My 2011XJL when playing music off battery within 10min the battery low message appears.. Jag dealer rep says that its because so many electronic things going on that it drains it.. Any thoughts?

 

Yes, it will do that. If the engine is not running and the car is on, then a warning pops up after an amount of time. If the warning is not heeded, then things start shutting off one by one with the infotainment system first. It is to protect the battery for the next startup.

 

I've had my XJ 3.0D Portfolio for 3 weeks - it's 14 months old (registered Jan 2012). I got the "Battery Low - Start Engine" warning on the first day. Gave the battery a deep charge thinking it might just have been sitting around at the dealers but it made no difference. Took it back and the dealer has applied a software update but that's not made any difference either. It is a little disconcerting but everyone is reassuring me it is perfectly normal and I see from posts on the forum that is the general consensus here too. I shall be parking the car up for 3 weeks soon when we go on holiday so when we return it will be interesting to see if it starts! I am assured it will be fine.

 

I think Jaguar quietly wishes different verbiage had been chosen for that message. It should really be considered an advisory rather than a fault warning. Because there are so many things drawing current when the engine is off, the days of sitting in the car with the ignition on for the music are basically over.
It's really saying, "Hey Buddy, we're sittin' here with the key on, you better start the engine and save the battery"!

Cheers,

 

You might want to invest in a battery tender and attach it to your battery to keep the battery in good condition while you are away.

 

Definitely complain about it. I think that the batteries aren't that good quality. My car went through a period of not starting, and Jaguar replaced the battery under warranty. It's been fine since, including a period of being left for three weeks.

 

The reason the info system indicates low battery is because the battery is undercharged. I had the same problem for six months and was told the same thing by the Jaguar dealership - electronics are pulling a lot of energy from the battery and in order to preserve the battery energy all unnecessary items are being shut down. After checking my battery, I noticed that the battery needed some distilled water. After adding some distilled water and recharging the battery with a desulfation maintenance option, the low battery warning disappeared. I also made sure to clean the contacts with a metal cleaning product to make sure oxidation with the contacts are minimized. The music is now crisper and the info system is now more responsive. I had like many reported problems with the info system working properly when the battery was not recharged yet. A full recharged battery solved the issue of low battery warning and I had no problem listening to music for 10-15 minutes with no low battery warning for almost two months now.

 

The battery need to be fill out with distilled water all the way to the top, maybe 1/2 inche before the top correct or?
I just filled it out until the top.

 

This issue has been discussed a number of times on this and the British forums. My personal tests have shown that the draw on the battery when the engine is off is substantial; with just the doors open it was 16 Amps. With the disk player on it was more like 26 Amps. Those are HUGE current draw numbers. With such draws you will get a "low battery" warning in a matter of minutes.

When looking at cars at the dealer, many of them are displaying the low battery warning from nothing more than the occasionally opened doors by potential customers.

While proper maintenance, fluid levels, clean posts, etc. no doubt helps but, the real issue is the excessive power consumption of the vehicle. At this point I do not see a solution that would allow for extended listening to music with the engine off. Yes, I find it absurd having to run a 5.0 liter V8 engine to power the radio and the accessories panels.

Actually, when I loaded my disks into the hard drive I really did not feel like running my engine in the garage for such long times so, I put on a 16Amp battery charger, just to keep that the battery up. If you do that, be sure to place the negative lead of the charger NOT on the Neg post of the battery but, on the chassis. Otherwise the small device that is installed on the Neg post will not be able to sense and measure the incoming charge currents and the car will still display a low battery warning even if the battery is fully charged.

Also, I am now suspecting that much of the battery problems are due to this heavy discharge/charge cycle that is extra hard on this particular style battery.

Albert

 

Well put, my friend! Exactly the case I've made regarding this issue.

Some of you may recall, way back in the '90's, industry news talked about the cars going to 24 or 48 volt electrical systems. That was because they understood the way 12 systems would be taxed by the yet to come electronics. I don't have an explanation yet why that never happened......but here we are, batteries taxed to the absolute maximum.

We really have no choice but to deal with it.

My two cents.....

 

Huh?? Don't tell me "they" aren't watching what we type on the internet......

I make that last post at noon, and by 3pm a link shows up on a home page to this:

High Volt Age: Remember the 1990s Push for 42-Volt Electrical Systems? The Idea is Back -- Maybe for Good - Motor Trend Blog

That ain't no co-inkydink, not in my book!

Cheers,

 

what is voltage reading when we have low battery? Mine seems to be about 11.8 volts before stating engine. 2016 XJL

 

You need a new battery. Are you having any problems?
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I just get the please start engine message but no other problems. i will get a new battery,

 

With the ignition in the OFF position for thirty minutes or longer, use a voltmeter to read the available voltage across the battery terminals. There should be a minimum of 12.6 volts indicated on the voltmeter.