How to CHARGE the battery?

[JsR]

This is such a useful forum that I thought I'd ask what may sound initially a stupid question. I'm curious as to what's an acceptable way to charge the battery?

1 - Can I do it from under the bonnet?

2 - Do I have to disconnect the battery and subsequently charge it from the boot area (or remove it completely)?

3 - Anyone had any experiences with a solar trickle charger, plugged into the auxiliary socket?

I'm concerned because I feel I may need to charge it regularly. If I'm parked, with the engine off, I've noticed that using the SatNav, or even just listening to the Radio/CD/MD I get 'Low Battery' warning messages. The only way to avoid these is to have the engine running - and I have a T6 so it's an expensive way to listen to a bit of entertainment for more than a few minutes!!!

thanks in advance

John R

[the great one]

connect the charger straight to the battery in the boot. the battery goes flat cause all the ecu's on the car talk to each other when ones switched on ie. radio

[DCO]

I have not checked the handbook and am no expert, but it pays to be careful when charging the battery as with all the modern electrics, it is possible to blow something. If you have a small, low rate charger, then this will almost certainly be no problem. If you have a heavy duty charger, then be cautious.

Re disconnecting the battery, this can cause various functions to lose their memory, and you may have to take the vehicle to a dealer to be re-programmed. You can get back up batteries which plug into the cigarette lighter / power sockets to prevent this problem. This is what is used by most body shops these days.

Unless you are listening to the radio etc for a long time with the engine switched off, or are also using the heated seats , heated rear window etc., you should not have a problem with the battery. If you are not using much power, then you need to get the battery checked out, then the connections and of course the alternator.

[Paul Wildsmith]

On my S80 I wouldn't want to listen to the radio for more than 15mins to avoid running the battery down. Safest bet is to disconnect the battery before charging - you'll only need to reset your clock afterwards. But, why do you need to re-charge? Fix the problem and/or replace the battery!

[JsR]

Thanks all - the battery seems fine so I don't really want to shell out for a new one at the moment. I have no problem starting the car - it seems full of charge and starts on the first kick but I have run it down once to the point where I did need to charge it up, and that was because I left an interior light on (or something like that) whilst doing something on the car. I removed the battery at that time but was wondering if I could get away with not disconnecting it whilst charging. The charger I use is a 4Amp model so is low powered. My query about using a solar powered trickle charger was so that I could listen to the radio whilst parked if I wanted to! Seems a reasonable thing to do. Maybe I should just buy another battery and haul it in a trailer behind the vehicle, ready in case of a (musical) emergency

Any other comments or suggestions are warmly appreciated.

John R

The best way to charge it would be with a trickle charger.

But to be honest if it's no longer taking charge, or keeps needing recharging, AND you are certain your alternator is working properly AND it doesn't need topping up with battery water (assuming it is that sort of battery and not one of the "sealed for life" etc. ones) then, sorry, but you need a new battery.

I once changed a battery without disconnecting the power! This was because I didn't have the radio code for the car. But it was very fiddly, and arguably dodgy, and I used a spare battery to help me out (that's three batteries altogether! - but the 3rd one can be any old functioning battery). What I did was:

1) Undid battery tray clamps etc.
2) Using jump leads, connected battery connectors to the spare battery
3) I put plastic bags round the connectors so that when I do the next step, I don't accidentally short +ve to any metal in the car, which would be grounded
4) Undid connections from the battery in the car, moved them out the way, carefully does it so not to lose connections from jump leads or short anything out, pretend you are defusing a bomb
5) Removed old battery from car
6) Put new battery in car, did up clamps to hold it in
7) Carefully put connections back on new battery and did them up
8) Removed jump leads from new battery. Job done.
9) Put plastic caps on spare (3rd) battery. Left it in garage to fester while I work out how to get rid of it (this was about 3 years ago and it's still there )

If you use a power saver you may find a) they don't work b) they don't supply enough power and c) your cigar lighter isn't connected unless ignition on or something like that.

Cheers,
Pete

[carlhunt]

I had exactly the same symptoms with my T6.

Soon after, the battery died during routine maintenance
and the dealer replaced it under warranty.

New battery required ......

Carl

[JsR]

I'll definitely keep a close eye on the battery condition - thanks.

For information, I've established that the aux socket in the boot area does function without the ignition being on - I tested it with a (camera battery) charger, which came with a car charger plug. The other two aux sockets in the car require that the key is turned.

Thanks all - even though it's a bit of a chore, I think I'll play safe and remove the battery before charging with a standard charger - but I'm going to speak to my dealer about the solar trickle charger.

BTW, the radio resets itself - doesn't need any recoding etc. I think that it also sets some of the FM stations - I only remember setting a few but then all of them seemed to be set when I used the car the next day. This may be completely wrong but I'll take closer notice next time the battery is removed and replaced.

regards all

John R