[gpaolo79]

Hello everyone,
my car is close to be 3 years old now, and I'm having already battery issues. During the lockdown, the car has not been running much since February, but I took it with me this summer for a 3000+km trip and it has been plugged to a solar panel to maintain the battery the whole time, and actually this summer it was always running with the start&stop active indicating that the battery was fully charged.
But since this autumn I'm getting low battery warning before and after using it, the dealer suggested to give it a long run, I went for a 3h drive but a few days after the low battery warning was coming out again. Yesterday I used the car for about 30 minutes, it switched on with no warning, but went back to low battery warning when I switched it off.
Charging voltage seems to be correct, I read about 14.5V with the car running, so charging should not be the issue. It just looks like the battery is not holding the charge any more.
The thing is that I can't find any information online about changing battery for this car, and I'm a bit concerned with these modern cars which are computers on wheels. Is there any recommendation for the battery swap and first restart of the car? Any recommendation on battery model?
Thanks!

 

[Pete 1952]

Hi Gpaolo79. If you read the thread "BATTERY CHARGER" it might help resolve some of your issues with the battery. A lot of E Pace owners including my self have had LOW BATTERY warnings over the last few months due to low use. Hope you get it sorted soon. Pete 1952

 

[gpaolo79]

Hi Pete,
yes I was looking at that one, as I mentioned I had the solar panel in place since lockdown and that was brilliant during summer and kept the battery fully charged the whole time. Now I have just checked and it's at 11.8V, despite having used the car yesterday. I guess the not-so-sunny British winter days are not helping, but it seems to me that it's the battery this time.
My car is parked outside, so I can't really leave a charger plugged in.
Once sorted out possible issue when replugging it in, I was thinking to take it off and give it a full charge, but the way it's mounted seems quite awful to deal with. I don't feel too confident to plug a battery charger with the battery still connected to the car electronics either. I mean, a real charger, not something that just maintains the battery charge.
The reason I am worried about unpowering the car is that on my previous one, a BMW, they were talking about all sort of reconfiguration of the car after removing the battery. Do you have any idea of what will happen here? I can't find any information online, I'm not sure if it is because there is no problem or no one dares to do it.

 

[Pete 1952]

Hi. The CTEK MSX5.0 is a proper charger supplying a 5 amp charge when required, it will also maintain the battery by leaving it connected if you wish. If you have any way of getting power to your car I would certainly try a charge of the battery first. I may be wrong but taking off your battery with no supply being made to your car ie via the boot power socket 12v you could lose settings in the cars computer systems I have had, like many other no problem charging the battery whilst on the car. The other option is to take it to a Jaguar dealer and get the battery checked.
The official battery charger supplied by Jaguar looks like the CTEK 5 and comes with a lead to charge via the boot power socket.
Hope this helps Peter 1952

 

[gpaolo79]

Yes, losing all settings is the least that I expect. I have heard stories (for other brands) of car recalibrating themselves including window motors and all that stuff. Ok if this CTEK MSX5.0 can be used with the battery plugged, then I'll definitely give it a go. I need to locate this boot power socket, I can't remember to have seen it.

 

[Jampie]

I use my Ctek sometimes directly on the battery connectors; no problem with the battery connected. it does no harm to the electronics

 

[gpaolo79]

Thanks. I'm taking the car to the dealer tomorrow, they have agreed to check (car is still in warranty). I have got also the CTEK for the future, thank you all for the suggestions!

 

[alistercampbell]

I had a similar issue with the low battery warning (also my stop-start wasn't working at all) so asked the garage to take a look when it was in for a service. They advised there was a known issue and updated a "controller" since then I haven't had any issues. Sorry I don't have more specific details but if you are having this problem it's worth getting it checked next time your car is in.

 

[gpaolo79]

Well the didn't want to look at the car because there was no time and kept trying to convince me that driving 20 miles and getting the low battery warning the moment you switch off the engine is normal.
Now I need to charge it myself... but I can't find the charging connector in the boot? Any idea where it should be please?

 

[Pete 1952]

Hi gpaolo79. My 2019 P200 R Dynamic S has a 12v socket on the L/H side of boot side wall near the top. I was under the impression that it is is a permanent live socket, since trying with my tyre inflator it does not seem to be the case. Fortunately I have fixed the supplied CTEK pigtails directly to the battery ( very easy to do ) so I can leave the charger on with bonnet shut and car alarmed for keeping the battery in a good condition when i need to.
Pete 1952

 

[gpaolo79]

Hi Pete, yes, the 12V socket was my first attempt and indeed it's off when the car is not running. I don't know why I understood that there was some special connector for this charger in the boot. On the LH side near the socket there is a fuse box, over time I might have a look there if there is a direct connection to the battery.
My issue is that the car is on the driveway and the outside socket is closed to the back... and if I parked on the other side it's on the wrong side of the car with respect to the battery. Anyway, at the moment I have parked on the grass and the cable is just long enough. I have also plugged the charger directly to the battery, let's see what happens.

 

[siepel]

Hi gpaolo79,

I'm still waiting for the delivery of our very first Jaguar (E-Pace) and sorry to read about your ordeal. Quick question though, when you talked about the solar panel charger, did you mean that you have that connected all the time even before your battery problems, or did you start to use it rather once you were experiencing some low voltage issues?

Just curious. I just recently had to change the first(!) battery on our 10 year old car which was showing signs of weakness in colder weather conditions, which is a far cry from not even 3 years. I am quite perplexed and discouraged to read how your dealer has been treating you...

Take care!

 

[gpaolo79]

Hi gpaolo79,

I'm still waiting for the delivery of our very first Jaguar (E-Pace) and sorry to read about your ordeal. Quick question though, when you talked about the solar panel charger, did you mean that you have that connected all the time even before your battery problems, or did you start to use it rather once you were experiencing some low voltage issues?

Just curious. I just recently had to change the first(!) battery on our 10 year old car which was showing signs of weakness in colder weather conditions, which is a far cry from not even 3 years. I am quite perplexed and discouraged to read how your dealer has been treating you...

Take care!

Hi,
the solar panel was there since April last year, when it became clear that the car wasn't going to be used much. It worked like a charm, with the car using the start&stop immediately even after weeks of being parked. Then in August I went to Italy by car, 18h total drive, then the car remained parked for one month in a garage without any battery issue. Drove back other 18h, plugged again the solar panel, and since then it started showing the low battery warning.
Next to my E-Pace sits my 32 years old Mercedes, where the battery is 5 years old. It went flat a couple of times during lockdown (it's covered and I can't put the solar panel inside), but since last November I put a similar solar panel on the outside and the battery remains perfectly charged, and it is 5 years old. Of course there is barely any electronics to drain charge in that car, but it requires a lot more current to start that engine.
Now I have installed a charging cable on the E-Pace's boot so I can leave the charger inside the car and plug it to the external socket I have on the driveway, hoping that the postman won't trip on the cable as he's used to pass behind my car when going to the next house... I guess he will learn quickly in case

To be fair, the dealer has been great until this issue. But with this one, and with an issue on the alloy wheels which is preventing me to get them fixed since last October, it has been quite awful. I'm asking for a written response to their refusal to recognize the warranty on the alloy wheel and I have been waiting for that for more than one month now, after they kept the car for "investigation" for two months.

 

[siepel]

Hi,
the solar panel was there since April last year, when it became clear that the car wasn't going to be used much. It worked like a charm, with the car using the start&stop immediately even after weeks of being parked. Then in August I went to Italy by car, 18h total drive, then the car remained parked for one month in a garage without any battery issue. Drove back other 18h, plugged again the solar panel, and since then it started showing the low battery warning.
Next to my E-Pace sits my 32 years old Mercedes, where the battery is 5 years old. It went flat a couple of times during lockdown (it's covered and I can't put the solar panel inside), but since last November I put a similar solar panel on the outside and the battery remains perfectly charged, and it is 5 years old. Of course there is barely any electronics to drain charge in that car, but it requires a lot more current to start that engine.
Now I have installed a charging cable on the E-Pace's boot so I can leave the charger inside the car and plug it to the external socket I have on the driveway, hoping that the postman won't trip on the cable as he's used to pass behind my car when going to the next house... I guess he will learn quickly in case

To be fair, the dealer has been great until this issue. But with this one, and with an issue on the alloy wheels which is preventing me to get them fixed since last October, it has been quite awful. I'm asking for a written response to their refusal to recognize the warranty on the alloy wheel and I have been waiting for that for more than one month now, after they kept the car for "investigation" for two months.

Dear gpaolo79,

Thanks for taking the time and effort to respond. I was a little bit anticipating your reply, because I am actually afraid that the use of the solar panel may have been the main contributing factor to the problem. From what I have gathered over the years, when you want to maintain a battery, you should use what is called a 'battery tender' that rather trickle charges not to overload the battery, which is funest. I wonder/doubt if the solar panel you used has the kind of circuit electronic logic not to actually overcharge the battery... So I wonder if the solar panel did not simply overload the battery to the point of fail...

Please accept my apology if I'm making an incorrect assumption!

Take care,

Siepel

 

[gpaolo79]

Dear gpaolo79,

Thanks for taking the time and effort to respond. I was a little bit anticipating your reply, because I am actually afraid that the use of the solar panel may have been the main contributing factor to the problem. From what I have gathered over the years, when you want to maintain a battery, you should use what is called a 'battery tender' that rather trickle charges not to overload the battery, which is funest. I wonder/doubt if the solar panel you used has the kind of circuit electronic logic not to actually overcharge the battery... So I wonder if the solar panel did not simply overload the battery to the point of fail...

Please accept my apology if I'm making an incorrect assumption!

Take care,

Siepel

Dear Siepel,
no need to apologize at all, we are all here to exchange ideas
I thought about that possibility, but...
In August the battery was working fine, since it remained charged over one month with the car closed in a garage. When I came back to UK in September, basically, weather was becoming bad again and days shorter. Car is facing east, so it gets the sun only in the morning/mid day, therefore the solar panel was not delivering much change either.
I'm testing a circuit I have just made to avoid overcharging the battery, and I can get out from that panel 220mA maximum with sun perfectly perpendicular to it (which is a situation that, I would say, won't happen in the car). With a small 7Ah lead battery I could not overcharge it or go above 14.2-14.3V, even with the battery completely charged.
Considering the amount of stress that a car battery needs to deal with, I really can't see how one or two hours of less than 3-4W a day could have overcharged it up to the point to damage it.
If some damage of that kind existed, that could have been done by the car's inverter during the long drive I had in summer, and then the panel doesn't have the strength to compensate the loss of charge any more. But that is just an idea, since the dealer refused to check properly the battery and in a one or two hours decided that it was fine.
I guess no one will know now. I will keep it like this until it gets worse, plugging the charger here and there keeps it at a good level for now.

 

[siepel]

Many thanks for your elaborate explanation!! Very helpful indeed!