How long could I leave my D4 without driving it

[wbowner]

Hi,
I have a new D4 and unfortunately will not be able to drive it for 3-4 weeks, so it will sit in my garage.

I have a traxide dual battery, brake controller and the anti rust thing (:)) installed. They should not cause issue but thought I would mention them,

I have a CTEK MXS 5amp charger which I could connect to the white plug as had been described in other threads.

Need I do anything or should I just connect the charger up for 4 weeks. If so should I leave the bonnet up?

Richard

[Rich84]

The car will be fine for 4 weeks without you needing to do anything. I've left mine twice for 2+ months and she always fire up first go!

[LGM]

Wot Rich84 said!

Mind you I don't have one them anti rust thingy's

[wbowner]

The car will be fine for 4 weeks without you needing to do anything. I've left mine twice for 2+ months and she always fire up first go!

Thanks for that.

Using the charger via the white plug at the back would be interesting as well, I have not done that before.

Richard

[discotwinturbo]

I would connect the charger up.

Mine was @ 9 volts, at 5 weeks. 5 amp ctek charger on for more than a day to get it back to 100%.

I place my ctek on every fornight without fail, even when driving it as the alternator never gets the battery to 100%, even after driving all day.

Now when I go away, the ctek is on the car if it is not started for a period of one week or longer.

Brett....

[wbowner]

I would connect the charger up.

Mine was @ 9 volts, at 5 weeks. 5 amp ctek charger on for more than a day to get it back to 100%.

I place my ctek on every fornight without fail, even when driving it as the alternator never gets the battery to 100%, even after driving all day.

Now when I go away, the ctek is on the car if it is not started for a period of one week or longer.

Brett....

That may be the safest option as I have no idea the draw of the anti rust device or even if it works when the car us not started
As a new car the batteries should be ok but ....

Ruchard

[BMKal]

I would connect the charger up.

Mine was @ 9 volts, at 5 weeks. 5 amp ctek charger on for more than a day to get it back to 100%.

I place my ctek on every fornight without fail, even when driving it as the alternator never gets the battery to 100%, even after driving all day.

Now when I go away, the ctek is on the car if it is not started for a period of one week or longer.

Brett....

Interesting that you should say that Brett. I had to have a new battery this morning - the second one since I've had the D4.

First one was replaced only 4 days after I collected the car from Barbagallo (I told them I reckoned it was 'sus when I collected the vehicle - and was proven right a few days later).

Second battery has lasted a bit over two years (about 75,000km) - and had dropped a cell. Only warning I got was in Fremantle yesterday, tailgate latch "clicked" open / closed about three times after I had opened the upper tailgate to put the shopping in the back - after that, everything normal.

This morning - I got dash lights etc, but no start. Landrover Assist came out and tested / replaced the battery - still under warranty so it didn't cost me anything.

I've got a ctek charger at home - might try using it when I'm in Kalgoorlie. But nowhere to plug it into where I park while down in Perth though.

Guess I should pull my finger out and install the Drivesafe kit I've got sitting in the shed in Kalgoorlie and a second battery. :angel:

[discotwinturbo]

Bmkal,

Been doing the same on my Touareg for 6 years...battery still going strong.

Vw does charge battery better than the D4....ie does not need charger on anywhere near as long.

Vw keeps scratching their head at every service as to why it's still going so strong.

Works for me.

Brett....

[winaje]

I place my ctek on every fornight without fail, even when driving it as the alternator never gets the battery to 100%, even after driving all day.Why is this? Is it a characteristic of the charging system? Or something to do with accessories you have fitted?

Thanks

[discotwinturbo]

Why is this? Is it a characteristic of the charging system? Or something to do with accessories you have fitted? Thanks

Accessories not an issue for me.

Just something I have done for a lonnnnng time. Old man started me on it.

All batteries: buggy, quad, mower, camper, both cars....

D4 has always taken the longest to get up to full. Smart alternator I guess to keep fuel consumption down.....but not smart in looking after batteries.

Brett...

[Tombie]

Anti-Rust (sic) systems draw about 800ma IIRC

Only things they do well is draw power and lighten wallets.

Certainly won't stop the vehicle rusting. Only the treatment from the factory is doing that for you (and any barrier rust treatments you may add along the way).

[drivesafe]

Hi Richard and if your battery is in a top condition, 4 weeks would be fine.

But you only have had to have done a few shopping trolley runs and your battery can be down a bit.

Either leave the battery charger connected to either one of the batteries and both batteries will be maintained.

BUT, if it was my vehicle, the simplest way to keep your batteries in a decent charged state is to put your charger on for around 24 hours and then remove the charger and disconnect the negative terminals of both batteries.

When you get home and reconnect the batteries, you will need to reset your clock.

[nat_89]

Anti-Rust (sic) systems draw about 800ma IIRC

Only things they do well is draw power and lighten wallets.

Certainly won't stop the vehicle rusting. Only the treatment from the factory is doing that for you (and any barrier rust treatments you may add along the way).

Ahh i always held my doubts about that rust protection wasn't sure if it worked. I always see they are advertising used by the biggest mining giants bhp rio and all that, i work for bhp and after 2 to 3 years our cars start rusting so if they use it i reserve my doubts as to wether it works but never seen it on any of our site cars.

[Marmoset]

Mine had an anti rust device fitted by the last owner, strangely the only place I found rust on the body was right under the damned thing where is was screwed on! I took it out as I don't trust them, especially on a car whose wiring is this complicated and with as much current draw on startup.

[wbowner]

Hi Richard and if your battery is in a top condition, 4 weeks would be fine.

But you only have had to have done a few shopping trolley runs and your battery can be down a bit.

Either leave the battery charger connected to either one of the batteries and both batteries will be maintained.

BUT, if it was my vehicle, the simplest way to keep your batteries in a decent charged state is to put your charger on for around 24 hours and then remove the charger and disconnect the negative terminals of both batteries.

When you get home and reconnect the batteries, you will need to reset your clock.

Hi,
Does it matter which negative terminal you remove first?
Richard

[vs2]

My 2013 D4 has the Traxide and D34 Optima and I often leave the car for 3 weeks at a time and there is never an issue with starting. Once a month I use the Ctek mxs-5 through the 12S plug and charge until 'float' then leave on another 12 hrs. I also believe the LR does NOT do a good job at charging the batteries and believe this is the best way to maintain your battery/batteries.

[wbowner]

An update.
I put the charger on the night before via the white plug at the back and left it till batteries were fully charged.

I then disconnected the charger and the Tekonsha P3, to be sure. I did not disconnect the negative leads as Drivesafe recommended


I just got back after 4 weeks idle and both batteries were around 11.8v so there was some drop.

I am getting the low battery alert in the car, asking me to start it.

I have not started it yet but have put on the charger via the white plug connection and will leave over night. Hopefully that will sort things out.

Next time I will do as recommended and also disconnect the negative leads.

Richard

[go-disco4]

An update.
I put the charger on the night before via the white plug at the back and left it till batteries were fully charged.

I then disconnected the charger and the Tekonsha P3, to be sure. I did not disconnect the negative leads as Drivesafe recommended


I just got back after 4 weeks idle and both batteries were around 11.8v so there was some drop.

I am getting the low battery alert in the car, asking me to start it.

I have not started it yet but have put on the charger via the white plug connection and will leave over night. Hopefully that will sort things out.

Next time I will do as recommended and also disconnect the negative leads.

Richard
Hi All

This is timely as I am buying a battery charger (CTEK MXS 5) for my D4 2.7 L TDv6. I have a Traxide SC80 dual system with optima yellow top 55 deep cycle battery. As I am new to any form of battery charging, I would be very grateful for your help on this topic.

1. If I am connecting the charging leads to the main cranking battery do I connect the positive and negative leads to the battery terminals or do I connect the negative to the car body instead?

2. DO I need to disconnect any of the two batteries?

3. Can I use a cigarette charger accessory to charge the batteries?

4. Some posts mentioned the use of the white plug- How do we connect up the male plug to the CTEK leads and which pins to use? Is there a diagram? cannot find it (the white plug) in the handbook

5. Will the white plug system also charge both batteries?

6. If it is connected to the main battery or thru the white plug, how do we know that the optima battery is also charged?

many thanks

GD-4

[wbowner]

Hi All

This is timely as I am buying a battery charger (CTEK MXS 5) for my D4 2.7 L TDv6. I have a Traxide SC80 dual system with optima yellow top 55 deep cycle battery. As I am new to any form of battery charging, I would be very grateful for your help on this topic.

1. If I am connecting the charging leads to the main cranking battery do I connect the positive and negative leads to the battery terminals or do I connect the negative to the car body instead?

2. DO I need to disconnect any of the two batteries?

3. Can I use a cigarette charger accessory to charge the batteries?

4. Some posts mentioned the use of the white plug- How do we connect up the male plug to the CTEK leads and which pins to use? Is there a diagram? cannot find it (the white plug) in the handbook

5. Will the white plug system also charge both batteries?

6. If it is connected to the main battery or thru the white plug, how do we know that the optima battery is also charged?

many thanks

GD-4

Hi,
You will receive better answers from other people as I have questions on the process as well.

With respect to charging through the white plug have a look at thread
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/192738-battery-charging.html

This also links you to a UK thread. Between the two you will get the answers on charging that way.

I have another thread with a similar question as your question 1. The CTEK manual diagrams and a bit of research I did suggest you connect the CTEK MXS leads to the battery posts only yet the written instructions say use the chassis, all to confusing to me.

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/200317-ctek-charging-option-question.html

RIchard

[AndyG]

A timely post indeed,
Drive safe, if the neg leads are removed for 3-4 months, will the immobiler & keys object. Or for this period should I plug in a ctek charger.

If you wanted to integrate an Anderson plug for jumper leads scenario, what size?

Asked in the context of a Defender 2.2

Thanks
Andrew

[drivesafe]

Hi wboner and I hope you don’t mind if I answer a few questions, yours and for others.

To your use first.

Unfortunately a single good charge, just before you leave a vehicle unused for a long period, will fully charge the battery but is not going to do give you the long term charge holding condition you need.

A single long charge or the occasional long drive will not condition a battery and in the case of the occasional long drive, it has nothing to do with the alternator not being able to charge batteries properly.

Continuos short drives means the battery will loose charging capacity, but just a couple of short drives will have the same effect because all lead acid batteries, once discharged below about 75%, all lead acid batteries need to first be fully charged and then need a long conditioning or “SOAK” charge, to allow the battery to regain some of their lost capacity.

Note, SOAK charging only regains a small percentage of the lost capacity each time you carry out a SOAK charge cycle, and leaving the battery on a charger all the time does not help to regain lost capacity, it will just keep the battery at what ever level of capacity it was at when you connected the charger.

Each time you do a short drive, you fail to fully RECHARGE the cranking battery, and this leads to a small percentage of the battery not being charged at all, and over a period of time, this percentage of unchangeable battery capacity just increases.

While my dual battery setups can either stop this from occurring in the first place, or reduce the effect in many cases, my systems still can not totally makeup for not driving either long enough to fully charge the battery or for not driving frequently enough.

So wboner, if you are planning to leave a vehicle in an unused situation for a long period of time, for a week or so be for leaving the vehicle unused, give all the batteries a good long charge every night, if convenient.

Then, if you are only going to do this once every blue moon, disconnect each battery’s negative terminal.

If you are likely to be doing this on a regular basis, fit a small switch into the thin earth wire coming from my SC80 or pre 2014 USI-160 isolators and this will stop unnecessary energy wastage.

NOTE, all USI-160 isolator supplied since December last year, now have the new Time-Out feature, where the isolator automatically shuts down 72 hours after the motor was last run.

Hi GD-4 and if the batteries have not discharged down to 12.0v, you can use the Anderson plug at the rear bumper to recharge all your batteries.

But as other have posted above, if your cranking battery is flat, you need to charge via BATTERY circuit in the 12S socket ( white ).

I’m not a fan of leaving battery chargers permanently connected to batteries for long periods of time and the is a better alternative, where practical. This is to use a solar panel ( and reg ) charge and maintain the batteries. The very nature of how solar panels work means they turn on every morning and turn off every night.

This is a much better charging algorithm for lead acid batteries and over a period of time, will also keep the battery’s condition at maximum state of charge.

Hi Andrew and leaving lead acid batteries in an unused state any time longer than one month should not be considered as these batteries self discharge, some fairly quickly, like wet cell batteries and some take much longer, AGMs.

As above, a good fix is to use a solar panel to maintain the batteries over such a long period of time.

[wbowner]

Hi wboner and I hope you don’t mind if I answer a few questions, yours and for others.

To your use first.

Unfortunately a single good charge, just before you leave a vehicle unused for a long period, will fully charge the battery but is not going to do give you the long term charge holding condition you need.

A single long charge or the occasional long drive will not condition a battery and in the case of the occasional long drive, it has nothing to do with the alternator not being able to charge batteries properly.

Continuos short drives means the battery will loose charging capacity, but just a couple of short drives will have the same effect because all lead acid batteries, once discharged below about 75%, all lead acid batteries need to first be fully charged and then need a long conditioning or “SOAK” charge, to allow the battery to regain some of their lost capacity.

Note, SOAK charging only regains a small percentage of the lost capacity each time you carry out a SOAK charge cycle, and leaving the battery on a charger all the time does not help to regain lost capacity, it will just keep the battery at what ever level of capacity it was at when you connected the charger.

Each time you do a short drive, you fail to fully RECHARGE the cranking battery, and this leads to a small percentage of the battery not being charged at all, and over a period of time, this percentage of unchangeable battery capacity just increases.

While my dual battery setups can either stop this from occurring in the first place, or reduce the effect in many cases, my systems still can not totally makeup for not driving either long enough to fully charge the battery or for not driving frequently enough.

So wboner, if you are planning to leave a vehicle in an unused situation for a long period of time, for a week or so be for leaving the vehicle unused, give all the batteries a good long charge every night, if convenient.

Then, if you are only going to do this once every blue moon, disconnect each battery’s negative terminal.

If you are likely to be doing this on a regular basis, fit a small switch into the thin earth wire coming from my SC80 or pre 2014 USI-160 isolators and this will stop unnecessary energy wastage.

NOTE, all USI-160 isolator supplied since December last year, now have the new Time-Out feature, where the isolator automatically shuts down 72 hours after the motor was last run.

Hi GD-4 and if the batteries have not discharged down to 12.0v, you can use the Anderson plug at the rear bumper to recharge all your batteries.

But as other have posted above, if your cranking battery is flat, you need to charge via BATTERY circuit in the 12S socket ( white ).

I’m not a fan of leaving battery chargers permanently connected to batteries for long periods of time and the is a better alternative, where practical. This is to use a solar panel ( and reg ) charge and maintain the batteries. The very nature of how solar panels work means they turn on every morning and turn off every night.

This is a much better charging algorithm for lead acid batteries and over a period of time, will also keep the battery’s condition at maximum state of charge.

Hi Andrew and leaving lead acid batteries in an unused state any time longer than one month should not be considered as these batteries self discharge, some fairly quickly, like wet cell batteries and some take much longer, AGMs.

As above, a good fix is to use a solar panel to maintain the batteries over such a long period of time.

Drivesafe
Thanks for the reply.

I believe I got my Traxide set up earlier this year so it should have the timer you mentioned.

Would connecting your recharger to one of those wall timers work as well as the solar so that it runs 12 hours a day or once a week or something like that?

I am a bit confused. You say you need a SOAK charge. How do you do this?

Richard

[scarry]

I have the ctek charger plug wired to the positive on the main battery,negative to the body, as Tim describes,it just reaches out of the plastic battery cover.I have the traxide kit,so it charges both batteries.

I don't mind having the bonnet open as it warns whoever goes to use the car that the battery is on charge.:)

The only issue is the car will not lock if the bonnet is open,but is an easy fix if you bridge out the bonnet switch.

I put the car on charge every 2 weeks or so, as at times it gets very little use.

I also find that doing short trips seems to drop the charge of the main battery down quickly,and the SC80 will eventually do it;s job and isolate the two batteries.

In fact doing short trips probably reduces the batteries charge quicker than leaving the car sitting doing nothing.

FWIW,in my opinion,the situation with these batteries and charging systems is ridiculous,and as Tim has said,it is other manufacturers as well,not only LR that have these issues.

If they are designed for fuel economy,then how much fuel do they actually save?

[wbowner]

Hi,'
Is there any reason you can not connect the lead to the negative battery post as is suggested in the CTEK diagrams.


Richard

[RHS58]

Hi,'
Is there any reason you can not connect the lead to the negative battery post as is suggested in the CTEK diagrams.


Richard

Yeah. What difference does 6 inches of earth lead really make?

[scarry]

Hi,'
Is there any reason you can not connect the lead to the negative battery post as is suggested in the CTEK diagrams.


Richard

Yep,don't do it,there is something that will be damaged if you do this,on a D3/4.

Someone will chime in on exactly what it is.

[go-disco4]

Hi All

Many thanks for all your help

I think I have enough info to build a 12S connector to charge the batteries

GD-4

[JayBee75]

Yep,don't do it,there is something that will be damaged if you do this,on a D3/4.

Someone will chime in on exactly what it is.


Just about to leave mine for 5 weeks, was going to leave my Ctek charger on it? Do I connect on the battery terminals or per when jump starting positive to positive connector, negative to a bolt/body (not the neg terminal)

Single battery not dual battery system.

Thanks:)

[discotwinturbo]

Just about to leave mine for 5 weeks, was going to leave my Ctek charger on it? Do I connect on the battery terminals or per when jump starting positive to positive connector, negative to a bolt/body (not the neg terminal) Single battery not dual battery system. Thanks:)

If it were me, I would connect it.

Positive to positive on battery, and negative to on one of the two earth posts outside the battery box. Brett....

[Franz]

If you are likely to be doing this on a regular basis, fit a small switch into the thin earth wire coming from my SC80 or pre 2014 USI-160 isolators and this will stop unnecessary energy wastage.







Hi Drivesafe,


What is the energy wastage you are referring to and what does the small switch actually do?


Cheers,


Franz

[wbowner]

Hi put this on another post I raised on CTEK charging options. The threads seemed to be merging a bit so thought I would put here as well, hope that is OK.
May be the other one could be locked.

An update.

There seemed to be some confusion or difference of opinion over where to connect the negative lead of the CTEK comfort lead with the eyelets.

So I went to the local Battery World and asked them.

The guy there offered and set up for nothing another option for me. He connected the positive lead to the charging battery and the negative lead to the negative post on my aux battery which should work OK I believe.

Richard

[JayBee75]

Hi put this on another post I raised on CTEK charging options. The threads seemed to be merging a bit so thought I would put here as well, hope that is OK.
May be the other one could be locked.

An update.

There seemed to be some confusion or difference of opinion over where to connect the negative lead of the CTEK comfort lead with the eyelets.

So I went to the local Battery World and asked them.

The guy there offered and set up for nothing another option for me. He connected the positive lead to the charging battery and the negative lead to the negative post on my aux battery which should work OK I believe.

Richard

Thanks Richard

what about if we dont have a dual battery set up, eg normal battery?

Positive to positive, negative to earth on car?

Thanks

[wbowner]

Thanks Richard

what about if we dont have a dual battery set up, eg normal battery?

Positive to positive, negative to earth on car?

Thanks

Initially that is what he was going to do, both on the charging battery, but the provided ctek comfort lead with the eyelets was not long enough and once he saw the dual battery set up he reckoned this option was just as good

Richard

[scarry]

Thanks Richard

what about if we dont have a dual battery set up, eg normal battery?

Positive to positive, negative to earth on car?

Thanks

That's the way to do it,dual battery or not,same as jump start,NEVER use the negative terminal on the main battery,duel battery or no dual battery.

Actually, you can jump the main battery by just joining the main and auxillary battery positive terminals,leave negatives as they are.

[wbowner]

That's the way to do it,dual battery or not,same as jump start,NEVER use the negative terminal on the main battery,duel battery or no dual battery.

Actually, you can jump the main battery by just joining the main and auxillary battery positive terminals,leave negatives as they are.

Paul
This confuses me.
Are you just saying for jump starting. The above refers to just charging the battery via a charger.

In my set up, as advised and set up by the guy at Battery World

The positive charger lead is connected to the positive terminal of the main battery and the negative lead is connected to the negative terminal on the dual battery.
The teads I am talking about are the ctek comfort leads with the eyelets.

Are you saying this is wrong for charging your battery , not jump starting.

The following YouTube shows the connect or am referring to but in my case the negative lead is connect to the dual battery

CTEK Comfort Connect Battery Cable Review - etrailer.com - YouTube

Richard

[drivesafe]

Hi folks and some conflicting info above.

In theory, using the Comfort leads for charging or if you wanted to permanently set up a jump start lead using an Anderson plug on the end of a short length cable coming from your terminals on your cranking battery, you could.

The reason for not connecting to your negative terminal, in either the cranking battery or the AUXILIARY battery when using jumper leads to jump start a motor, is to reduce the chance of a spark igniting hydrogen gas that MIGHT be escaping from EITHER battery.

Permanent fitted ( fitted prier to actual use ) leads reduce the chances of causing a spark near the batteries.

I personally still prefer to fit the negative connection somewhere other then the negative terminal of cranking battery, because there are so many different systems now monitoring the cranking battery’s negative terminal and/or negative lead, you might cause problems with some vehicles.

One more tip. Jump starting from the auxiliary battery is only possible if the cranking battery is FLAT.

If the cranking battery has dropped a cell, then it will be likely that you will only be able to start the motor by jump starting from a donor vehicle, with it’s motor running.

BTW as Paul has posted, with a properly set up dual battery system, you can jump start by using a single jumper lead connecting the positive terminals of both batteries but again, to reduce the chance of a spark igniting any escaping hydrogen gas from the cranking battery, get into the habit of connecting the positive jumper lead to the cranking battery’s positive terminal FIRST, then connect the other end of the jumper lead to the auxiliary battery LAST.

[wbowner]

Hi folks and some conflicting info above.

In theory, using the Comfort leads for charging or if you wanted to permanently set up a jump start lead using an Anderson plug on the end of a short length cable coming from your terminals on your cranking battery, you could.

The reason for not connecting to your negative terminal, in either the cranking battery or the AUXILIARY battery when using jumper leads to jump start a motor, is to reduce the chance of a spark igniting hydrogen gas that MIGHT be escaping from EITHER battery.

Permanent fitted ( fitted prier to actual use ) leads reduce the chances of causing a spark near the batteries.

I personally still prefer to fit the negative connection somewhere other then the negative terminal of cranking battery, because there are so many different systems now monitoring the cranking battery’s negative terminal and/or negative lead, you might cause problems with some vehicles.

One more tip. Jump starting from the auxiliary battery is only possible if the cranking battery is FLAT.

If the cranking battery has dropped a cell, then it will be likely that you will only be able to start the motor by jump starting from a donor vehicle, with it’s motor running.

Drivesafe
There seems to be two scenarios jump starting and charging.

The information I provided above and what I have had set up is purely for charging the battery via my Ctek charger and a Ctek comfort connector as shown in the youtube above.

Do you see any problem with the way the comfort connector has been set up - positive on the main battery and negative on the negative of the aux battery.

Like wise if you do not have a dual battery set up is there a problem connecting the ctek comfort connector to the main battery terminals for charging it with a ctek charger.

I understand jump stating may have different connections.

Richard

[drivesafe]

Hi again Richard and as I posted, the Comfort connector is designed to make the connection of a battery charger to a specific battery an easy chore.

I also posted, and this is based on my OPINION only but with the different ways modern vehicles now use the cranking battery’s negative terminal and/or cranking battery’s negative lead, it would be prudent to use a negative point away from the battery.

This will not effect the charging of the battery but it may prevent erroneous info being gathered by the vehicles BMS.

These two earth studs are just in front of the cranking battery compartment and are far easier to access so there is no need to touch the cranking battery’s negative terminal in the first place.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1084.jpg

[wbowner]

Hi again Richard and as I posted, the Comfort connector is designed to make the connection of a battery charger to a specific battery an easy chore.

I also posted, and this is based on my OPINION only but with the different ways modern vehicles now use the cranking battery’s negative terminal and/or cranking battery’s negative lead, it would be prudent to use a negative point away from the battery.

This will not effect the charging of the battery but it may prevent erroneous info being gathered by the vehicles BMS.

These two earth studs are just in front of the cranking battery compartment and are far easier to access so there is no need to touch the cranking battery’s negative terminal in the first place.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/11/1084.jpg

Thanks mate. I am out of my league with this stuff.
Unfortunately the gap in front my battery box is occupied by the dual battery and those studs are not as easy to access as in your pic. I will paste a pic tomorrow.

As said my negative lead is connected to the negative post on the dual battery not the main one. Do you think doing it this way has the same issues as if the negative post on the main battery was used?

Richard

PS - forgot to add - the reason I posted here was to get yours and others opinions from people who deal with LRs. The guy who did this was an auto electrician but does not know the set up I have as well as the people on here . So once again thanks. I am not trying to dispute your opinion duct making sure I have it correct and verified.

Richard

[scarry]

Hi Richard,hope i haven't confused you,Tim knows a lot more than me:o

I will post a pic of mine tomorrow as well.i can only just get onto that earth bolt with a set spanner with my set up.

If you charge the aux battery,and the two batteries are isolated for whatever reason the charge will not go into the main battery.

With my setup,which is the Traxide D4 setup,occasionally the batteries would be isolated as the main battery voltage would be less than 12V.The SC80 isolates the two batteries at 12V(measured at the main battery),which it is designed for.
In this situation,charging the aux battery will only charge the aux battery.If you had been charging the main battery,when the main battery voltage increases to a set voltage(don't know what it is,guessing around 13V?),the SC80 battery isolater will now connect both batteries and they will both be charging.

Hope this makes sense.

[drivesafe]

Spot on the money Paul.

Richard, your set up is fine. The suggestion of moving the Comfort Connection’s negative lead was only if it was on the cranking battery’s negative terminal.

Having it on the auxiliary battery’s negative terminal is perfect.

[wbowner]

Spot on the money Paul.

Richard, your set up is fine. The suggestion of moving the Comfort Connection’s negative lead was only if it was on the cranking battery’s negative terminal.

Having it on the auxiliary battery’s negative terminal is perfect.

PHEW!!! :).

Thanks guys.

Paul my set up will be the same as yours, traxide dual battery.

I probably could reach the studs but the aux battery negative post was definitely easier to do.

The set up seems to work as I charged the main battery via the white plug connection yesterday (I got the above done today). Both batteries got charged as expected.

Richard

[scarry]

My bad read,so you have the positive on the main battery,neg on aux.
That will be fine:D

I thought pos and neg were on Aux battery.

As Tim has said it is the neg on the main battery that you have to be careful with.

So you won't need my pic:D

[drivesafe]

Hi Drivesafe,


What is the energy wastage you are referring to and what does the small switch actually do?


Cheers,


Franz

Hi Franz and sorry, I missed your post.

Because my isolators remain on, in some cases, for years at a time, they continue to consume battery power, and even though this is quite low, they still draw power.

If the vehicle is used on a regular basis, as is the case with about 95% of the vehicles fitted with my isolators, then there is no issue.

If on the other hand, the vehicle is only used once a week, or less, which is commonplace in Europe, and becoming more common here, then the isolator just uses power for no reason.

Starting with the original program for the USI-160, where after the motor is turned off and once the common voltage drops below 12.6v, one of the two relays is turned off, to reduce energy use.

But the ABG-25, the DT90 and now all USI-160 isolators produced since December last year, all have an automatic Time-Out feature, where even if the voltage is above the 12.0v Cut-Out voltage, these isolators turn of after a pre-set time period, thus saving battery energy.

The SC80 does not yet have this feature, so if you do regularly leave your vehicle unused for weeks at a time, then by fitting a small switch in to the SC80’s negative wire, you can turn it on and off as needed.

[wbowner]

My bad read,so you have the positive on the main battery,neg on aux.
That will be fine:D

I thought pos and neg were on Aux battery.

As Tim has said it is the neg on the main battery that you have to be careful with.

So you won't need my pic:D

No worries, it would not surprise me if I did write it the wrong way as well. :)



Richard

[go-disco4]

Hi All

I bought the CTEK but could not source a S12 connector

I would be very grateful for some help

(1) I had no luck getting the 12S (white plug) connector in Melbourne, as these are European plugs. Even the LR dealer did not stock them. The Australian plugs are the 12N ones with a female centre pin instead of the male one in the 12S.

Does anyone know where to get one (S12) in Australia?

Or does anyone know which UK company to import them (S12) from?

(2) Someone said that he knocked out the middle pin of a 12N plug to make it fit. I tried to knock out the centre pin off my 12N plug, but it is very strongly fixed and would not budge unless I use enough force to break the plastic disc holding the pins.
Any tips on how to do this?

(3) Also I put my multimeter onto pins 3 and 4 of the white socket on the back of my car (disco 4 2.7 L) but it read 0 voltage. Does that mean that it is not connected to the battery?

Many thanks

GD-4

[letherm]

Hi All

I bought the CTEK but could not source a S12 connector

I would be very grateful for some help

(1) I had no luck getting the 12S (white plug) connector in Melbourne, as these are European plugs. Even the LR dealer did not stock them. The Australian plugs are the 12N ones with a female centre pin instead of the male one in the 12S.

Does anyone know where to get one (S12) in Australia?

Or does anyone know which UK company to import them (S12) from?

(2) Someone said that he knocked out the middle pin of a 12N plug to make it fit. I tried to knock out the centre pin off my 12N plug, but it is very strongly fixed and would not budge unless I use enough force to break the plastic disc holding the pins.
Any tips on how to do this?

(3) Also I put my multimeter onto pins 3 and 4 of the white socket on the back of my car (disco 4 2.7 L) but it read 0 voltage. Does that mean that it is not connected to the battery?

Many thanks

GD-4

This may be what you're looking for.

DISCO3.CO.UK - Shop - Towing socket charger adapter - CTEK/Accumate/Optimate etc (http://www.disco3.co.uk/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=45)

Martin

[Jimlr]

So the 12S socket is the white one of the two which seem to be standard on oz spec cars? Therefore the disco3 towing socket charger adapter will definitely work for oz spec cars? Bit confused as some of the specs say d4 only comes with 12N electrics....

[wbowner]

Hi Franz and sorry, I missed your post.

Because my isolators remain on, in some cases, for years at a time, they continue to consume battery power, and even though this is quite low, they still draw power.

If the vehicle is used on a regular basis, as is the case with about 95% of the vehicles fitted with my isolators, then there is no issue.

If on the other hand, the vehicle is only used once a week, or less, which is commonplace in Europe, and becoming more common here, then the isolator just uses power for no reason.

Starting with the original program for the USI-160, where after the motor is turned off and once the common voltage drops below 12.6v, one of the two relays is turned off, to reduce energy use.

But the ABG-25, the DT90 and now all USI-160 isolators produced since December last year, all have an automatic Time-Out feature, where even if the voltage is above the 12.0v Cut-Out voltage, these isolators turn of after a pre-set time period, thus saving battery energy.

The SC80 does not yet have this feature, so if you do regularly leave your vehicle unused for weeks at a time, then by fitting a small switch in to the SC80’s negative wire, you can turn it on and off as needed.
Tim,
Could this explain why my batteries were low when I got back. I did a full charge before I left. I have the SC80 which means it would have been running the whole time i was away, 4 weeks.

Richard

[wbowner]

So the 12S socket is the white one of the two which seem to be standard on oz spec cars? Therefore the disco3 towing socket charger adapter will definitely work for oz spec cars? Bit confused as some of the specs say d4 only comes with 12N electrics....

Hi,
The white one is the one to use on the D4.
When I got back and found the battery down a bit I charged it via connecting to the white plug. I used a plug I got from the UK site mentioned. I am sure you could easily make one for a lot less I was just a bit lazy.

Richard

[drivesafe]

Tim,
Could this explain why my batteries were low when I got back. I did a full charge before I left. I have the SC80 which means it would have been running the whole time i was away, 4 weeks.

Richard

Hi Richard and this would explain most but not all the reason for your batteries being a little lower than expected.

Even with the SC80 and unused for a month, your batteries should have been around the 12.0v because once the SC80 turns off ( at 12.0v ) it will only be drawing about 5ma from then on.

So at 11.8v, which is not that low, but it does show the batteries were not in top condition, close to it.

The Optima particularly, should have been at at 12.0v and the cranking battery at at least 11.9v, so again, that’s not that low.

BTW was it cold when your measured the voltage, as this will drop battery voltage readings?

[101RRS]

My RRS battery is now over 7 years old and on a day to day basis the car only gets driven the 1.5km to the shops and back every second day - long runs maybe once a month - so the battery rarely gets time to charge up.

On cold Canberra mornings (-4 this morning) the battery reads 11.8 to 12v with ignition on accessory - so no computers on. Switch the ignition on and the battery drops to 11.4v but the car starts first go everytime and the radio works fine and is not in power saving mode.

When driving the 1.5km the alt is charging up to 14.8v - I know when the battery is fully charged this will drop back to 12.5v and then varies depending on load.

This highlights the voltage in the system can drop quite low and not impact the operation of the car.

This has reminded me to put the car on the smart charger to get battery capacity back up even though its level is not affecting operation.

I was expecting the battery to die this winter but is still going strong.

Garry

[ytt105]

I was expecting the battery to die this winter but is still going strong.

Garry

Silly boy!!!

You know Murphy is always listening!

Regards
Trevor

[discotwinturbo]

When driving the 1.5km the alt is charging up to 14.8v - I know when the battery is fully charged this will drop back to 12.5v and then varies depending on load.

Gary, would that only be a surface charge ? 1.5km won't get it up to full charge I would guess. That's my argument about the the alternator not giving batteries a deep charge.

Regular Battery charger use is the key to help maintain the starter.

Brett.....

[wbowner]

Hi Richard and this would explain most but not all the reason for your batteries being a little lower than expected.

Even with the SC80 and unused for a month, your batteries should have been around the 12.0v because once the SC80 turns off ( at 12.0v ) it will only be drawing about 5ma from then on.

So at 11.8v, which is not that low, but it does show the batteries were not in top condition, close to it.

The Optima particularly, should have been at at 12.0v and the cranking battery at at least 11.9v, so again, that’s not that low.

BTW was it cold when your measured the voltage, as this will drop battery voltage readings?
Tim
I am from Canberra so not cold it is bloody freezing
It is possible my meter is not 100% accurate
As mentioned above I have the anti rust gadget
Which would use some power

Both batteries appeared about the same voltage so may be the cut out had not occurred
I will have to check what cut out value is set

In future I will leave the charger on or disconnect the negative leads

Richard

[drivesafe]

Hi again Richard and with cold temperatures at the time of the voltage readings, I would say your batteries are fine, and while needing a charge, they were well within the expected voltage range for batteries that have been unused for a month.

You have nothing to worry about.

[wbowner]

Hi again Richard and with cold temperatures at the time of the voltage readings, I would say your batteries are fine, and while needing a charge, they were well within the expected voltage range for batteries that have been unused for a month.

You have nothing to worry about.

Many thanks