Dead Battery

[martin t]

I have just bought the ring 1500 amp battery booster from Argos £85, as I have not driven my car for 6 weeks and this seems easier than lugging a spare battery to where it is garaged.

 

[Gizmob73]

I have just bought the ring 1500 amp battery booster from Argos £85, as I have not driven my car for 6 weeks and this seems easier than lugging a spare battery to where it is garaged.

I hope it recovers for you.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, you should really try ensure you don't deep discharge your battery if possible, always keep it on a trickle charge if left for more than a week or two. Every time it is run low, it causes sulfation in the plates that will reduce the battery performance and will eventually kill it.
At best your battery will be weaker after it is recovered and will prematurely age the battery, at worst it may not recover at all.
Some battery chargers (such as the CTEK's) have a built-in feature to help reduce sulfation, and some models such as the CTEK MXS 5.0 also have a "Reconditioning Mode" which might help if the battery seems weak.

Good Luck!

 

[Luddite]

Thanks - yesterday was not fruitful unfortunately. I guess the battery can be so dead hooking up to that red thing wont sort it? I left running for ages with no luck. I was going to try one more thing, but wasnt sure if I should? Can i simply hook up my battery charger to that red thing? The crocodile clips might make a better connection?? Just wasnt sure if a battery charger plugged into the mains was OK? Thanks again

Logical thinking re trying to charge the battery via the pull out connector...... however I suspect that the connector may have no direct connection to the battery if ever, until the switch in the sill is operated....?

While typing of direct connection to the battery, do be careful when adding extra wiring to allow attachment of float chargers, any such cables must be fused in order to ensure that if the cable gets snagged and causes a short circuit, that the fuse will blow, With no fuse, and a short circuit in the wire, it will potentially glow white hot in an instant till it acts as a fuse by melting and breaking the circuit.....and with who knows what damage might be caused...

 

[Neven]

Just took a couple of shots to show what I have done, please excuse the dirt on the car and the poor quality pictures..

View attachment 108420
I have my charger suspended from the garage ceiling and it plugs into the car when not in use.
I used a standard CTEK accessory wired to the battery and it feeds under the scuttle very easily. It's one of the first jobs I did when I got the car.

View attachment 108421
When not in use, it simply tucks fully back into the scuttle and you pop the scuttle cover over the top again to make it invisible.
It's handy to charge, nothing to trip over and no wires trapped in the door seals, but also would give a simple option to put some charge back into the car and get it open if the worst ever happens.
My only tip would be to put the scuttle cover somewhere safe when not in use. I now store mine clipped on the charger cable, but initially I just rested it on the wiper blade. Once I forgot to put it back on and lost the first one as it blew away somewhere and had to get a replacement.

I hope this helps someone.

This is a great idea. Thanks for sharing!

 

[martin t]

You are spot on about the sulphated plates, but when you have no electricity to trickle charge one has to acccept the consequences.

Mind you I will be removing the battery for winter and putting it on trickle charge for a few months.