Dear All.

I'm just after a suggestion or two for installing my new smartcharger. As we hit Autumn and wet and windy weather, the number of run outs in the XK8 might well reduce, so seeing as there are so many posts about electronic glitches created as battery levels drop, I have bought an Accumate 6/12 1.2A 4 stage smart charger.

Plan is, that once the cat is back in its garage after a run out, then I'll just attach the smartcharger and keep the battery fully conditioned ready for the next run.

I've not had any issues with the battery so far, it starts immediately.

However, the battery is in the boot, and as soon as you pop the boot open, you can see the boot lights are on. So, I can't find any manual switch to switch them off, and I dont really want to shut the boot properly and pinch the 240v cable even if it is just being pinched by the rubber seals?

Or am I just being over cautious and just shut the boot normally is the way everyone does it?

Cheers

Steve

 

The boot light will turn off after a couple minutes, it's on a timed relay. The bigger issue is locking the car with the boot open, the XK8 does not shut down all electronics until locked.

Did you mean 240V? I know your in the UK, but that always surprises me the voltage you guys use.

If if was me I'd attach a lead to the battery and find a path to tun it out side the car for a quick connect to the charger.

I believe you can also connect under the bonnet at the main fuse block.

 

Hi Jandreu

I had forgotten the lights were on a timed relay, I have seen them go off before so I should have realised that. I didn't know about the electronics staying on if the boot is open though. So, I could just close the boot until it is resting in the closed position but not locked shut, and the smartcharger would presumably keep the battery topped up even though the electronics were not shut down?

Yes I did mean 240 volts mains power. That's the standard rated mains cable from the plug socket to the unit, then it outputs 12V to the battery. The mains lead is quite short, as are the battery connectors so the unit would be left in the boot with the 240V mains cable coming out through the boot.

 

I am in the US so the voltage is only 120. Since my car is generally outside under a cover when the battery tender is connected I want to close the boot to allow the car to be locked. I located an extension cord that is a flat design (the wires run parallel) versus round and this seems to reduce the pressure on the cord. No problems with pinching the cord thus far.

 

I have tender fitted. It came with lead and plug that attaches to battery and can be fed up from battery compartment and plug (with dust cover) terminates adjacent to rear light cluster inside the boot. Tender is plugged into wall socket not fitted in car and has about 2 metre low voltage lead.
Park car, open boot plug tender lead to plug in boot lower boot lid job done.

 

There is no issue locking the car with the boot open, at least on my 2003 XK8. I have leads permanently attached to the battery with the small connector plug accessible on the boot(trunk) floor. I just attach the charger and leave the boot lid open and lock the car. No problems leaving it like this for weeks at a time.

 

An aside: UK can be significantly more than 240V AC. Nearer 250V in some places... (For whatever reason, our earth is roughly the same as neutral i.e. not centre-tapped.)

I think the XK is like the S-Type and SHOULD shut down even with the boot (trunk) open. People with S-Types commonly warn in a similar way that they won't - but mine always has and I believe the design is that they should. XK similarly. The snag is that I think some have degenerated from original build.

So, I'd try it. My STR was fine. It takes 30-45mins (I never timed it carefully) to go to the lowest power.

If it doesn't shut down I'd start fault-finding because anything stopping it ought to be found and fixed before it causes more trouble.

 

DEar All.

Thanks for the input. I was probably over thinking it!! Looked at it last night and the low voltage charger cables are a flat cable and long enough to reach to the battery, leaving the charger on the shelf. By getting the flat cable to the bottom edge where the upturn starts at the light cluster, there is very little pinching of the cable between the boot seals, so its fine. Push the boot shut, lock the car and switch the charger on.

Left the charger box on the front drivers seat to remind me its attached so I don't get in and drive off with it!!

 

+1 .... I also place my torque wrench on the front drivers seat to remind me to torque lugnuts before driving off!

 

I would leave the trunk open a bit. Gases from the battery can escape even in a sealed unit when being charged and can become explosive.

I have chargers for both my boat and semi tractor. For both I use top of the line marine chargers with multiple banks. The nice thing is they're very smart and will choose which type of charge to apply. Dead battery and it's a full on charge, gentle trickle if that's all they need, and will also run once a month maintenance routines to keep the batteries good as new. Not cheap but worth it.

For my boat I'm lucky enough to have large cooling inlets on both sides for the engine compartment, so I just let the very heavy engine cover down and it's yet to harm or squash my extension cord. Luckily my truck has a built in house plug on the side so I just plug an extension into that.

The Jags do have a vent for gases from the trunk, but it probably works better when the car has a chance to move. Many can get clogged. I would be safer than sorry and leave the trunk open a bit, and given the light weight of the trunk lid, it won't crush the cord. If you're really worried about it, just get a proper heavy gauge extension cord.

 

Yes that was the other thing I was concerned about, the potential for build up of gases. I'll have a look at it later and see what I think. Its been on the smartcharger now for three days, it went to fully charged overnight on first connection and its now in maintenance mode, so I assume that if the charging is minimal, the potential for gases must also be. Leaving the boot lid slightly open seems reasonably sensible though

cheers

 

I strapped the charger unit right to the end of my battery. Toss the plug out the boot at night and close it. No issue with the rubber seal at all in two years. Now I have a charger everywhere I go. I just carry an extension cord when I travel overnight. I have a sign telling me I'm still hooked up.

 

I noticed that when I tried to use the under the bonnet connections, the CTEK charger would not sense to stop charging and go into trickle/maintain mode. This is attributed to resistance along the wires leading back to the battery and through a fuse.

If you want a cool way to mount such a charger and make everything self-contained, purchase a marine style, waterproof, recessed male plug and mount it through one of the boot body plugs. In this way you can mount a charger on the battery or somewhere such as the panel next to the CD changer where you can see it. Whenever you wish to plug in, just reach under the rear bumper, open the plug cover and insert your extension cord. Trunk stays closed. If you accidentally drive away, it will always unplug itself.

 

I just trickle charge mine up front, hooking up to the posts on either side of the motor (depending on what garage stall I park in)

The hood up reminds me not to drive off with the wires attached.

 

Hi Steve . . . given how widely we canvassed all your issues some years back, and from several continents to covere all markets, can I suggest you check out the links to "Battery 101 . . . " write-up in my signature or in appropriate Stickys.

Some specifics -

• securing a "parked outside" car by closing and locking all entry points is of primary importance to many;
• smart chargers have battery leads long enough to locate charger either inside or outside boot / trunk;
• most smart chargers have both clips or hard wiring options included and both use polarized lead connectors;
• never seen or heard of damage to car or leads from closing boot / trunk lid onto charge cable and soft rubber seal;
• XK8/R battery, as other same era Jags, should be vented via small tube fitted into top battery top, avoiding gas build-up inside car.

I can't resist a final observation from the write-up . . . modern multi-stage smart chargers or battery tenders are not traditional trickle chargers. These newer generation chargers will, as battery rises to full charge, slowly wind down their output, lower and lower, and eventually turning off into standby if necessary. So far, nothing too special . . . but days or weeks later, once battery starts discharge, a smart charger wakes up and re-commences charging at an appropriate level. This cycle of intelligent charge maintenance is why they can stay connected forever . . . or at least for many months of frozen winters between drives.

Best wishes,

Ken

 

Thanks Ken

Very helpful thanks.

I do try to make use of the "search" option but searching on "battery" gave me 498 options, smart charger whittled that down to 236 and I couldn't see anything immediately that seemed to cover what was specific to me! LOL

Its always one of the difficulties with the search options, is finding the right combination of words to generate the thread that someone else wrote on the same subject!

 

Yes Steve. I agree that even playing "swap the search words" with Mister Google can dredge up surprisingly different results on the same subject, and our JF is no different. But, I recommend going back one step - one advantage we have here is the great knowledge that has been shared through the resources gathered together in the Stickies. The "How To . . . " and "FAQ" Stickies are my first go to option.

Searching these Stickies is easy because, in most forums, all the topics are listed - usually alphabetically within logical groups. Beyond that, learning how to use the Search Tools is invaluable.

Anyway, back on your topic . . . so pleased to have been of help. Now, you can revel at scoring yourself against our 3 Priorities for new owners of the modern classic Jaguars -

• Priority #1 - download all the manuals, wiring diagrams, TSBs and other resources relevant to your model & year (MY) both here and at Gus' great JagRepair.com (and drop him a "thanks");
• Priority #2 - equip your car with a multi-stage smart charger to keep your car battery at full charge, permanently;
• Priority #3 - equip your car with an inexpensive OBDII scanner such as the almost giveaway ELM327 and install the Torque app on your smart phone.

As you can see, you are well on the way to setting yourself up well.
Best wishes,

Ken

 

Just as I expected, I am doing things in reverse order.......lol

first purchase was an OBDII scanner.....
now I've got the smartcharger.....
I've looked at the manuals but I haven't downloaded them as I was of the opinion that I would probably forget where I had saved them so the easiest way is to come to the forum and access them when I needed then on the phone/laptop I was using at the time!

 

Hahahahaha . . . hey, ring the bells and roll out the red carpet!!! I am genuinely impressed Steve . . . order doesn't matter, but your getting sorted with the essentials is way ahead of the pack. They will reward you many, many times over.

My point about downloading as much as you can . . . now . . . is for several reasons -

• being available now is no guarantee it will be in the future - an example was provided by Graham [GGG] who has provided us with some 50+ manuals in digital form . . . huge thanks, Graham;
• not sure if you are familiar with modern Jag wiring diagrams, but the files are huge, detailed and full of stuff that goes way beyond "which wire goes where";
• while remote storage is flavour of the month, my friend Murphy dictates that internet connections will be down precisely when I need the data;
• happily, home storage solutions are now cheap, reliable and secure;
• often you only need a few pages to be printed for taking out into the workshop where stuff quickly gets grease-stained . . . easy peasy when you have it all at hand.

With so many different examples of classic and modern Jaguars to maintain, and my propensity for sometimes confusing one with another, my sole challenge is not choosing what to store, but how to categorize it so that I can quickly access what I need . . . or check to see how I can add each newly found resource.

Cheers,

Ken

 

In case it helps, I put up a few ideas here http://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/ja...dvanced+Search

Not sure it will all still apply as google does make changes...