Battery Charging

[Arne]

That looks the business Big Bri. Very neat.



Arne... I'm not sure if you've noticed or are aware, but the charger units can get hot if they are working hard. In fact one of the thinks that kills these chargers is over heating. Because of this, the latest Ctek's have a built in temp sensor which shuts them down to prevent failure.

I have a marine version on my boat and when it's working at full tilt, the plastic housing of the unit becomes extremely hot. That particular charger has cooling fans built into it to aid cooling. Good air circulation is beneficial for all chargers, I think.

You are correct - the charger it self might get a little hot, though the one I have (when connected to the battery in the Jaguar) has never gotten more than a little warm.

As you can see from the pictures I have placed my charger on the outside of the trunk though, and another reason for that is that the wires from the charger to the battery are rather thin compared to the 230 (110) V going to the charger - so the size of the wire is not a problem when closing the trunk.

Big Bri - very nice solution I just put the connector under the lid when I am done with it, so it is out of the way when it's not in use. But with your solution I would not have to remove the lid(s) to get started, so I like that

Arne2016-12-16 12:58:04

[m_101]

Do you guys with permanent connections connect the negative to a grounding point or to the negative terminal on the battery? I have used crocodile clips in the past and grounded the negative but not sure about the permanent option which I might try hooking up this week. Also not sure where I would be able to ground the negative terminal permanently if that is what is suggested.

[daytona650]

Do you guys with permanent connections connect the negative to a grounding point or to the negative terminal on the battery? I have used crocodile clips in the past and grounded the negative but not sure about the permanent option which I might try hooking up this week. Also not sure where I would be able to ground the negative terminal permanently if that is what is suggested.

Neither. Connect it to the battery management system. It deals with both batteries then and is safe.

There is a PDF for the official jaguar charger floating around that shows the terminals required.

[MOz]

I used Arne's method with no issues overnight. I'm guessing the battery in the boot floor is the engine starting battery rather than the systems battery??? Is this right?

[The Jagster]

I connect directly to the battery terminals in the boot.
Positive to positive and negative to negative......Simples!!......after all, it's the main battery you're charging....same as your alternator does.

[Big Bri]

This is the way Jaguar recommend wiring in the CTEK.

It's pretty simple one to the fuse connection (red/yellow arrow) and the other to earth (black/yellow arrow).

[Big Bri]

Did a bit of internet trawling - try the link below - with luck it will take you to the Jaguar link for wiring in the CTEK.......

https://topix.jaguar.jlrext.com/topix/content/document/view?id=530389¶meters=highlight%3Dbattery%20charging

Hope it works ok.

[Tel]

Do you guys with permanent connections connect the negative to a grounding point or to the negative terminal on the battery? I have used crocodile clips in the past and grounded the negative but not sure about the permanent option which I might try hooking up this week. Also not sure where I would be able to ground the negative terminal permanently if that is what is suggested.

Sorry, bit late on parade...at sea working!

It is important that the F-Type is not charged via the cigarette lighter socket or the jump start posts.

Firstly, the cig lighter option is a no go, as the system goes into sleep mode and it is isolated from the power once the ignition is off.

Secondly, due to the long leads from the jump start box (under the bonnet) to the battery and the associated volt drop that will occur, some chargers (those that are microprocessor controlled) like the Ctek MX5.0 get a little confused, and end of trickling a bit more current in than required, and never reach an indicated Full state.

Because the F-Type has some serious battery management software embedded into the Battery management modules, it is imperative that the earth is connected to the body of the car as mentioned in the TOPix doc that is linked above.

If it is connected to the earth post on the battery, the BMM acknowledges that the battery is more than healthy all the time (as it is seeing the charger voltage directly) and doesn't shut down some systems or manage the residual current drain correctly.

FWIW - I use the Ctek MX5. I have wired the comfort extension lead to the nearest earth stud and to the positive bus-bar. Anywhere on the bus-bar is fine, just make sure it is the correct side of the fuse! I then route and cable-tie this up the left hand side rear panel and out through the very small inspection hatch that is located on the top of the rear wheel arch (on the convertible). I just coil the lead up when not in use, and route it out over the boot seal when I'm away.

Been like this for over a year, and frequent trips away of 4 weeks plus, and all seems to be tip-top.

[MOz]

So are you suggesting connecting your charger direct to the battery terminals to charge damages the car Tel (serious battery management software????)???

[Tel]

It won't 'damage' it per se.

The battery monitoring module gets confused if you charge directly to the negative.

Because with the engine off it expects 12.6V 'ish, but a charger puts out a higher voltage around 13+, so the battery monitoring module resets its "minimum" to the voltage that the charger is putting out.

When you disconnect the charger the voltage from the battery is lower, so the car will throw up low voltage warnings.

By connecting the negative of the charger to the earthing stud it's charging on the "other side" of the monitor so this resetting of the minimum voltage doesn't happen.

Hope that helps Moz.