Hey . . . don't sweat it too hard. Purpose in doing that write-up, based on many years of experience by many, was to de-mystify and, most importantly . . . produce a systematic process of identifying which succession of fuses to pull. With the write-up and wiring diagram specific for your MY, even the 60min "sleep time" sees the fault isolation, if not the fix, emerge quickly. Please let us know your results.

Best wishes,

Ken

 

12.3 is already very poor.

They work rather intermittently below about 11V so 9V can be a nightmare.

Alternator sounds to be working

 

Thanks Jag..and Cat. That 12.3v was because the new battery went dead with the new standing load on it and wasn't charged all the way.. After driving 20mi it was 12.6 at shut down then settled at 12.5 in 5min or so.. I've been keeping tabs on this slow drain and I lost about 1/10th a volt every 4 hrs. yesterday and went from 12.5v to 12.3v in 8hrs and last night.
__________________________________________________ __________

I had no problems with the battery change. Everything works..radio,window settings, idle.. the car runs great.. I didn't have any standing load on the old battery. The car somehow came up with it . I've done a bit of reading on this and found there are a few battery drain problems that even the dealers couldn't find so some just kept their cars on trickle chargers. I'm still bugging you all that maybe someone had the same problem and found an answer..All that said I think the problem my have been caused before the battery change when the volts dropped to 9v during cranking... Thanks everyone here

 

Hi,

The problem with the battery is that the charging system was designed for lead antimony type, they needed a lower charging rate. The new maintenance free batteries which are the only type that is available now require a higher charging rate.

The majority of the S types do not produce this voltage so the battery does not get fully charged and the PATS system (car alarm) slowly discharges the battery. This why a battery tender is a good idea.

 

. . . and, in line with Jaguar's permissible 30mA after 60 minutes, most fault-free S-Types (and XK and XJ contemparies) tested, actually revealed QCDs of low teens . . . ie <15mA. A few measured lower still . . . <10mA.

At that rate and with new, externally fully charged battery (say 12.9V), it takes about 8 weeks of unattended "sleep" to reach "low 12s" (say <12.3V) when "false faults" will have emerged. That said, use of a smart charger (battery tender) to maintain at least 12.6V, not only solves that problem . . . experience shows it enhances maximum battery life by maintaining battery voltage at optimum fully charged condition.

Cheers,

Ken

 

Thanks both of you above for that info.. I live in a condo and there are no outlets in the parking lot so a trickle charger is out of the question for me.. The Battery that was in before was a regular Interstate that I had no such problem with for almost two years since I bought the car and did not need a charger .It was replaced with a Walmart Maxx that Walmart insured me was the correct battery. Was that Interstate a special battery? It never gave any trouble until it dropped to 9v during cranking load and the lights and beeping began.

 

Not so fast, there, Kimosabe! While you needn't go to the extreme as I did for my daughter's car, you can follow Gus' excellent lead linked in post #7 here:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...-s-type-64372/

FWIW, I have fitted small 1.5W panels available from Northern Tool/Harbor Freight for less than $10 (on sale) to the 05 and the 95 X300. Both feeding separate VDC 12V On-Board conditioners, which saved me from fitting regulators.

http://www.batteryminders.com/12v-onboard-desulfator

 

That's a great idea but we do have a roof over the cars. I may be able to do that but the thing is I didn't need anything with the old battery for 2 yrs but I do with the new battery on day one. My guess is something changed when it was cranking with 9v and the lights and beeping started. I haven't done the parasitic load test yet with my volt meter but that is next I think. I did it 30 yrs ago with my test light in a series with the battery and found the fuse/circuit when the light went out. I read that being near the car with a remote key will wake up or activate something that draws current. I pulled the bulbs in the trunk and verified the glove box light is off. The only thing I see running is the red blinking alarm light on the dash but this new parasite is eating about 1/2 volt over night.

 

Interesting discussion.

How long have you had the new battery? Most new batteries aren't sold fully charged, strange as that may seem.

Then consider what is your typical drive routine? If mostly short trips, headlights on, defrost on, heater fan on high, seat heaters in 'rump roast' mode, etc., your battery may not be getting much of a charge, if anything. And if the new battery wasn't fully charged (I'd be VERY surprised if it was), that would aggravate the condition.

I vaguely remember reading a car needs at least 20 minutes of running to replenish the energy expended to start the engine. Any less than that, plus the addition of high electrical demands, puts your battery behind the curve. FWIW, I live 35 minutes from work and so far my battery is doing just fine.

 

Thanks..I knew that and had them charge it first. Also I drove over 20 miles . As stated I have 14v charging when the batt is low that settles to around 13v as the batt comes to charge and there is always 12.5v+ at the end of a drive. There is a parasitic drain where I will have 11.9v over night.

 

Actually it is a design feature of the car that it initially changes at 14 v then after a specific time it goes down to 13 volts. It is not dependent on how much the battery is charged.

The maintenance free (lead-calcium) batteries need to be permanently charged at 14 volts. This means that your battery is not being completely recharged.
When fully charged it will have a minimum of 12.6 volts after 3 minutes with all the lights turned on after being charged for 20 hours.

So depending on what is turned on your car when you drive you probably only have 80% charge in the battery.

I put my battery on a tender once a month to ensure that I do not have this program of false codes occurring.

 

I don't have an outlet for a charger in the condo parking lot.. Above a solar charger was mentioned that I will try but the second day I had the new battery I found it at 11.9v in the morning so then I drove about 20mi. and had 12.6+volts at the end but that settles a little below 12.5 in a few minutes. I have never checked a battery so often. Is it normal for a battery to settle down 1 volt or so right after being charged like that Thanks everyone for these suggestions.

 

Have you confirmed an actual parasitic drain? In other words, after the 60 minute wait, you've still got X amount of current when it should be only a tiny value.

Or is your assumption of a parasitic drain based solely on the voltage reading? The bulk of the problem could be as simple as the new battery being defective and not holding a charge. Rare, but not impossible.

I only ask because the problem has started (or become prevalent) with the battery replacement.

Some cheap troubleshooting ideas:

1) Swap in a known-good (and fully charged) battery from another vehicle.

2) Keep the existing suspect battery installed and disconnect it at night. Measure the voltage when first disconnected and then again in the morning. If the voltage still drops excessively while disconnected, you know the battery is bad.

3) A little more involved, but appealing to my inner geek: Fully charge and then disconnect the battery. Rig up a test load of a normal sleep mode drain. Was it 15mA or something like that? An 800 ohm resistor should give you approximately 15mA at a nominal 12 volts. Take before and after voltage readings to see if your new battery can handle a normal overnight drain.

 

There are hundreds if not thousands of posts on many forums about this same problem that turned out to be ignition switch, wiper motor , radio , defrost and on and on.. I have to do a real parasitic drain test pulling fuses one at a time but before I do that I want to get it on a real charger that shouldn't take very long when it's already well over 12v. The fact it only drains to 12v overnight and that I use it every day is a plus but I know I can't let it stand 3-4 days.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ____________________________

I went to find the JTIS CD I bought 1.5yrs ago then dah! I remembered it didn't work on my Mac and the old laptop we have didn't have the right bits or something.. I googled for a download but they were all dead ends. Once I find the culprit I may very well need a wiring diagram.. any ideas?

 

+1. ZenFly, as principal author of the QCD write-up referred to you earlier, I believe this is really good advice. Don't assume . . . measure. You are quite likely correct. New or modded audio systems, added accessories like lights, rear cameras, towing wiring, and faults that develop in existing components . . . all these and more are only some of the reasons for an abnormal QCD, but all diagnosis starts with correctly measuring the ACTUAL value.

The case for a new battery failing is perhaps, not as common, but well known examples are here also.

Cheers and best wishes.,

Ken

 

JTIS is a free download in the stickies. I wasn't suggesting the solar charger to cover the problem, per se, only to insure your battery remains fully charged if you do short trips and such. Plus, these cars love a toke on "the juice" if, as you remark above, they sit for three or four days. Granted, they should still function, even after several weeks of standing alone, yet they still love a toke on the juice!

In the case where I fitted the 5W VDC, that was to combat VERY short, night time trips, and lots of them, with never any sustained running. She was on-campus and walked everywhere during the day, but didn't feel safe doing so after dark, so almost ALL driving was the distance of a 10 min walk. However, FWIW, here a number of years down the road, the VDC did cover for an intermittent parasitic drain. Car always started and performed fine, sitting two weeks unmolested and all. However, I parked it inside the shop where the sun couldn't get to it and it was dead in a week! Turned out to be the MFS flashing the headlights and turning other lights on for various durations at all hours. Follow Cat's guide and you'll ferret it out.

 

go to http://www.jagrepair.com. you can download the workshop manual as pdf and all of the wiring diagrams as well.

 

Thanks..I downloaded 3300+ pages of the Service Manuel and this guide below ..thanks so much

http://jagrepair.com/images/AutoRepa...cal-2006on.pdf

 

Here is Battery Tender's 5W solar charger/maintainer with built-in controller to prevent overcharging; $80 and a 5 yr warranty. Seems perfect for cars that don't have access to an electrical connection for a standard charger. Looks like a modern commercial version of what both you and Gus designed years ago, no?

5-Watt Solar Tender Charger #021-1163

NOTE: it should be noted that Deltran, the company that makes Battery Tender, will only ship this product to addresses within the United States. I realized that as I was purchasing one of these solar chargers today for myself.

 

Thanks for that.. they're on Amazon for $60 delivered. I have a boat out there too so this is great for me.