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According to the GF, its all down to the recent Lunar Eclipse, where it wasn't just the Mowers or even 'Cherry P' as so many things went wrong that Week that I got so bored with being Paranoid that I was expecting disasters to happen from the moment I got out of Bed!
'Je ne disappointed pas! as they say in your neck of the Woods!
Top Tip or should that be 'Hot Tip!' if your Engine Catches Fire because you liberally Sprayed it with Brake Cleaner (before it caught Fire) You cannot Blow it Out! 'Ask me how I know or rather don't'
I haven't got a Manual but when I checked the Hydraulic Tank, it was empty! and so I filled it up
The Pump itself is Belt Driven from the Engine, although you have to Turn on a Switch in the Cab to get it to run, although I don't know why?
It may need Bleeding or maybe not, I'll have to wait and see
As for the Alternator Light, only one Battery was Charging, though I may have fixed that now, as when I charge one of the Batteries with my Battery Charger, the other one Charges up to (which didn't happen before)
That was hanging over my Car (with Cherry 'P') my newly acquired 'Cherry Picker'
Sometimes you've just gotta have one, for no apparent reason whatsoever, so when I was quoted 'Megabucks' to Cut an Overhanging Branch down from 'The Tree Of Doom' that was Hanging over my Car, I bought a 'Cherry Picker' (as you do) but 'Sight Unseen' from a Guy called 'Vince'
How somehow Convinced me (pun intended) that this was a real 'Peach of a Machine' a 'Cream Puff' and low Mileage 'Bobby Dazzler!'
Thankfully he wasn't wrong, as 'Cherry P' as the GF now calls her has only covered an Astonishing 5,000 Miles from New! with MOT's to Prove!
And Vince was a real Character, the like of whom they don't make any more! as I was about to find out, when I Climbed into the Basket of 'Cherry P' with Vince, where just a few Seconds later, we were over 45ft in the Air! as Vince began to show me all the Controlls
Thankfully there were only 3 Levers but push one the Wrong way at the Wrong Time and you could easily Frighten Yourself Silly! as it really does feel Scary when your that High in the Air!
At which point I then found myself looking, or should I say Transfixed by a Warning Sign inside the Basket
Vince! it says One Person Only! and there is Two of us!
Mate, Maaaate! no need to take any notice of that, as you don't look as if you Weigh more than a 'Bag of Sugar' so don't worry about it falling over, as it ain't gonna happen!
But Vince! they can fall over, as I've seen all those Videos on YouTube!
Mate, Maaaaate! some of those are probably Fakes and just Staged to get 'Likes'
Yeah Vince but not all of them!
Mate I've never heard of one ever Falling over but that was a long time ago and in any event he's probably out of Hospital now and the Chances are he's made a Full recovery!
As for me I'm Scared of Heights and Starting to feel Sick and so to ease the Tension, I asked another Question, to take my mind off it
Vince, what happens if I am 50ft in the Air and 'Cherry P' runs out of Diesel?
How do I get down?
Keep your Mobile with you Mate and make sure its Charged up! and also a Coil of Rope so that you can Climb down! and don't run out of Diesel, then you should be OK but Should is one of those words that Freaks me out!
Eventually Vince headed for home and left me all alone with 'Cherry P' where after Weeks of problems, when I managed to lose the Key of the Immobilizer, I was finally ready to tackle cutting down the 'Tree of Doom'
The 'Tree of Doom' was really High and you can see the Stub of the Branch in the Photo, which I had to leave behind because of Mechanical Problems that could have left me Stranded so High up in the Air (but more about that later)
The 'Tree of Doom' was hanging by a Thread! although eventually I managed to cut it down
'Cherry P' about to tackle the 'Tree of Doom'
Not Bad for a Grand! but 'Cherry P' then developed a very Expensive Problem! To be Continued............
Alex
If that tree is a weeping willow, I would be more worried about the big branch/trunk piece going up at 45¨in this photo, that looks like it has already been cut in earlier times as it has a square end.:
The GiF rolling acres has a weeping willow rather like the tree in OBT, and a piece of trunk that size fell off last summer!
I cut that Trunk off a few years ago, using my Hiab Crane to get me up there, although unlike the 'Tree of Doom' it wasn't very High
'The Tree of Doom' was about 30ft off the Ground and was literally hanging by a Thread, so I had to very Carefully Chop it down just a piece at a time, as I didn't want to risk the Weight pulling 'Cherry P' over, which apparently can happen, if it hits the Basket as it falls!
When I first got 'Cherry P' She only had one Battery to Start her and then the Alternator Light would go out but since I added a Second Battery, like She is supposed to have, the Alternator Light Stays on
At Start up Both Batteries had over 12 Volts of Charge but after about an Hour the Voltage in the Batteries goes down so much, that the Hydro Electrics can Stall the Engine (and nearly did!) which is why I had to leave that bit of Stump behind
It looks as if the Alternator isn't Charging the Battery, so I think the diodes may have gone, as the Current seems to flow in Both directions and so the Cheapest option would be to buy a New Generic one
Except for one small problem! as this is not your Average 'Bog Standard' Alternator, as this is also fitted with a Vacuum Pump for the Brakes, where a New one of these Costs 'Megabucks'
So Plan 'A' would be to go back to using One Battery and then see if the Alternator Charges in the way it did before
Or Plan 'B' is Connect both Batteries to my Generator (that has a 12 Volt Outlet) as well as 240 Volts and then leave it running, while I use 'Cherry P' as a sort of Auxiliary Charging Set Up, while I'm waiting to Win the Lottery, to buy a New Alternator (about £150!) which I'd rather not Spend at the moment
As I am going to have to buy myself a 'Semi Professional' Wood Chipper for about £500, as there are so many Branches to get rid of, that they are almost taking over the Garden
The only good news being that the Belt for my Ride on Mower arrived from China! as I couldn't get one in the UK but putting it on and refitting that Deck was a Nightmare, as the Sun was in my eyes all the time, although at least I managed to Cut the Grass, just before it Rained!
Uber Expensive Alternator with a Vacuum Booster Pump on the Back, where a New One of these also comes with a Brand New Brake Booster
I don't recall you mentioning how the 2 batteries are used within the vehicle? It could be in one of 3 ways:
- In Series, giving 24v to power both the Vehicle and the Picker
- In Parallel, giving 12v but with double the Ah capacity to power both the Vehicle and the Picker
- Independently, with one 12v battery powering the Vehicle, and one 12v battery powering the Picker.
I'm just guessing, that they are mounted in Parallel giving a single high Ah 12v circuit? Your post 3302 seems to imply that.
However, I'm slightly confused as to how you had it wired up when there was only one battery in situ? Because, in Parallel, you would connect the +ve vehicle terminal to one battery and the -ve vehicle terminal to the other battery.
Can you draw a diagram of how you've got the 2 batteries wired up?
The other factor is that, if you're running 2 batteries, they really need to be "equal" in terms of capacity, age and condition, otherwise you can cause damage to the charging and wiring if one battery is significantly depleted compared to the other.
Both Batteries are wired in Parallel and both were Charged to 12.6 Volts (approx) before Starting
If I put the Battery Charger on one of them, that also Charges the other Battery as well
Hard to draw a Sketch for this, as the Wires go into Separate Looms but when I first got 'Cherry P' with just one Battery on
The Battery on the LHS as you face the Bonnet was connected in the Conventional way, with one Lead on the Positive and the other Lead on the Negative
While on the RHS as you face the Bonnet where the Battery was Missing, the Positive Lead and the Negative Lead, had been Joined together
Maybe to Stop the Current running away from one of the Batteries to the other?
While its well worth Spending Circa £150 on a New Alternator 'Cherry P' is not something that I'll be using every day, so using my Petrol Generator as a 12Volt Aux might be the Best Plan as a 'Stop Gap' measure, as that Generator seems to run on Fresh Air!
So providing I keep it running while using 'Cherry P' Although it is Clearly a bit of a Sketchy Setup, since the Alternator is no longer doing the Job, I don't think I could make it any worse but you would probably know that far better than me
Out of interest, also checked the Price of Diodes about £45 but Since that Alternator is getting a bit old, it may not be the best idea to only do half the Job
Having had it up to here with Battery 'Smart Chargers' that seem to take for ever and a day, I decided to go 'Old School' and get a proper one, where the one I chose way by 'Maypole' who do lots of Caravan Stuff and have an excellent reputation over here in the UK
So maybe not surprising that it was quite expensive as Battery Chargers go, although you only get what you pay for and this was no exception, Triple Boxed from Amazon, very heavy duty and simply Screaming quality from every single pore
Where while I know 'Smart Chargers' also have their place, as I know as I have Two of those, I have got so many Old Batteries laying around at home, that sometimes, you just don't want to Charge it over Night as sometimes you just want a result
And though I don't like to admit this, its such a long time since I've had one of these, that I have Completely forgotten how to use it
Whereas in order to Test it, I got a known good Battery for my XJS that I could not only keep as a Spare but also use as an Experiment, as this Battery Charger has an Output Voltage of 12 Amps
So this morning when I put it on Charge on the Low Setting, the View meter on the Battery Charger was first Showing 5 amps where even after a Few Hours didn't seem to move that very much
So after Lunch I put it on High but the Needle on the Battery Charger didn't really seem to show much difference
So what I would really like to know, is should the Needle on the Battery Charger be dropping back towards Zero, as the Battery Charges up, or else should the Needle be be moving in the opposite direction Towards High
12V Battery Charging on the High Setting but should the Needle be Moving to the Left or Right as the Battery Charges?
Same Question for this one: Should the Needle on the Battery Charger be dropping back to Zero as the Battery Charges?
Last edited by orangeblossom; Jul 20, 2024 at 11:20 AM.
In principle it will drop as the battery (stable) voltage increases.
In simple terms, think of it as 2 things:
- The High / Low Setting will determine how much current it lets the machine "push" at the battery. Low is likley to have a max setting of perhaps 6A, High would enable it to go up to its max setting.
- The amount of amps that the machine can "push" at the battery is dependent on "how full" the battery is of volts. So the more volts that are in the battery, the less amps the machine will show.
That's a pretty simplistic description, but you get the idea.
The machine will probably not go to zero, it is probably set to continue to hold a current of something like 1A-2A when the battery is charged. What it's doing is effectively trying to force your battery to have a higher voltage than its stable state. As you know, you have a 12v battery, which will realistically hold a maximum stable voltage of about 12.7v. That 15.5v is only the voltage that is being "forced" by the machine. If you disconnect it and wait 15 mins, you'll find it's only 12v+, which is the "real" voltage of the battery - it can not hold 15.5v unassisted (In the same way that the 14.1v that you see when the battery is in the car and the alternator is running, is only a temporary state whilst the alternator is throwing voltage at the battery.) Even a duff battery might "show" 15v when it's connected to a high-power charge, but as soon as you disconnect it, it could drop to 7v.
On the farm, up in COLD country of Montana, we used to leave chargers on lowest setting as freeze protection in winter.
They Never got down to Zero, no matter if they were left there for Weeks!
(';')
My Old School Battery Charger, is turning out to be one of the Best things I have ever bought, as while there is a place for these 'Smart Chargers' I kind of got fed up with waiting 3 days for it to Charge the Battery from Zero back to Full
Whereas my New 'Old School' Charger can do this in 8 hours and often less, where even 2 days later my DVM is showing that this Battery that was quite Flat, now continues to hold 13 Volts
This is a boon for equipment that doesn't get used all the time and easily tops up the Battery enough to Start my 'Cherry Picker' in about 4 Hours, also including my Ride on Mower, which we 'Nick Named' Blaze, as having given it a Wash with Carburetor Cleaner
Where when I went to Start her, using a Screw Driver across the Starter Bendix, just one Spark was all it took to have her burst into Flames, that not only took me by Surprise but also took a long time to put out
So don't try that at home or it might take your House out as well and just lucky I didn't do the same with my XJS especially my 4.0L that this time last year almost to the Day proved to be so difficult to try and get Started
That unusually for me who was simply refusing to give up on this. decided to put her in 'Mothballs' for the Winter till this Year, when something so unusual started to happen that it must have been the Work of the Jaguar Gods!
As just one year later almost to this very day, I was even more determined than I'd ever been before to try and Start her
So knowing this was almost certainly going to be a problem, I got all the Spanners out and everything else in between, including a big can of Starting Fluid
'Game on!' I was thinking, you're not gonna beat me this time, so having Charged the Battery with my Super Duper Old School Battery Charger, I slipped the Key in the ignition, preparing for the worst
At which point I turned the Key, where then to my Amazement, the Engine just turned over once and Started on the Button, with what I can only describe as 'Light Switch Ignition' where from an Ice Cold, Stone Cold Start, She then continued to run like a little Swiss Watch
Perhaps it was the Extra Kick from the 780 Amp Hour Battery because last Year She didn't want to know and so I managed to Grab my Phone in time to make a Quick and Dirty Video to Show You!
The only downside being, I've got to put all those Tools away, as I didn't need to use a Single one of them!
Now I'd go and get a few gallons of BP's or Esso's finest 98 octane before you suck up muck at the bottom of the tank! Then I'd be doing an oil & filter change.
I know that all our gauges read a little bit differently, but you might want to check the real engine temp and that the 'stat is opening. On my 4 litre, my temp gauge doesn't go that high when it's sitting still. Just a polite suggestion.
You don't have to be polite, I'd rather talk with those that are Authentic, although a good suggestion all the same
Except I am still wondering why she fired up straight away and also Zero Smoke from the Exhaust, as I didn't do anything different this time, so maybe the 'Jaguar Gods' do exist after all
- Stored in nice dry conditions
- High Ambient temp and low humidity today, hence no moisture sitting in exhaust system
- Good Valve stem oil seals
- Well maintained car with optimal fuelling
- Karma!
Not sure of the Laws across the Pond. But here in the States as long as it is agreed to, and both have signed Identical paperwork carbon or simply duplicated. It is a Binding Legal Document. And as such will stand up in any Court of Law. The only thing I might do is take a picture of the signed paperwork, and a picture of it leaving on suitable trailer / car hauler. Since you specified that. Other then that I think you're good. Now What the Heck are you thinking! Selling the Jag????? Have you lost all your good sense??? What's up with that???
Taking Photos of her leaving 'Orange Blossom Towers' on a Trailer or Car Transporter, is a Great Idea!
So Well done for that!
According to my MOT Guy, he uses a machine that 'excites' the Motor in the ABS as the Brakes are being Bled, so he wasn't Surprised that without that I wasn't able to do it
It was also a given that She needed a New Set of Tyres, and so as far as I am concerned the potential buyer can have whatever tyres they like and being a fellow enthusiast, I have been open and honest about her condition and made him aware of every microscopic fault that I was aware of
Although She is a lovely Car, that I would buy again in a 'heartbeat' if I were looking for a 4.0L
