doing the same with the F-Type. I've read all the threads so I was prepared to hook up the permanent leads as many have shown using either the under-hood connection points or the buss bar connections. However, as I was examining the battery compartment in the trunk floor, I discovered two rather convenient connection points right on the battery terminals themselves:
As you can see from the yellow circles above, the positive terminal had a T-Bar on it with two M8 fine thread screw holes. The inner-most screw hole was already occupied by a 10mm M8-20 flange bolt with a small electrical connection under it. The outer-most screw hole was empty. I bought a M8-20 flange bolt (albeit with the bigger 13mm head) and put the positive lead eyelet here. I oriented the wire north/south like the inner-most one so that the red plastic safety cap would go right over the entire assembly with no modifications. The negative terminal had a 13mm nut on a threaded post that had nothing attached to it (different models/options may utilize this grounding point for other options). The negative lead eyelet went perfectly over the stud and was connected under the nut. The wires were pushed under the battery retaining bar and up under the interior trunk trim against the outside back wall of the trunk.
With the trunk well liner and battery cover trim pieces put back in place, this is what the final product looks like with just the capped pigtail sticking out of the battery compartment:
Now I just open the trunk, plug in the tender cable and then close the trunk. The cable can escape perfectly pressed over the gasket of the trunk deck lid and just comes out beneath the corner edge of the trunk lid as others have done using the buss bar connections. I think this is a *much* easier install than going to the buss bar or using the under hood connections.
Last edited by Thunder Dump; Aug 24, 2020 at 12:49 PM.
Thunder Dump: Now that a couple of months have passed are you happy with the way you connected the pigtail? I had noticed the empty hole on the positive t-bar and thought of doing the same as you had. I had not gotten to the negative attachment yet. The one issue others raised is that with that negative connection it bypasses the BMS module. No issues with that?
Thunder Dump: Now that a couple of months have passed are you happy with the way you connected the pigtail? I had noticed the empty hole on the positive t-bar and thought of doing the same as you had. I had not gotten to the negative attachment yet. The one issue others raised is that with that negative connection it bypasses the BMS module. No issues with that?
I've been using this setup since the car sits during the week and is only really used on weekends now and have had zero issues--it maintains the battery perfectly.
sorry for my ignorance but, whats the difference between hooking up the tender directly to the battery with the clamps and properly connecting the pigtail?
sorry for my ignorance but, what's the difference between hooking up the tender directly to the battery with the clamps and properly connecting the pigtail?
A couple of minutes and some faffing about?
Electrically, I don't think there's any difference.
Reviving this good old thread since I'm considering giving the battery a full charge before leaving the car locked up for a few weeks. On the two XFs I had before the F-Type I just hooked up my C-TEK charger to the battery positive and an earth point and intend to do the same now. What's a bit odd is that the manual that the battery should be removed from the car and that a retailer / authorised repairer should be consulted. What's that all about? Looking at this thread that's all BS and the battery can be charged in the car the usual way.
Yeah, you can charge with the CTEK with the battery in situ. I think the handbook is just being careful in case people try to connect high power chargers and fry the electrics.
The original pigtail cable with the ring lugs that come with my CTEK MXS 5 was too short to extend out with the storage area lid in place. Plus it used M10 sized lugs which were a sloppy fit on the bus bar and grounding stud. I ordered one of their Comfort Indicator pigtails which has three tiny LED's to show the battery state and chose the M8 ring lug size. That pigtail was a bit longer but still on the sort side. I ended up boring a hole in the bottom rear left corner of the storage bin that was just big enough for the connector to feed through from underneath. That gave me plenty of slack. I have the 8.2" extension cord on my CTEX which is mounted on the wall by where I park, and now all I have to do is open the hatch, slide the storage bin cover forward a few inches to reach the pigtail, make the connection and close the hatch.
I ordered the MXS 5 that others recommended, but Amazon sent me a mislabled box with a CTEK Multi US 7002 unit in it. This is a bit more expensive a unit and seems to be fully capable for trickle/maintain. Does anyone know any reason why I should exchange the 7002 for the MXS 5?
The 7002 does get quite warm when in use. Is this normal?
I'm connecting it to the underhood charge/jump points, not in the trunk. Less chance to drive off with it plugged in if it's in front of me. This is OK, correct? Still works with the battery mgmt in the F?
Also, I used the 7002 to recondition the standard battery in my BMW that I had let go flat once too often and would not hold a charge. After about 2 days the 7002 still said it was in recondition mode, but I disconnected it anyway, and the BMW battery now seems to be fine. Saved me replacing that battery.
If the 7002 supports AGM it should be fine. And the underhood connections are fine, too, several folks on here do it that way.. To recondition a supposeldy broken battery it may well take several days - best to be patient and leave it until you get the green light!
I've been using a 7002 on my 20014 V8S which I bought in 2013 and I'm still on the original battery with zero problems, so it's worked well for me. I own 3 7002's which I use on various cars, so I like them. I've even lent them out to my neighbors occasionally and they ended up buying one.
I'm looking at putting the F-Type away for winter storage. I've read several threads on here regarding which battery/jump posts up front to connect to. However, there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus and which is best, plus, the threads are a few years old. Is there any new info on this?
With the Jag in the garage for the winter, which placement is best for me to connect my battery tender/trickle charger to?
1.) The front jump points (by the front bumper)
2.) The large rear battery
3.) The small rear battery
On a side note, in addition to the battery tender, I'm going to fill the gas tank to full + add Stabil + put the F-Type up on Flatstoppers (foam) + CoverKing car cover. Anyone see anything wrong with this?
Hey guys, sorry for not knowing! I got a CTEK charger for my MY18 f type R Cupe and I can’t seem to figure out where to plug the terminals. When I look at all the photos provided they all have the same junction box in the rear with the same amount of wires. But when I opened my junction box i noticed My car only has two wires so now I don’t know what to do! Any one knows the answer to this i issue?
Connect the positive to the yellow wire point (actually anywhere on that bus bar would do) and the negative to an earth point on the trunk floor. Your junction box is the same as in my MY18, which I guess is when it changed.
Hi OzXFR. I spent about half a day checking out how you connected a charger to your F-Type. Very clever. I have a power point in the ceiling that would do nicely for my maintenance charger. Yep, I can see how you connected the terminal to the "spade" positive terminal, also very clever. How long did you agonize over that?
One problem I see by having the cable protruding out of the wheel arch is that it will get wet and perhaps muddy. Have you had any issues with that? Maybe a dust cover would work, perhaps I could see if there is such a beast. Like you, I spent a lot of time checking if there is another way. I even considered a plug in the black shroud behind the wiper blades. But I would still have the same problem with water. Perhaps worse. Maybe a marine connector would be the answer.
Hi OzXFR. I spent about half a day checking out how you connected a charger to your F-Type. Very clever. I have a power point in the ceiling that would do nicely for my maintenance charger. Yep, I can see how you connected the terminal to the "spade" positive terminal, also very clever. How long did you agonize over that?
One problem I see by having the cable protruding out of the wheel arch is that it will get wet and perhaps muddy. Have you had any issues with that? Maybe a dust cover would work, perhaps I could see if there is such a beast. Like you, I spent a lot of time checking if there is another way. I even considered a plug in the black shroud behind the wiper blades. But I would still have the same problem with water. Perhaps worse. Maybe a marine connector would be the answer.
Hi OzXFR. I spent about half a day checking out how you connected a charger to your F-Type. Very clever. I have a power point in the ceiling that would do nicely for my maintenance charger. Yep, I can see how you connected the terminal to the "spade" positive terminal, also very clever. How long did you agonize over that?
One problem I see by having the cable protruding out of the wheel arch is that it will get wet and perhaps muddy. Have you had any issues with that? Maybe a dust cover would work, perhaps I could see if there is such a beast. Like you, I spent a lot of time checking if there is another way. I even considered a plug in the black shroud behind the wiper blades. But I would still have the same problem with water. Perhaps worse. Maybe a marine connector would be the answer.
Or perhaps I should just use the car more often
TreverD from NZ
Trevor,
I agonized over it for maybe a nano-second or two then I just went for it, it was and still is IMHO a no-brainer.
Zero problems with the end of the cable getting wet, it doesn't protrude at all, when not in use I tuck it up under the plastic lining between that lining and the metal hood/bonnet, no way it can get wet under there unless I somehow drove through a metre deep torrent!
I replied to TrevorD a few hours ago but for some unknown reason it went into moderation.
The guts of it was that I have zero problems with the plug/end of the charging cable getting wet coz it doesn't get wet, coz when not in use I tuck it up under the hood/bonnet between the hood/bonnet and the plastic lining trim piece. It fits nice and snug in there and never falls out no matter how bumpy the road.
Thank you for that OzXFR. I am also thinking about Valeries suggestion on wiring to the battery positive and to ground where the battery strap is bolted to the boot floor.
But the way you did it is better in some ways, more in keeping with the car's electric's design. Big decision coming up. I am lucky enough to have a power supply both ends of my car. There is no panic for me as I am using it every couple of days till the novelty wears off. If it ever does.
Cheers
TrevorD from New Zealand. At the end of our summer here.
