5 minutes ago, Andyr55 said:

Any of you mechanical experts have any suggestions.?

Ask another dealership...  They must have cars on the forecourt going into deep sleep all the time.  

I don't think they'll find any faults on a general IDS scan which I think is what the £150 is for.

 

Also worth noting batteries charge more slowly at the top end.  80-100% charge takes ages, same with lithium batteries in phones, laptops and EV's.

put it back on charge, see if it makes any diff.

going on a long trip in Aug so might leave until after that, a good push up the M1 might resolve😉

Ordered one of the Maypole chargers yesterday as my commute has now shortened to 1.6 miles each way after the recent house move. It arrived about an hour ago. 

Connected it up to the battery and its reading 12.6v compared to the gizmo connected via the dash port was reading 11.9v so a big difference.

20 mins in and its sitting at 12.8v.

When will I know its fully charged, does it automatically switch itself off ? 

1 minute ago, Wino said:

When will I know its fully charged, does it automatically switch itself off ? 

When charged, it will enter an automatic 'trickle' mode, and the background LCD screen will glow green rather than red...

2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

When charged, it will enter an automatic 'trickle' mode, and the background LCD screen will glow green rather than red...

Cheers Stephen, The LCD screen has been lit green since it started and it's now showing 13.2v but only has two of the battery segments showing on the right hand side of the screen. 

At what point is it fully charged ? I.E voltage wise.

mmm... from memory, I think it's 13.6 (could be wrong), I just leave it to cook until all battery bars are showing and screen turns green. (voltage can bounce back from max, again, wouldn't worry) I left my Celica GT4 'on charge' for months when it wasn't being used! Don't sweat too much over it it's smarter than you, and it knows what it's doing LOL

Its ar 13.4v and still showing only 2 battery segments ( bars)

 Will leave it on for a couple of more  hours and see where it goes. Thanks again Stephen 👍

I'm going to stick the Maypole on the Golf over the weekend.  Not been able to drive for a few weeks now.  Just done a 'test' mile last Weds and then again today but cranking was a noticeably slower today.  I'm wondering how long I should charge it for though, the socket is in a public area and the lead will be across a public pavement so I can't just leave it over night lol.  Hoping 6 hours should be enough...? 

Should probably also check if the Focus battery is dead, don't think I've even unlocked it in 3 months.

 

10 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

... Hoping 6 hours should be enough...? 

 

Should be enough Tom, I've charged a fairly flat battery in that time, but the longer you can leave it, obviously the better...

I switched our off around 6PM as it was getting dark and I'd plugged the charger in the external socket for ease at the time.

I monitored it via the window from the house as the car is now parked right under the window on the driveway ( yes, we now have one 👍)

It charged steadily upto 14.6v but as time progressed it had dropped back to 13.1v 🤔

Stephen mentioned earlier it might drop back so I'm presuming that's normal ? 

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Should probably also check if the Focus battery is dead, don't think I've even unlocked it in 3 months.

You probably know this already Tom, but I hope you did not double lock it. If you did you will not be able to open the Bonnet without prising the release lever open and winding the cable in🥵

Charge time will depend on how much power your charger can output, the battery capacity, and obviously the battery's current state. According to the manual for my 10A charger, it will charge a 40Ah battery from flat to full in 3 hours, and an 80Ah in 6 hours. Hopefully that will help you with the maths and/or guesswork. 

IF you do permanently fit a fly lead to the car, you may wish to fuse the +ve side.  

1 minute ago, Paulkp said:

IF you do permanently fit a fly lead to the car, you may wish to fuse the +ve side.  

The Maypole comes complete with a fly lead that is already fused...

11 hours ago, Tizer said:

You probably know this already Tom, but I hope you did not double lock it. If you did you will not be able to open the Bonnet without prising the release lever open and winding the cable in🥵

Does it make a difference to the bonnet catch if it was double locked?  I probably locked it on the keyless handle button, don't know if that's default deadlocks or not...  Must admit, although I knew that was the only bonnet access, for some reason it hadn't clicked that that would be the result of letting the battery go flat. 🤦‍♂️  Might just leave that for now, Schrodinger's battery...  

 

36 minutes ago, erictcleric said:

Charge time will depend on how much power your charger can output, the battery capacity, and obviously the battery's current state. According to the manual for my 10A charger, it will charge a 40Ah battery from flat to full in 3 hours, and an 80Ah in 6 hours. Hopefully that will help you with the maths and/or guesswork. 

Thanks Eric.  It's a 4a charger, and still starts the car so won't be less than about 11v...but I have no idea how big the battery is without going downstairs to check.  Quick ECP check suggests the batteries for my car could be between 60-80Ah so that's not much help.  

I suppose I could take the smallest as a guess (it's not a known brand battery) - 60Ah on a 10a charger would be 4.5 hours from flat.  So 11.25 hours on a 4a charger.  If it was an even charge, it'd be something like 2 hours for the 2 volt top up...but I know the top end is slower, just not sure by how much.   

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

The Maypole comes complete with a fly lead that is already fused...

My novice mechanical know how had me stumped with the Fly lead as it clearly doesnt seem to fit anywhere on the Battery 🥺so used the other connectors instead.

5 minutes ago, Wino said:

My novice mechanical know how had me stumped with the Fly lead as it clearly doesnt seem to fit anywhere on the Battery 🥺so used the other connectors instead.

Red to the positive terminal on the battery, black to earth point on chassis. When I was fitting my flylead the plan was to completely unscrew the nut from the battery positive terminal's connector, slip the flylead over the bolt thread, then screw it all back up. However, I found that the nut was captive - it didn't come off all the way. So I cut the ring connector on the flylead just enough so I could slip it over the bolt thread then tightened everything up.

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

It's a 4a charger, and still starts the car so won't be less than about 11v...but I have no idea how big the battery is without going downstairs to check.  Quick ECP check suggests the batteries for my car could be between 60-80Ah so that's not much help.  

I suppose I could take the smallest as a guess (it's not a known brand battery) - 60Ah on a 10a charger would be 4.5 hours from flat.  So 11.25 hours on a 4a charger.  If it was an even charge, it'd be something like 2 hours for the 2 volt top up...but I know the top end is slower, just not sure by how much.   

Sounds about right if it's completely flat, according to the chart near the bottom of this page: NOCO - 5-Amp Smart Battery Charger - GENIUS5.

On 6/29/2021 at 1:20 PM, Andyr55 said:

I have charged the car battery and within 10 hours its back in 'deep sleep mode' to preserve the battery!

If the terminal voltage dropped below about 12v, then it is quite possible this triggers a full shut-down or deep sleep mode. Measuring voltage is the only option for the car, if the battery is damaged or worn out, possibly by being left heavily discharged for a long period. Coulomb counting and similar techniques only work if the battery is in a decent, known, condition.

15 hours ago, Wino said:

It charged steadily upto 14.6v but as time progressed it had dropped back to 13.1v 🤔

 

Sounds quite usual to me. If the charger was unplugged, the battery will slowly drop to about 12.6v, in an hour or so if there is a light load like the remote control receiver, or in several hours if no load. If the charger is left plugged in, it should revert to a low voltage hold state once it decides the battery is charged. It can do long term damage if held over 14v for too long once charged.

1 hour ago, Wino said:

My novice mechanical know how had me stumped with the Fly lead as it clearly doesnt seem to fit anywhere on the Battery 🥺so used the other connectors instead.

Yep, the +ve connects to the battery, and if you have a 'modern' car, the earth ring is bolted to anywhere suitable on the car body. My Mk2 is old, so there is no BCM sensor so I connected it directly to the -ve on the battery

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Yep, the +ve connects to the battery, and if you have a 'modern' car, the earth ring is bolted to anywhere suitable on the car body. My Mk2 is old, so there is no BCM sensor so I connected it directly to the -ve on the battery

Ahhh...... so if I undo the nut on the end of positive lead it will still give a reading as if connected to the terminal directly? 

1 minute ago, Wino said:

Ahhh...... so if I undo the nut on the end of positive lead it will still give a reading as if connected to the terminal directly? 

mmm... you are connecting it directly.

Just now, StephenFord said:

mmm... you are connecting it directly.

That's what I thought yesterday as the crocodile clips are too small to fit over the terminal lead whilst the battery is in situ. 

So I clamped onto the end of the lead just after the terminal thinking it would work and it didn't so I removed the clip and placed in just prior to the terminal itself  and it worked. 

6 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Does it make a difference to the bonnet catch if it was double locked?  I probably locked it on the keyless handle button, don't know if that's default deadlocks or not...  Must admit, although I knew that was the only bonnet access, for some reason it hadn't clicked that that would be the result of letting the battery go flat. 🤦‍♂️  Might just leave that for now, Schrodinger's battery..

If you only touched the Keyless handle only once then it will be single locked so you should be ok, unless you have a twitch and didn't know you had one😀.

If it is Deadlocked and the Battery is flat then you need to use the Key, which takes a bit of force incidentally, but you can only open the Drivers door and the Bonnet release can't be pulled unless the Passenger door is open, which you can do from the inside if it is single locked but not of it is double locked. Unless the design has changed in the newer cars.  

2 hours ago, Tizer said:

If you only touched the Keyless handle only once then it will be single locked so you should be ok, unless you have a twitch and didn't know you had one😀.

If it is Deadlocked and the Battery is flat then you need to use the Key, which takes a bit of force incidentally, but you can only open the Drivers door and the Bonnet release can't be pulled unless the Passenger door is open, which you can do from the inside if it is single locked but not of it is double locked. Unless the design has changed in the newer cars.  

Ah, I get it now!  I did mention in a previous thread that I managed to open the bonnet lever from the drivers side when I first got it, although it took a lot of force...so probably not how it's meant to be done lol!

Also good to know the touch pad uses the same number of presses as the fob.  I'm getting too old for all this technology!

 

On 10/6/2021 at 4:51 PM, Wino said:

... but only has two of the battery segments showing on the right hand side of the screen. 

 

Given enough time, did all the battery bars eventually come up for you?