Battery Recharging Help Needed

[Ebenezer]

I suspect all of us have employed the latter procedure on our "normal" cars and never had a problem. I jumped our Fiesta the other day as the battery was practically dead. Took it for a drive to charge it up and all seemed ok, but a double check with our local garage suggested that the battery was knackered and needed replacing. No Fiesta electronics were fried in this preocedure. However I'd rather buy a new battery than jump start the QP! Need to get one of those QTEK things for the inevitable day.
Eb

 

[CatmanV2]

The other thing is there's 'Practically dead' which (I'm guessing) means 'the starter isn't turning, but it was ok the other day' and 'with a couple of volts on it' which would be *very* dead. No lights, no clicks, probably nothing when you're turning the key in the ignition, no central locking (never mind remote using the key will unlock one door at a time). Not the sort of dead you're going to get unless you leave the car with lots of nice, low current draw devices for some time.

I've jumped plenty of other cars as well, and not had a problem. But they all fell into the 'practically dead' or 'young and stupid' categories.

Having listened to the voice (see what I did there) and read the article, I'm unlikely to be trying it any time soon on something as downright *expensive* to fix.

C

 

[XMIKEx]

When I am unable to leave my 4200 on the trickle charger, sometimes I have to store it in one of the garages with no 240v power, I just isolate the battery using the knob near the battery and then when I go to start it i just give the battery a helping hand By using my "antigravity" booster - link as elsewhere in this thread. The thing is amazing, it gives the 4200 a little help but the unit I have will start everything I've tried it on, even from totally dead including big diesels! take a look at some of the utube videos.

Mike

 

[rgenua]

Disconnect the system terminals and position them away from the battery. Connect the battery charger to the battery terminals. (positive first then negative). Charge battery slowly at two amps. When fully charged remove charger and reconnect the system terminals to the battery posts.

 

[hodroyd]

As suggested taking out the boot trim is easy and takes a few minutes, makes changing the battery so much easier..!! Take the floor section out first then the side panel where the battery is, doddle..!! If I am leaving mine for a few months I turn it off in the boot, it's usually fine when I get back to it, but the battery is healthy anyway..!!

 

[AerosGS]

Disconnect the system terminals and position them away from the battery. Connect the battery charger to the battery terminals. (positive first then negative). Charge battery slowly at two amps. When fully charged remove charger and reconnect the system terminals to the battery posts.

No need to disconnect, the 4200 has a master off switch which isolates the battery. Charging at 2 amps will take a long time. A good 5 amp lead acid charger should be fine -it is for me anyway...

Cheers

 

[davy83]

Did you get this sorted? Sounds like access to power is an issue? I would take the battery out and either test it and re-charge if its ok or just replace it. I would not recommend a jump start i think these cars are not really designed for it, the problem is the starter at the front and the battery at the back avoid this if possible.

 

[Felonious Crud]

You are right to be cautious jump starting with a very flat battery. I know people don't believe me but I see damaged ECUs as a result of a jump start all the time.

With Voicey's wise words very much of the forefront of my mind, has anyone tried a portable battery booster pack? I've had a flat battery a couple of times and whilst there are always some good preventative measures it would also be bloody handy to get the car started again quickly.

Prices range from £50-200 and I'm sure there's an equal spread of quality. Any thoughts or recommendations would be welcomed.

 

[CatmanV2]

With Voicey's wise words very much of the forefront of my mind, has anyone tried a portable battery booster pack? I've had a flat battery a couple of times and whilst there are always some good preventative measures it would also be bloody handy to get the car started again quickly.

Prices range from £50-200 and I'm sure there's an equal spread of quality. Any thoughts or recommendations would be welcomed.

There was a recommendation on an ultra compact one not so long ago

C

 

[midlifecrisis]

Adam

The issue is that cranking an engine as big as the Maserati's V8 is that the Battery needs to deliver a lot of current (around 80Amps) . I would be loathed to use such a device as any extra surge of current could fry the ECU (I'd have to look at the circuit to what protection in in place)

To quickly start my car, I've used my Seat Ibiza diesel to charge my Maserati's Battery with the battery isolator in the off position for around five to ten minutes, this would quickly charge the battery with enough charge to start the Maserati (I've since disconnected the Seat and re-engaged the isolator). I would then run the car for around 10-15 minutes to re-charge the battery. If, after this run the battery wouldn't restart the engine again, I would trickle charge/condition the battery using my 5A CTEK charger, others are available.

I find that the 4200 would discharge the battery in around two weeks, ie the car will not properly crank over even with a healthy battery. So it's best to charge the battery continually or run the car for around an hour every two weeks.

An alternative to all of this is to have an off-grid solar system. I have a few solar panels (Around 150W) connected via a charge controller to a bank of lead-acid 'leisure' batteries. The charge controller, not only controls the charging of the batteries but also their output to the load. Therefore, this can be used to keep the car battery at a constant 12V. The charge controller has the ability to self-monitor its output current and voltage thus reducing any risk of damage to the Maserati's electrics. I've tested this method with my ZXR battery and it works a treat.

The important thing to note, is to disconnect the charger before cranking the engine!

 

[Felonious Crud]

Thanks, Martin, very helpful. The way the recovery chap did it both times was to connect the booster pack and wait five or ten minutes, then start the engine with the booster still on. Run for maybe 10 or 15 minutes then turn the engine off, disconnect the booster and start the car from its own battery. At least, I *think* that was the sequence. The horror stories about jump-starting from another car are well worth avoiding!

There was a recommendation on an ultra compact one not so long ago

C

Yes, I vaguely remember it, C, but couldn't find it when I searched.

 

[MAF260]

With Voicey's wise words very much of the forefront of my mind, has anyone tried a portable battery booster pack? I've had a flat battery a couple of times and whilst there are always some good preventative measures it would also be bloody handy to get the car started again quickly.

Prices range from £50-200 and I'm sure there's an equal spread of quality. Any thoughts or recommendations would be welcomed.

I keep one of these at home, it's very good -

http://www.costco.co.uk/view/p/powerstation-12-volt-portable-jumpstart-model-psx3eu-745384

Its jump started everything I've needed it to and the compressor is handy for car and bike tyres. You can either jump it whilst it's connected, or use it as Martin suggested - connect to the car battery to transfer some charge.

Voicey had a very neat, compact starter with him at LM last year. Looked little bigger than a paperback book, but he said it has the capacity to jump most cars.

 

[CatmanV2]

Thanks, Martin, very helpful. The way the recovery chap did it both times was to connect the booster pack and wait five or ten minutes, then start the engine with the booster still on. Run for maybe 10 or 15 minutes then turn the engine off, disconnect the booster and start the car from its own battery. At least, I *think* that was the sequence. The horror stories about jump-starting from another car are well worth avoiding!



Yes, I vaguely remember it, C, but couldn't find it when I searched.

That should be fine too. In *theory* the the damage would be caused by disconnecting the 'good' battery from the bad one while everything's running, causing back EMF and all sorts of nastiness. Having it on there during starting and running is pretty much just the same as two batteries in parallel (in theory). Personally I'm tending to listen to the Voice(s)

C

 

[Felonious Crud]

Voicey had a very neat, compact starter with him at LM last year. Looked little bigger than a paperback book, but he said it has the capacity to jump most cars.

Thanks MAF. That's the sort of thing I'm looking for. There's a load of them online and I can't believe that some aren't completely shite whilst others are forum-proven in the gritty cut and thrust real world.

 

[midlifecrisis]

The issue with jump starting is that car run at different currents due to the size/type of engine. A diesel with huge compression ratios tend to have higher currents to crank the engine over, hence the reticence. But in an emergency situation you do what you need to do.

The issue is when you've flattened a fully charged battery to start an engine that will not start due to no spark, no fuel etc. That's when jump starting can be an issue. Normally, a Maserati will start quickly when cranked over by a jump start/battery booster etc but when it doesn't that's when the high currents can start to heat up the cabling and what they are attached to. I'm not sure if the starter circuit is fused or not. No doubt someone can inform me otherwise.

 

[MAF260]

Thanks MAF. That's the sort of thing I'm looking for. There's a load of them online and I can't believe that some aren't completely shite whilst others are forum-proven in the gritty cut and thrust real world.

I'd start with a recommendation from him. I've heard he knows what he's doing!

 

[Felonious Crud]

He does seem moderately competent. I'll give him a nudge and report back.

 

[mjheathcote]

I can vouch for one of these:

https://youtu.be/QVg2thpqlgg

Ex tenant at work was trying to sell them in the UK and gave me one to try.
I disconnected the battery from my V8 Stag completely so just the jump starter and it started no problem at all, infact I got bored after starting her half a dozen times and it was still strong.
Price put me off buying one, even mates rates he could not sell me one for less than £150.

 

[Felonious Crud]

This is the one Voicey has: http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/AFTERPARTZ-...ster-Charger-Battery-Power-Bank-/251714458858

 

[midlifecrisis]

Back EMF is only caused by electric motors running, so as long as the starter isn't running you should be fine. The Alternator however is a regulated charger, you may cause transient spikes disconnecting a supplementary battery but nothing long term.