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battery questions - new guy, apologies ahead of time
Okay, I feel like a noob, but here goes.
My previous owner (who's awesome but not usually a mechanic) decided I could get my own ctek battery maintainer so he didn't include it with the car, so I'm looking in the trunk at what looks like a connector wire and thinking 'that's got to be it right?' -- but I don't know. I've never used a ctek charger and on amazon there are a lot of them. I'm sure I need to get one, but, let's make sure I'm getting the right one. SO! - Questions:
1. Is this in the attached picture by the 'A' the input for the charge? It seems to wrap around with this bundle of wires and the green harness and looks a lot like what I was expecting to find. And can I assume if a jaguar dealer installed it for him that it's hopefully CTEK brand, or are these very plug and play modular connectors across brands? (electricity always makes me think go slow and be sure, so I'm sure I'm overthinking this.)
2. If that's not it, what am I looking for? And do I need a certain spec of CTEK battery maintainer, could you recommend a current model please?
3. The other item at the base here 'B' looks like the positive terminal I would use to jump the car, pos-to-pos, neg-to-ground, right? Assuming I was out somewhere and lose the battery, and I didn't have the battery maintainer or AC to charge off of I mean. If a friendly samaritan was going to help me right now I would only be about 50% sure and that's not good. Battery seems good by the way, it's 5 years old per my service records. However car was lightly driven, so disuse sometimes is as bad as overuse.
4. Watching videos, I'm not 100% sure still with an 08 XK if my battery is back there behind the back seat, or if it has terminals up in the front of the car? Which should it be? I feel dumb asking, but I don't want to start taking apart everything in the boot yet. Unless I'm replacing the battery, I can use the terminal that's in the back left (driver's rear, US car here) for jumping, but my other question is this. I keep hearing about check the health of the battery with a multimeter, are you getting 12.6V across. Dumb question, but do I have to get all the way to the battery to do that, or can I use the terminal and a ground to check this? Do we need to get to the negative terminal to verify voltage, potentially digging under covers with push pins?
DO NOT TOUCH LOCATION "A", Your car will explode.
Location "B" is the inside part of the outside and beneath the car Jumper Point for Positive. You can also use point "B" to attach a CTEK, but find a good ground. Many posts are NOT ground, but just studs. You can also test for voltage at that point, provided you do find a good ground.
Okay, right - thanks Cee Jay, I'm guessing that 'A' part there was one of those original delivery access pieces that should never be used again - for some reason when he said he wasn't leaving the ctek in there, I thought that meant the boot had been wired to quick-connect to any CTEK. It's making more sense now after a few more good finds on Ctek setup. This video at youtu.be/bE-0lXDX9Jg does suggest what I was seeing as 'B' is the positive terminal. Referenced in this youtube video , screen shot below, the positive lead from the CTEK goes there and then in that vid the gentleman ran the negative to one of the screws at the far left of my 2nd pic as a ground.
Further info in that vid confirmed my battery is between the boot and the back seat (forgive me, it's the first car I've had with a battery in the rear so I was wondering if that applied to every year) and to jump with cables we would put the positive on that 'B' spot and the negative ground could go to the exhaust pipe or some other obvious metal.
Update - Ah, good, I have now confirmed that post has the load with the multimeter - and I'm only at 11.9V so... i need to get a maintainer, and I may need a battery too. I am driving it every few days and no issues so far with startup. In fact, we went on vacation since I got it and I was out of town 9 days. No issues on return from that trip. 11.9 is low though. Not an encouraging number.
So, all in all, a few things sorted. Yes, I do need a Ctek. Which? is this one a good choice - 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 amp ? That's about $91 or 75GBP... any reason to buy something better?
Should I get in there to verify the battery age/model before I purchase or safe to assume I want a Ctek anyway and get it, then let it analyze if the battery is not great?
I've had no electrical gremlins at this point. I'm just starting through preventative maintenance and getting to know the lay of the land. Thanks in advance for the advice.
The longer you let the car sit the newer (better, more expensive) the maintainer should be. If you drive several times per month, you can get by with less.
Also, the bottom of that "B" lug sticks out the bottom of the car and is covered with a rubber boot. It's directly below that spot. If you have a flat battery and no Emergency Key Blade, that is the 'outside' location you can jump enough to open the boot to get at the battery. And yes, the battery is in the same position for all XK vehicles, coupe and convertible. All years, 2007-2015. Not accessible from behind the rear seat backs.
If you intend to jump start the car with cables from another battery, either on another car or a separate battery, I would always clamp the jump cables directly to the +ve and -ve terminals on your depleted car battery. Expecting any distant connections from the installed battery to be able to carry the very high starting current loads could be asking for trouble.
..... always clamp the jump cables directly to the +ve and -ve terminals on your depleted car battery. .....
NO
Here is the Jaguar recommended procedure:
I don't intend to go through the reasons again for NOT connecting directly to the battery terminals as those who have 'always done it this way' will never be persuaded ...... until the day they fry a module.
I don't intend to go through the reasons again for NOT connecting directly to the battery terminals as those who have 'always done it this way' will never be persuaded ...... until the day they fry a module.
.............
I don't intend to go through the reasons again for NOT connecting directly to the battery terminals as those who have 'always done it this way' will never be persuaded ...... until the day they fry a module.
Graham
Too much work to get to the battery when there's a far easier way to do it.
@MCX , you've have enough advice on the ctek, so I'll add a FWIW. The terminal you noted as A in your initial post is an accessory socket. They are few and far between. The connector is identified as CA052 in the wiring diagram. Brown wire is fused "battery" power. Red/White is fused "ignition on" power and Black is ground.
Brown wire is fused in the Auxiliary Junction box ACCESSORY_CONN_BATT_PWR Fuse #10
Red/White wire is fused in the central Junction box CABIN_ACC_PWR Fuse #23
Black wire is grounded @ ground point G22AR/1 which is in the boot on the same side as the connector.
@MCX , you've have enough advice on the ctek, so I'll add a FWIW. The terminal you noted as A in your initial post is an accessory socket. They are few and far between. The connector is identified as CA052 in the wiring diagram. Brown wire is battery power. Red/White is ignition on power and Black is ground.
DIRECT battery power? Like, not through any fuses or modules? That could be handy, along with IGN power.
For what it's worth.... with our Jag's fragile electrical system, I would not consider jumping my car unless there was absolutely no other way to get going. I'd prefer a flat bed than risk (as GGG mentioned, frying a module). Even the slightest surge could be damaging. However, I understand being stranded is not fun, and choices can be limited. Another reason to follow the safest recommended means to get started.
For what it's worth.... with our Jag's fragile electrical system, I would not consider jumping my car unless there was absolutely no other way to get going. I'd prefer a flat bed than risk (as GGG mentioned, frying a module). Even the slightest surge could be damaging. However, I understand being stranded is not fun, and choices can be limited. Another reason to follow the safest recommended means to get started.
Isn't your car parked for like 358 days per year though???
For what it's worth.... with our Jag's fragile electrical system, I would not consider jumping my car unless there was absolutely no other way to get going. I'd prefer a flat bed than risk (as GGG mentioned, frying a module). Even the slightest surge could be damaging. However, I understand being stranded is not fun, and choices can be limited. Another reason to follow the safest recommended means to get started.
The main issue is potential hydrogen build-up in the large sealed battery compartment so it is, indeed, safer. 👍
The main issue is potential hydrogen build-up in the large sealed battery compartment so it is, indeed, safer. 👍
Richard
That's why the X150 was designed with a battery that has a vent tube - to discharge that colorless, odorless and highly explosive hydrogen gas outside the battery compartment so it can safely dissipate into the atmosphere.
Although an explosion is theoretically possible, I know of no instances where that has actually happened to an X150.
That's why the X150 was designed with a battery that has a vent tube - to discharge that colorless, odorless and highly explosive hydrogen gas outside the battery compartment so it can safely dissipate into the atmosphere.
Although an explosion is theoretically possible, I know of no instances where that has actually happened to an X150.
That is true in the defined circumstances but in the real world the vent pipe is often not connected (see photos in a thread on here a couple of weeks ago) or people might retrofit a non-sealed variety. The large sealed area in the X150 would then provide a perfect environment for a major, and therefore potentially hazardous, hydrogen build-up whereas in many vehicles the battery is always reasonably well-ventilated or in a small sealed area. I have never known a battery to explode in any circumstances on any car but manufacturers have to cover themselves these days.
Has not been mentioned yet; if your battery is naturally resting at 11.9 v, a battery maintainer is not the solution. A new battery is.
Counter to many here, I do not use a maintainer. Car does sit for months on end. And she will start up when requested of her.
BUT, at the first signs of a non-recovering battery (that is, not able to be charged and maintain 12.6 v for a week +) it is replaced.
02-21-2023 | 08:16 PM
battery questions - new guy, apologies ahead of time
