I got into my galaxy the day after i had recharged the battery and refitted it . There was a clicking sound which seemed to br below and behind steering wheel area., and that was before i'd even put the key in the ignition. When i did put my key in the ignition nothing happened, no dash light on, no power to anything. So, i've just recharged the battery again and put it back on the car. Again there is what sounds like a relay clicking, without key in ignition and when i put key in ignition again no dash power, lights or anything. I counted the clicks and it does it 38 times, stops briefly then repeats.

Has anyone any idea what this could be? Thanks in advance.

Was the car working fine before you removed the battery?

What voltage is the battery holding now?

Sounds like the battery is knackered tbh.  Though if it is holding good charge, next check is the thick earth cable, as that may have frayed badly at the other end and be unable to carry much current.

yes car was working fine before. battery was flat due to non use for a few weeks plus it's been cold.

battery voltage measured couple of hours after removing charger and was 12.7v

i would expect some sign of life in terms of dash lights even if battery is on its way plus it must be powering whatever is clicking.

It seems to me that something is getting stuck during power up routine and preventing power reaching circuits.

I didn't have time today but will be checking fuses tomorrow.

 Could it be related to immobiliser circuit?

Relays only take a tiny amount of power to click so I wouldn't read anything into that.  It's pretty standard for flat batteries on older cars. 

If it read 12.7v when in the car then I would expect to see some dash lights but I wouldn't be surprised if that voltage had drained considerably over the next few hours before refitting.  First thing to check now should be battery voltage as it could be a waste of time hunting for another fault if it's not holding charge.

If it was an immobiliser fault the dash would be lit up and a red light would be flashing to indicate the immobiliser fault so I don't think it's anything to do with that.

Assuming that the battery is correctly connected, then for there to be no instrument cluster lights you would need to have:

(a) a flat battery

(b) a very, very,heavy load on the battery which is dragging the voltage down.

(c) Chassis earth cable or earth point is corroded