Hi gents; I posted about this in the X type forum, but I think I may get more traffic here and maybe some more expertise, sorry for the long read;

I had been experiencing shortened battery life in my
3 Jaguars for a long time. The daily driver X type would eat batteries every two years, the E type maybe a year and the XJS was going flat after a couple of months. All cars where tested for parasitic drains extensively, and none where found. I did not realize it at the time, but the battery issues where correlated to my getting a job that was quite literally a mile away from home; what this means is that my daily driver X is getting driven daily in this fashion :

1-0.2 miles to the gym- (behind my home)
2-0.2 back home to get ready
3-1 mile to my office
4-1 mile back home
5- maybe a couple of miles to the store and for errands on weekends

The XJS and the E type only being driven for that 1 mile trip to work and back once or twice a week. The XJS was probably going flat sooner than the E because of the more “modern” electrics

When going out further on weekends I take Uber’s so I can freely partake in consumption of adult beverages.

Point is, my batteries never had a chance to recharge or even keep their charge. I now understand that. It’s really a miracle the X type battery lasted as long as it did. I have purchased an Optima 400 charger that went on sale at 40 percent of its original price to properly maintain the batteries. All my cars have deep cycle batteries and they are all new - (yes I got new batteries for all the cars within a month)

My issue is I have climate control, but no outlet in the garage that houses the XJS and the E. I can technically run a long extension cord to the garage, but that just sounds unsafe and I don’t need my grandma tripping on it when going to her car. The solution until I can have some work done to get power in the garage, is to physically remove the batteries every so often and fully charge them on my little charger.

Here comes my question- seeing that I can not keep the battery tender perpetually connected to the cars- (and even if I could, I would need 3) given my usage of the vehicles, how often is a reasonable time for me to remove those batteries and recharge fully to extend battery life?

Any advise is welcome!! Thanks!

 

There is no problem with running an extension lead outside, as long as there's no joint, of course! I do it all the time. Then you can swap the charger from car-to-car depending on which you are using. That would be better then allowing them to drain for a few weeks, then recharging.

 

Have you considered installing a solar trickle charger? There is a nice black flat shelf behind the rear Coupe seats in the XJS that is just wide enough to fit a longer slim panel, good exposure to light from the window, wiring direct to battery is simple enough after routing the wires back to the trunk.

Also what battery do you use? I use a sealed AGM type.

 

thanks Vancouver

I have 3 brand new batteries and on all 3 cars. X type has a deep cycle X2 battery with a 60 month warranty and the XJS and the E type have optima red tops. Both of those are convertibles.

The reviews for the solar chargers where mixed, and I was able to buy this charger at a good price



So at this point, I am trying to figure out how often to remove the batteries and charge them. I will not be able to run a cord to the garage. I will have to remove them until I get an electrician to put electricity outlets in the garage

 

This will not be enough to charge the battery. If you charge each car and just rotate the charger once each is fully charged this will extend battery life significantly.

I missed the last bit. I would have an outlet put in the garage it will be cheaper than keep on replacing batteries

 

Thanks gentlemen for your replies. Let’s please just assume there is no electric outlet available. and The charger is the one pictured above in my post. That is the one I purchased and own.

How often do I need to pull the batteries from each vehicle to fully charge them in the house? Once a month? Once every two months? That is my question. The purpose of buying the battery tender/charger is so that I can maintain the batteries in the house even if it means having to occasionally pull them.

Thank you for your help

 

I don't think pulling them out and charging them on some infrequent basis compared to the much more frequent short trips is really going to help much. Its the time they spend in a state of discharge, any amount of discharge. You're getting some degradation overnight every night that it sits at 90% or 85%. I'm kind of like you, although my commute to work is six miles, I have multiple cars that I rotate so each one will sit for three or four days at a time (my driving pattern depends on the weather and which one already needs washed). I was getting like three years out of a daily driver battery but the batteries in my classic cars were going ten years. So a few years ago I bought a few more of those CTEK units and just started plugging my semi-daily drivers in every night too. The XF is still on its original November 2011 battery now, the XJ8 is from Summer 2012 and the pickup truck battery is new as of a couple of years ago. Pickup sits the most and its battery was probably already too far gone to save when I started this experiment but it did probably buy me another year. A few more years will tell, but it seems to be prolonging the battery life considerably.

They make those solar panel chargers for gate openers and electric fences (which typically operate on a 12v car battery) and people who live out in the countryside have depended on them for decades. Surely there's some good ones out there. OR maybe buy one of those larger panels like they sell for small camper trailers that puts out a 110v and enough juice to power the charger you've got.

OR you could accomplish the same thing by just taking the long way home every day, a little jaunt up and down the nearest freeway to rack up some miles at speed.

 

Spike
Getting the mains socket organised is the solution here. Everything else is a bodge; except maybe walking to work and then the gym subscription can be saved!

 

Well, I guess having outlets in the garage out is the only way.

Strange thing though, since I already do have the charger, I have pulled the brand new batteries from the cars, since I know they don’t come fully charged sometimes from the store. I also pulled my grandma’s battery from her little Chrysler and amazingly she had 12.8!!....her routine is to drive 2 or 3 times a week, she goes 2 miles to the cemetery to visit my mom and grandpa, on her way back she stops at Costco for groceries, then another stop on the way back. Once a month she will go a little further to her bakery 4 miles away or to a doctors appointment maybe 3 miles away. She never drives far or over 40 miles per hour! Surely, I thought, her two year old battery must be seriously discharged. But it is not....somehow she is managing to keep it fully charged.....

 

The other thing to consider, which is probably more important that the life of the batteries, is the damage you are doing to the engines of these cars with these repeated short journeys. Every time an engine runs you get a certain amount of condensation in the oil ways as it cools. Normally that evaporates off as the car is next driven, but it needs a decent amount of driving and heat in the engine for that to happen - just having the temp gauge get to the middle isn't enough. Your repeated short journeys is causing condensation which will be basically causing a build up of 'mayonnaise' in the engine and its oilways. I'd suggest that you regularly give them a really good, decent length drive.