Hello All: I'm new to the forum, this being my first post, having purchased a 2010 XKR this past summer. I live in NJ and haven't driven the Jag in a week or so given some early snow and when I went to start it the battery was dead. I have a hard wired trickle charger, and when I plugged it in, after a few hours I noticed the parking lights / tail lights were on. I went in to double check the headlights were off and they were. Needless to say, after a number of more hours, the battery never charged any further and is now dead. I plan on purchasing a replacement battery to be safe, but anyone else experience anything like this? The headlight warning lights came on the dashboard a few weeks back but went off so I did not investigate further. Any suggestions on a type of new battery? I'm planning on plugging it in going forward.....also read somewhere if the key fob is kept in the same vicinity of the car while parked that might help to contribute to the battery draining? Thanks in advance for the help!

 

Welcome to the board and good luck with your car. You will get a lot of responses as this appears to be a typical scenario. You should read in the owners manual on how to hook up a smart charger to the 5.0L cars. Important not to hook neg. terminal of charger directly to the battery neg. Also be sure to lock the car while parked to shut down the various computers in the car. As for the key fob the safe answer is to keep it a min of 15' from the car while parked. As far as all of the lights going off it is typical of a low battery condition. I would have the battery check and find out if it is OEM or a replacement. They usually last 4-5 years . You will find several battery recommendations so get the best you can. How about some pictures.

 

+1 on replacing the battery since this is usually the source for many of the electrical 'faults' posted on this forum.

You can attach a battery tender device using the auxiliary positive terminal behind the LH rear wheel under the rubber cover and an earth (ground) point on the body or chassis nearby.

 

Also, when the battery goes low enough for the car to do dumb stuff, disconnect it before charging. Most chargers can barely keep up with a dysfunctional electrical system.

 

Thanks everyone for the help. The previous owner hooked up the trickle charger, I will take it a part a bit later and triage further. Just thought it was odd the driving lights / tailights came on as it started to charge, given they are in the off position. Thanks again!

 

Here's a pic!

 

Amazing sky! Nice ride!

 

An actual "Trickle Charger" will burn your battery down to nothing. A "Battery Maintainer" is what you need.

 

It's a CTEK unit that the previous owner installed. Learned my lesson to use it more I suppose. I had a Corvette previously that I used a Battery Tender with, I did not expect the battery to drain so quickly. Thanks again all.

 

If the battery voltage is really low, the park lights and side markers light up, don't ask me why, it's just one of those things....

 

Thanks, was concerned there was something else possibly going on. Going to buy a new battery this week.