Came back from my trip this weekend to a completely dead battery. It was bound to happen to me sooner or later, I guess. Disappointing.

 

Cause?

 

Sitting in the garage for two weeks? Seems kind of lame.

 

First thought.... TWO WEEKS? How dare you mistreat your Cat like that!

Second thought.... How dare you mistreat your.... oh wait...Sorry






(No I'm not )



Time for an AGM dude!

 

Jumping these cars is not easy. But done, and drove it for about an hour. Nice car

...and battery tender has been installed!

The guy at napa said they're (AGMs) overpriced. But I've seen others on the forum say good things about them. Why do you recommend?

BTW, I got a 2 amp battery tender. Think that's enough? They didn't have the ctek at the store and since my car was idling unattended outside I kind of made a snap decision!

 

Most of the discussion on batteries have already talked about the benefits of AGM.
Some key points:
When setting unattended, they do not drain (bleed off) power due to internal resistance like a wet cell does. (no need for a tender)
AGM accepts recharge rates 5 times faster than a wet cell. (No need to drive an hour to be sure your battery is fully charged)
AGM is a sealed battery. (No breather tube required)

Considering you have already identified that your battery is on its downward slide, a tender is just postponing the inevitable, not fixing the problem.

AGM cost is about 25% higher than a premium battery. Considering I never have to touch a battery tender (or carry one with me on one of my long trips) I am happy spending $40 dollars more to install an AGM and be done with the problem.

I guess some people like plugging in... and unplugging ... and plugging in.... and unplugging ... and plugging in.... and unplugging... and tripping over wires.... (did I mention plugging in.... and unplugging?) But hey, who am I to judge?


A trickle charger need to be intelligent. 2 Amps is plenty, but it needs to be able to sense when the battery is fully charged and drop to an idle state. A continuous 2 amp charge can do more damage than good if it continues to over charge the battery.

V

 

He told me AGM was "3x as much." I wanted to say that on a Jag, what else is new?

Those are great points. I need to leave the car again this week, and I didn't want to have to jump it again next trip, so I bought the tender. It does shut off automatically at full charge.

I've never had problems before now, so we shall see. New AGM is likely in the cards.

 

I was really sweating it with mine that sat in the driveway nearly 7 weeks while I was hospitalized. To my surprise it fired right up. A couple years ago they did the battery drain recall, maybe it helped.

 

I see sears has the Diehard AGM (Model # 50749) for $161 after exchange.

V

 

It's been working fine all week without using the battery tender, but we've been driving it daily (since the SUV got smashed in a parking lot last Friday!!!)

I had noticed about a week in when it was sitting in my garage that I had left it unlocked. When I pushed the lock button it sort of grudgingly responded and the mirrors folded with an anemic protest. I remember wondering if the battery was weakened. In hindsight I should have started it and run it for a few minutes. So maybe it was a fluke and I don't need a new battery just yet?

On the bright side it was the SUV that got hit, not the Jag!

 

Have a 2011 xk vert. just got back from a week away and car started right up. I was told by Jag usa to ALWAYS lock the vehicle. I even turn off the air and stereo and lock it in the garage. No issues and the battery is strong when starting. I did have the dealer replace the battery, for free, last Sept when I had an issue. Do not know what type of battery they put in. Suggest ALWAYS lock iy.

 

Aiight -- I'm chiming in with the Tender thing vs AGM. AGM may not bleed voltage as much itself (all batteries do to some extent), but the XKs suck a lot of power when the car is 'off'. No matter what kinda battery you've got, if the car is still using juice, it'll drain. Tender it - regardless of battery type.

 

I can't argue your logic, but I have yet to hear of a single AGM owner having any further battery issues since they made the switch. Maybe if you pushed your storage out 4 or 5 months?

 

I have LoJack, too. I know that's an extra battery drain.

 

I have LoJack for my laptop. Didn't know they had it for cars, too. How does it connect?

 

I don't know. They won't even tell me where in the car it's located. I know it's there because if I drive without my key fob I get a call from the company. How do you have it for your laptop? I thought it was too big for that.