So I have had a tender strapped to the side of my battery ('07 XKR), I just open up the boot, toss the cord out, shut the boot and plug it in. This way I have a tender everywhere I go. I use it religiously. I lock my doors religiously. My commute is very short, less than 10 miles each way so I feel I do not get a proper charge from the alternator.

So this got me wondering, as most of us know that our alternators cannot give us the full charge our cars demand. How long can I go without hooking up my tender? Why do I care? Well, some members are getting by without a tender. Some have mentioned in other posts that something is wrong with a car that needs a tender. I personally do not agree with that but I cannot explain how some do not need and I do. The only reason I can think of is they drive the car a proper distance to fully recharge.

Six weeks before the first symptom, traction control would not stay off. Turn it off and it would turn itself right back on. The other symptoms the car has showed me previously on a low battery is the back up beeper would freak out and nothing is behind or beside the car. The infotainment screen would stay on Jaguar and would not revert back to the menu screen. The info screen between the gauges would just stay black like it was turned off. These are the reasons a got the tender in the first place. Since I started using the tender I have had no issue's what so ever. If something was indeed wrong with my car forcing me to use a tender I would think it would drain low enough to cause issues long before six weeks of continuous use. What say you?

What other symptoms have you all experienced when your battery is not at 100% ? A list of symptoms on a sticky would be a very useful diagnostic tool for the new/old forum members as some I'm sure are running to the dealers/indy's with issues and it's nothing more than a low battery. I feel allot of Jaguars bad rep is nothing more than LOW BATTERIES.

 

You are going to get inundated with response from the batt tender crowd.

FWIW here is my take. My last Jag was an 07 XK. I have never replaced a batt on my long string of 6 or 7 Jags. I drive 5 to 7k per year with occasional road trips and have never used a tender. My location has been in the South Eastern US for the last 35 years. I suspect that low mileage Jags in cold climes are more prone to batt issues just like any other car. For the rest of us there is no particular batt issue.

For you guys in the upper US - well it's what it is.

Let the games begin!

 

Yeah... I know, I'm swatting at the bee's nest. Climate is an interesting possibility.

 

my s type demands a charge about every 6 or so weeks , with its 10.5 year old battery, mostly short city runs with the odd highway cruse chucked in . id expect nothing less from an old battery . still don't use a minder however . just regular top ups.

 

If a car can't sit for at least a month or so without the battery going flat, there's something wrong.

 

By flat do you mean the car won't start or just gremlins appearing.

 

Gremlins appearing.

 

So let us say I or others have an issue. Very possible, so let's track it down. For the sake of those of us who are not in the know on the X150's... when, where and what do we hook up to track a potential battery drain issue with our cars. And how do we digest the information given.

I ask not because I think "I" have an issue, maybe I do, but because you can spend 6 hours reading posts on this and it generally turns into a pissing match between those who use tenders and those who do not.

Lets not go there. With the above information we can confirm we have or do not have an issue. This is all we want to know.

So many threads end with no resolution on this subject because many do not finish the thread and report back on how they resolved issue's.

 

I have a 2007 XK with over 105,000 miles on the clock. My battery is an AC Delco and it's 4 years old. I drive my car on the weekends only for the most part and I sometimes do not drive it for two to three weeks at a time. Not once have I had a low battery issue. If you are driving your car once a week you should not be having that problem either. The battery tender is simply masking the problem, not solving it. Some will say that our cars have a substantial electrical system that demands a fully charged battery at all times. I somewhat disagree with part of that. Of course a fully charged battery is ideal, but the XK's electrical is no more / no less than any other car out there as far as I am concerned. In my neighborhood, I see 2017 Lexus's, BMW's and Range Rover's which probably have a lot more electrics than my 2007 XK and nobody has a battery tender on their car. I do think that cold weather is definitely a factor though and should be considered as a possible culprit. Some will disagree with my opinion that a battery tender is not normal and that there is a problem, but I am not using one so that must mean that my car is properly working. Right?

 

Short drives + long periods of sitting will drain the battery on any vehicle. A battery tender is a good work-around if these conditions cannot be avoided.

 

It's probably not a bad idea if the car is used on short drives.

If I remember rightly my current draw after the car has shut down after 10 minutes or so was around 6 milliamps which is "nothing".

I occasionally give the batt a boost with a regular charger.

 

Technically, isn't your XKR a plugin hybrid? Isn't there a tax credit for that?

 

I have never used a battery tender for my modern cars. (For "modern" I will call anything with OBD II modern.) My 2013 XJ could go a month without being driven. Then we take it for for a 20 or 30 mile drive. It has the original battery, 55K miles, and never had electrical gremlins.

I have not had the '12 XK long enough to comment.

Have had a '97 XK8, '02 XJR, and '05 XK8 that were driven daily that had electrical gremlins with batteries over a year old. With a new battery the gremlins went away for a year or so. Had a POS beater '99 XJ8 with a 150K miles on it that NEVER had an electrical gremlin. It ran fine with any old battery I threw in it.

 

Im on my second Jaguar and I must say I was shocked having to use a battery maintainer for the XK. My XF never needed it and my driving patterns were the same. (short daily distances 8-10km each way to and from work) and more driving on the weekend. The XK seems to have a special need.

 

My '07 XKR had a terrible time with a new non-AGM battery and no battery maintainer. Eventually, I got an AGM battery which helped substantially, but would still get gremlins if not regularly driven. Eventually I had to get a battery maintainer and now the gremlins are kept to a minimum and the battery is about 4 years old.

 

My commute is less than 5 miles and I don't lock the car when it is parked in the garage so the battery gets a lot of abuse. I had to use a CTEK for the first year of ownership but after switching to a new AGM battery 3 years ago I don't see the same issues I used to.

If I am doing something that will drain the battery like spring cleaning the inside of the car so the doors and boot are open for some time I will put the car on charge afterwards but generally the car just copes with the abuse and the CTEK stays in the cupboard.

One sign that the battery needs a little help is if the Jaguar logo stays on the screen for a few seconds after startup. This video shows that with a decent, properly charged battery the Jaguar log screen disappears as soon as the start button is pressed and the home screen appears immediately after the car starts:


With this one the battery is a little low and the Jaguar logo reappears for a five seconds or so after the car has started:


When it gets really low the logo just stays on the screen. If you see either of the last two situations, your battery either needs to be charged or replaced.