Jay,
I hear you, you bought a car and you want it to work without any additional fuss.
Think of it as a limitation of an emerging design. Its absolutely not user error. Or manufacturing error.
There isnt another battery or alternator in the world that would solve this problem. I do blame Jaguar for not building in a charger.

Do this and your problems will absolutely be over. (its little effort on your part)

1. Make sure you get a fresh battery. (the ones at Pep Boys come with a 4 year free replacement)

2. Charge it once every 3 weeks. Using the charger everyone is talking about. It can be attached permanently in the trunk by any mechanic. If you chose to do this at a dealer just buy the Jaguar charger and negotiate that they install it free for you, due to the trouble you have had.

It took me a long time to find the scientific reason that this is happening. Every battery has a set number of cycles- You can see this in store bought batteries that say you can charge them 500 times. In the case of this battery (AGM) the number decreases dramatically if you deplete it between full charges. So, if you only deplete it 50% between full charges it can go 1500 cycles- thats good for 7 years. If you deplete it 90% then charge it, not only will you only get 300 cycles, the capacity goes down with each discharge- i.e. percentage wise you will deplete it even more as its capacity gets lower.

 

Totally agree with the above.

Easy connection to the battery inside the trunk and easy to connect without even opening the trunk lid. Takes 5-10 seconds to connect as mentioned. CTEK is a fast connect plug.

The images below is the set up on my 2009 XKR Portfolio Edition.

Click image once to enlarge, click again for full screen.

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Just as an example on the newer Ferrari's the smart charger is built in and there is even a light on the dash to tell you if it is still plugged in prior to you driving away. It gets included in the $250K+ cost of the car. Just sayin

 

If you drive the car near daily (why wouldn't you), you shouldn't have an issue.

I had my CTEK quick connect popping out between the spare tire board and batter cover. I believe I may've tucked it away when it was driving season as I never had to charge the battery.

 

Life is fragile, and the road of life is filled with ups, downs, curves, potholes, and other unforeseen dangers. We're here for only a short time, so make the most of every day; you never know when it will be your last. Here are my personal "Rules of the Road":

Rule 1. "Don't sweat the small stuff" - the key to a long and happy life.
Rule 2. EVERYTHING is the small stuff, EXCEPT your own health.
Rule 3. Repeat Rules 1 & 2. Otherwise, you can't help anyone else.
Rule 4. There are 2 ways to solve every problem; the hard way or the easy way. Only masochists choose the hard way.
Rule 5. KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid
Rule 6. Don't let your ego get in the way of Rules 1-5.

Applying the above rules to resolve Jay's battery problem: Take it easy and buy a CTEK - the best bang for the buck. It's cheaper than a psychiatrist. Or a cardiologist.

Your life, your choice.

 

Jay, as you drive the car daily and the nature of the problem you are seeing is so unpredictable, I tend to agree with you that Jaguar should be able to find the problem and fix it if it is not the usual wear of a vehicle that is not driven often or far enough to maintain the battery. Please tell us how many miles you drive each day above 60 mph. A thirty minute daily drive at this speed would be more than sufficient to maintain the battery. If on the other hand, you live in the city and it takes you an hour or more to get to work, the time is good but the speed may never get above 30 mph, which is not sufficient to recharge the battery. Before retirement, I worked in the Texas Medical Center which is 25 miles from home, while the distance is good, I was mostly stuck in traffic and crawling along under 30 mph. We took a trip somewhere almost every weekend, this seemed to maintain the battery very well. I hope your dealer and JNA can find the problem and get it sorted out quickly. As a side note, while the dealer and JNA are trying to be helpful, I would ask them to give me a printout of the service history on the car since day one.

 

JackJohn, I would be interested to see the response, reading what he has said the 30 minute drive was a one-time "long" drive. If there were 2 weeks of very short drives I don't think a 30 minute drive would replenish the battery, not when you have all the electronics drawing (stereo, computers, climate control, etc) power during that drive. I am thinking a long drive is an hour and a half or more. That is just my opinion, certainly there is no documented number that will state what is needed to replenish a battery as you cannot possibly know from what level the battery started!

 

I agree Mark, let's see what the gentleman has to say.

 

Its a red herring.

We already know the answer, if it was a daily driver it would not be sitting idle for a week.

Regardless, its not how much you drive. The problem is tons of power draw at crank and not enough charging due to fuel efficiency- including a 6th gear which all but excludes charging at the right speeds. Most importantly a diminishing battery capacity. This is the part that is tough to get one's arm around

 

Did you try a brand new battery?

 

Alarms and immobiliers are a normal fairly heavy battery drain, thats why I keep all of my bikes on battery tenders in the garage. With infrequent use its the only way to ensure the battery stays alive.
To save battery I have put bikes and cars into alarm service mode before now and manually locked them up.

Just an idea but possibly its the car's alarm system discharging the battery on that low drain rate.

With the blowers on these cars it needs a lot of starting power because the starter is turning over a high comp blower as well as the engine.
Talk to me about it when I fitted a Rotrex C15 blower on my Suzuki Hayabusa. It killed 3 new batteries stone dead within 3 days of use.
That was resolved by fitting an Odyssey Xtreme battery with massive cranking power and unlimited charge rate while the bike was running.
So with infrequent use of the bike the new higher output battery sorted the problem.

They list batteries for Jagaur cars.
http://www.odysseybattery.com/battery_search.aspx

 

Excuse me for getting off the topic for a moment...Richzak, I purchased 2 CTEK 3300 chargers 2 years ago, one for my Jaguar and one for my Lexus.They have performed flawlessly. Is the 8 step charger you recommend above that superior to the 3300? I'm not planning on replacing mine but was just curious. Thanks.

 

No worries - your CTEK 3300 will get the job done just fine; be comforted in knowing that the 3300 is what Jaguar sells as their re-branded battery maintainer. Like richzak, I also bought the CTEK MUS4.3 because Amazon ran a special and it was less expensive than the 3300. Sure, the MUS4.3 is a newer model with more features, but do you absolutely need those additional features? Probably not.

 

Thanks Stuart for the reassurance.

 

Bocatrip:

The CTEK MUS 4.3 is the 8 step charger/maintainer that I spoke off. It has 4 more steps over the CTEK 3300 and is considered a superior charger.

I would suggest you take a few minutes to view the MUS 4.3 and 8 steps and what exactly the CTEK MUS 4.3 does.

I am sure you could list your CTEK 3300's here for sale and someone would jump right in buy one or both, then make the switch over the CTEK MUS 4.3 for the extra internal steps of he charger. Amazon has the best pricing.

As Stuart S. stated, the CTEK 3300 will do the job, but the MUS 4.3 takes the battery maintenance to another level.

Check this out.

New CTEK MUS 4.3 Offers Next Generation Technology Features - CTEK Battery Chargers

Be sure to watch video for an understanding how the CTEK MUS4.3 works.


You will not be disappointed to move up in quality and features of the MUS 4.3 vs the CTEK 3300.

I own 4 of these CTEK MUS 4.3 and I have never had an electrical related issue on any of my vehicles which are all newer and the sports cars are loaded with sensors.

Any other questions, just ask.

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Thanks Richzak. I'll certainly look into it.
i have not had any problems with my Jag's battery with the 3300 so I am confident in the quality of CTEK.

 

What do you think of the new Ctek chargers- much higher amperage.

 

Richzak....I have both my cars hooked up with the eyelets from the Ctek 3300 with a comfort cord. If I purchase the Ctek 4.3 can I just keep the present set up with the eyelets and older comfort cord and replace the charger? I also read somewhere there is no on off switch on the 4.3. Is that true? Also, if it is a new charger why am I reading reviews going back to 2012?

 

I've had my 4.3 MUS for a few years now. There is no on off switch.

 

Boca, its not a new charger. They have increased their power by 2x. And on off switch. I want to hear from Richard which might be better.