I have done what I hope was due diligence with respect to searching this topic but have had no success.

I am dealing with a 2007 XK, with a (surprise), dead battery. The convertible top is down. I would like to charge the battery with out it connected to the vehicle. I have pulled the back seat assembly, disconnected the positive battery cable from the fuse box between the back seats, attached the charger, (6 amp), directly to the cable and a ground right below the fuse area. I have pulled the spare tire cover off and have a large fan moving air through to avoid fumes from building up.

Issue: The four little incandescent bulbs on the right and left sides of each head light come on as soon as I power up the charger and stay on. I’ve read about these cars and their propensity to light up these lights when the battery is low. This baffles my mind... Who came up with that? Let’s alert the vehicle owner that there is a battery issue by draining the battery completely! I guess they did not have the option of a dash indicator for this. (Yes, I am a little frustrated.)

Anyway, is there a fuse I can pull? I’ve read the manual, several online docs, can’t seem to locate a way to shut off these lights while I am trying to charge the battery. I’d like to not pull the headlight assemblies. This car is a part time car, a battery maintainer is always hooked up to it when not in use. I had a problem putting the top up a while back, have not had time to get back to it until now. Maybe with the top not fully secured into its stowed away position caused the battery drain... The battery tender had a green light on it which shows up when the battery is in good shape.

Any thoughts on this would be helpful and appreciated!

 

Why don't you just disconnect the cables from both (-) and (+) terminals and charge the battery directly?

You should always disconnect the negative terminal first, not the positive.

 

What gkubrak said.
The lights come on when the car gets power, so if a near-dead battery gets connected, they light up..... then drain until they turn off. When off, the battery regens a bit until the lights get power again, so they come on.... until they drain it again......
Along with those lights are specific other modules that drain power right when the battery gets hooked up. Not much, but they do. Nearly every newer car does this.

 

Thanks for the reply and let me tell you, how I would love to be able to access the battery terminals. But, the top is down thus blocking all access to it in the trunk. :-(

 

Why didn't you just boost it from another car and put up roof then. I had the same thing happen. There is a remote boosting terminal in the trunk.

 

Thank you for the reply.

I think it’s odd that when the positive feed to the fuse box behind the back seat is disconnected, (this large cable goes right back around and into the trunk and connects to the battery), and I connect a charger to the disconnected cable that leads to the positive side of the battery and the other one to a ground, that somehow those lights light up when charging the battery. I get that those lights come on all the time when the vehicle is in use, very normal for newer cars, but the thing is just sitting there, engine off and what looks like the main power cable disconnected. Obviously it’s not the only positive connection, I just would love to know how to kill those lights while charging the battery.

 

The car has an external connection point.
If you are lying down behind the car it will be on the driver's side after of the rear wheel.
You can connect ground to the muffler bracket.

I've had to replace those little bulbs, and did not find removing or installing the headlight pods to be difficult.
Same for the rear pods as well.

The one problem is the manual says nut for the rear when it should say nuts.

 

There is a positive terminal inside the trunk on the drivers side at the back you have to pull back the carpet and you will see it. Then ground anywhere. When you are charging from a dead battery you will see all sorts of strange things happening , the lights come on the lights go off, they flicker etc.

 

I did notice the lights and nav screen flickering on and off. That’s what scared the heck out of me. I figured that can’t be good for it.

Regarding jump starting it, the only thing I got to jump it with is a V6 Mazda, not sure it will have enough ***** to crank over the V8 in that Jag. I will give it a shot though.

Thanks all for the replies. I still would like to know which fuse I could pull to kill those lights though! :-)

 

My wifes 4 cylinder did it , was a slow go though.

 

Any reason not to use the simplest and most accessible connection points in the luggage compartment?




Start the vehicle, raise the top, shut it down again and then remove the vehicle battery.

Graham

 

I didn’t like how all the systems flickered on and off. When the battery charger was turned on. I learned here that this is normal. I even used my Dremel to clean up the bolt under the back of the car that I was connecting too. Thought maybe the flickering was from a bad connection...

 

Well then, I am going to give it a shot! Thanks!

 

I do notice that what I ground it to can effect how much juice can be put through.
It's been a while since I had problems prior to replacing my last battery.
I do remember that the recommended option of using the exhaust will work, but weakly.
Other steel parts of the car let a lot more juice flow. I don't remember what I tested.

 

Well, dang it, I tried the jump start... First thing I noticed after hooking up the cables, (heavy duty thick jumper cables), was the nav screen was steady on. That was encouraging. I let my car idle a bit before trying. Also, I had the Jag battery on a six amp charge for the last 5 hours. I made sure all my connections were good, and tried to start it. One somewhat loud click and lights out. So I adjusted the connections again, waited a bit and tried again. One loud click and lights out. So, with my car idling and cables still hooked up, I pondered my next move. The nav screen was still solid. I decided to quickly switch out the jumpers for 10 amp charger, (which I had tried before only to get the flickering nav screen that the 6 amp one gave me) and this time, with the 10 amp hooked up, no flickering of the nav screen. I think I can leave it like this for the time being, trunk open, fan blowing in air to disperse battery aced gases. We’ll see I guess.