Hi all,

Sorry if this has been discussed a million times before.

Hope some one can provide some up to date views on this.

I have a 2003 2.5 petrol auto sport.


I have just bought a Ring 6 amp smart charger and wanted to charge the battery whilst it's still installed in the car.

Does anyone think that's ok to do please?


Would be grateful for all and any advice please as I wanted to put it to charge on Wednesday.


Thanks in advance.

 

Yes, you can do this. No problem….but monitor the battery charge as it progresses.

 

Thanks sov211 ....I had thought the same - but was concerned by this comment in the manual:

WARNING: Batteries produce combustible gas (hydrogen) when being charged. The battery must be removed from the vehicle before charging commences.

also - I was planning on putting it to charge and keeping the bonnet down - keeping it just slightly ajar - do you think that would be ok..thanks again

 

Your smart charger on higher output modes will normally make the battery produce some gas, but when the battery is nearing fully charged most modern smart chargers will likely reduce themselves down to minimal maintenance charging output ....even down to regular small pulsing bursts. The amount of Hydrogen your battery is likely to produce is far reduced because you are not effectively 'overcharging' the battery which tends to make it gas more.

Hydrogen being lighter than air will gather in upper space pockets, unlike Propane, LPG and other typical hydrocarbon fuel vapors that are heavier than air which will pool on the ground.
So if the engine by is sufficiently sealed in the upper reaches, and there is very little to no air movement around the car, then you might be unlucky and accumulate some, but the very nature of you having to open the hood to remove the charger connections before starting the car would disturb the air and allow any such accumulation to escape safely.

If your battery charger is one that will cause the battery to gas quite a bit, then having the hood (bonnet) up, or at least slightly ajar, will naturally vent it into the larger space of your garage where the gas will be sufficiently diluted as to not pose an ignition threat.

 

Thanks you for taking the time to reply Mark....appreciate your help and advice.

My plan is to charge it on the drive, leaving the bonnet slightly ajar ...so think all should be vented enough and fine.

Thanks again

 

If you are charging outside, then you will not have any cause for concern, there is simply too much passive air movement to allow that type of gas build up to occur.
You would have to be gassing the "living bejesus" out of a battery to ever put yourself into a bad situation charging in a garage, it is unlikely you would reach a suitable air/fuel ratio that would cause a problem.

Most of the members here have at least one of their lesser driven cars sitting on a trickle or maintaining charger to keep their batteries healthy.
Jaguar models with trunk/boot mounted batteries also usually have a vent pipe to manage any created gas outside of the enclosed space, but an under the hood/bonnet located battery has more natural ventilation available.
Interesting that our X-Types have the battery enclosed in a battery box with a lid, so the design engineers must have deemed it safe to do so, and your alternator is able to stuff far more current into a battery than most domestic chargers can apply.

 

I'm a bit of a novice with these types of things...so a big thank you again for taking the time to share your views and tips.

I did notice that my battery also has a vent tube connected....and agree about the alternator.delivering a much higher amperage.

It's charging now...it was 9.5 volts when I started...currently reading 13.9 volts (after 2.5 hours), so hoping it comes back to life.

I need to use the car tomorrow, but after that I think I will connect it back to the charger for a few days to help the battery recover better.

Thanks again for all your help....really appreciate it.

btw...just spotted you also have an XJ - I've just turned a light shade of green....

 

Just wondering - what would the voltage need to be for the charger to deem it as fully charged?

 

When a fully charged lead acid battery is sitting at a rest state, it will generally be around 12.6 to 12.8 volts.
The charging voltage required to overcome the cells natural barrier would generally see a charger applying perhaps 13.0 volts to 14.0 volts, depending on how aggressively it is trying to charge and the battery's internal resistance.
A car's alternator (particularly noticeable on our X's because it is controlled by the ECM) will start high for a few minutes to try and rapidly replace the charge in a "post start" battery, then drop back to a normal recharging voltage.

Yes the XJ is a new addition. Literally twice the engine on my X-Type!
A joy to drive. Using it as my daily driver at the moment to get some miles under it's belt so I can see what it wants to tell me about itself.
Just going through it and fixing some historical misadventures.......
Rear power distribution box is this weekend....dead system relay to be replaced, so that is a job to split the assembly in half to replace an inaccessible relay, and then undo all the bodged wiring bypasses that were kindly done by an over-eager auto electrician in a previous life.
Glad it is a wet weekend......winter here...so I will be tucked away under cover in my garage having a ball!

 

Thanks Mark...I appreciate you taking the time to explain - as you can tell I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to car maintenance.

I love the XJ8 - can't beat those classic Jaguar lines...

I just had a quick look....it can certainly shift with the pedal down.

Sounds like you really know your way around cars.....I wouldn't know where to start....hope the weekend went to plan.

I'm in the UK and it's sweltering here.....and my weekend was spent trying to keep cool and watching the Tennis at Wimbledon.

Good luck and thanks again...