Hi all

Hope you are all well as can be. As you may know we have been in lock down in Spain now for over two weeks now. The situation is very bad here with 800 or so dying each day and the lock-down has now been extended to include all workers other than essential workers. This came only 3 weeks into my ownership of the car. So for the past few weeks its been stuck in my garage and I have only started it a few times a week to keep battery okay. I have a Black & Decker trickle charger available - I use the same chargers on the other 4 cars in my house-garage and they work very well. It looks a little bit like a C-Tek but I guess its basically a cheaper version.

Can anyone confirm the do's and dont's i terms of hooking up a charger to this car? On my Porsches/M5 I go direct to the battery. Mercedes I go to consumer battery. Z4M I use the cigarette lighter which is the most convenient for that particular car due to access to the battery. Can I use the cigarette lighter socket on this car (assuming actually it even has one? I think it does ..!!). Or do I go direct to battery in which case whats the best way to connect?

I'd appreciate the advice

Thanks and stay safe
Sam.

 

I recommend simply disconnecting the battery. Wrap terminal in tape to make sure it doesn't accidentally snaps back onto battery.

 

If have it hooked up directly to the terminals, you should unplug the negative terminal per instructions above.

If you don't want to keep the battery disconnected, you should connect the charger positive end to the battery terminal and the charger negative end to the body (there is a post in the boot floor for this).

 

With everything that is going on these days......I agree with disconnecting the battery suggestion. If you don't disconnect the battery while having the maintainer connected and there is a long term power outage, the maintainer can use the car's battery to draw on and ultimately drain and kill the battery.

 

Hi. If you are involved in Spain, I also reside.
I have a charger similar to the c tec but 7 A. I also have cars which I rotate constantly making them work so as not to damage the batteries.
Currently I have the charger connectors installed to the batteries for connection to the charger but before having these connectors installed I always connected the charger directly to the battery with the clamps that also come with the charger and there is no problem.
Now with the subject of the confinement that we have in Spain, we will see how I will find them since I do not have all of them where I usually reside.
Greetings.

 

Our sympathies to all in Spain. Terrible disease going on there and across the world. Even in our small state of Rhode Island here in the US. Please stay safe!

My 2008 XKR disconnects the cigarette lighter when car is turned off so doubt you can connect your battery charger there. The 5.0 liter engine may be different but don’t believe so. As others have suggested, disconnect you battery from the car and periodically connect your battery charger to keep the battery fully charged.
My experience is the electronics in the car will drain the battery pretty rapidly in a few days if it is connected so best to disconnect if a long period is expected to not be driving the car. Sounds like you have a plan to keep all your car batteries charged.
Our best wishes to you. Spain is on my bucket list to visit so hope that can be soon.
Mike

 

You have a 5.0 litre engine. XKs with the 5.0L engine have a battery "minder" on the battery. There are two posts in the boot area of the vehicle. If you have the owner's manual you can find the positive and negative connections there. If you don't have the manual; up in the stickies section of the x150 forum you can find a link to a free download of the owners manual. Download the manual and follow the instructions. Failing that. type in the search box maintaining battery on X150 and you will find entries dealing with your issue. Oh, stay home and good luck.

 

Sam,

It sounds especially bad there. A favourite part of the World for us. We were booked to drive down and stay a few miles east along the AP7 from you in Competa for the month of June but there's no way that can possibly go ahead.

Stay safe.

Graham

 

If you are just connecting the charger temporarily to top up ( less than 24 hours while charging), it doesn't really matter.

If it will be connected permanently, then the negative should be connected body side of the battery management unit that is located in the negative cable from the battery.

 

Alternatively, 5.0L owners can attach your battery maintainer to the remote battery terminals in the trunk (boot). It's easier than attaching it directly to the battery +terminal and a chassis ground.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xk-xkr-x150-33/trickle-charger-212986/

​​​​Here's how I did it. See my Post #21 in this old thread:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...s-73471/page2/

Cover for battery remote access +terminal in left fender:

Note the black quick connect wire running from under the luggage panel floor to the remote access panel.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick connect + lead alligator clip attached to the remote access +terminal:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The quick connect - lead alligator clip is attached to the -remote terminal in the spare wheel well:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick connect leads connected together in the trunk:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Trunk lid closes over the wire with no problems:


I've had this connection to the remote battery terminals for over 8 years with no problems whatsoever and always keep it plugged in when it's in my garage. My charger is a BatteryMINDER brand, but the CTEK alligator clips (which are larger and stronger) will work just as well. I use a CTEK MUS4.3 (a US model) on my XJ, which I described on the XJ Forum. I prefer the CTEK brand but my BatteryMINDER still works so why fix it?

 

Hi Sam, same here in South Africa.....I keep my C-Tek MXS 3.8 plugged in all the time, directly to the battery's terminals, and then take her up and down the driveway and around the block once a week at least...........waiting for better times.
good luck

 

I go to Marina Del Este a lot, near Almunecar / La Herradura. Very nice part of the world. Had three weeks booked for August. Will have to postpone till next year I guess. a bit of a trek from NC but take a direct flight to Madrid and drive down from there. Used to do the CLT - NYC-AGP thing but that sucked

 

Here's how I installed mine:

This pic shows the positive terminal behind the cover in the trunk. The rubber cap is in the way in the photo - the CTEK fly-lead connector is attached by removing the nut, placing the fly-lead connector and replacing the nut.


This shows where I made the ground connection.


This is all you see in the trunk after installation.


__________________

 

Hi Barnsie, why not directly to the battery's terminals?

 

I have it connected directly to the battery with the own terminal nuts and it works perfectly.
I don't see any problem

 

On the 5.0 models there is a battery monitor on the negative side of the battery thats why you dont connect to the battery this system is not on the 4.2

 

Unknown that 5.0 monitor
It really controls that monitor.
Is that with that they manage not to drain the battery as in 4.2?

 

I think properly working 4.2s also do not drain the battery, or only very very slowly

 

[QUOTE = JagV8; 2213317] Creo que el funcionamiento correcto de 4.2s tampoco agota la baterķa, o solo muy, muy lentamente [/ QUOTE]Is not true. The 4.2 deplete the battery because it is a design problem and is recognized as such as they give problems with the air conditioning drain, with the glove box lid spring etc.
I assure you that mine is more than proven that there is no consumption out of the ordinary, but each time the car is opened without turning on the ignition it already has a consumption of 5.4 A and if you close the doors but do not close the door locks, it takes 45 minutes, consuming 5.4 A.
If you close the car that electrical consumption is reduced to about 3 min.
So my question of 5.0 if they had solved the issue of electricity consumption.

 

Who does that on a regular basis? Lock it. You've a sane easy fix, use it as designed. Then the 4.2 does not drain as you otherwise baldly state.