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L322 battery charging..advice needed

vitalspark

vitalspark

Offroader
Battery was low on the 322 yesterday and I actually had to jump it.
Seems better now after a 200 mile run but it lies for long periods so would like to charge it.
Book advises never to charge with battery in vehicle..will I upset something electronically if I do?..the thing is a pain to remove and codes re entered etc..any advice?

Cheers..Dave
 
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Yep, don't charge in situ - way too sensitive ecu's!!, when I charged mine (out of the car) no recoding was required as long as you leave it for 3 minutes or so after turning it off. the systems all reset when it was run again.
 
Thanks for reply..appreciated.
I will remove before charging as advised.
Still don`t know if 30k miles and less than two years is normal for 322 batteries...how old was yours when it started showing signs of low charge?
 
Had it checked yeterday and only showing 46% charged but good news is shows no fault in battery so hopefully its just lack of use.
Trust if alternator wasn`t doing its job there would be some warning light or message shown ..as there is for everything else and then some.
Thanks for reply

Dave
 
Yes, if the alternator wasn't charging you'd get the dreaded red light, which WOULD be bad news, especially if you have a BMW 4.4 V8 as the alternator is water cooled and is a £900 job!
 
Wow!..I didn`t know that re alternator costs..haven`t heard of problems with other owners so trust its at least a pretty reliable piece of equipment.
Days past I knew every inch of my car..first thing I bought was a manual and everything from servicing/brakes/clutch replacement in fact everything short of taking the unit out would be done in the path/garage by myself..but since my RR arrived ..partly because I have to have it serviced at MD for service records to be kept I have handed over responsibility and therefore have not had hands on as previous vehicles..also it might just be I`m getting old and lazy..either way I find I am now asking obvious questions re component repairs and have no idea of costs..welcome to RR ownership!
 
The book may say not to charge the bttery whilst connected - in the real world I often see them being attacked with jump packs/leads or with a charger sat under the bonnet at garages where desparate sales staff do what they have to for a sale.Whats more funny is the shower of sparks when they short the red lead to the body.:D But they get away with it.
BTW the last alternator I did on a v8 L322 was less than £500 inc labour.
 
Hi I have the RR Vogue Auto Biog on a 2005 plate, I have trouble with the battery and starting in the mornings, the battery is only 9 months old and charges fine when the RR has been running for a while, does anyone know if the pre heating system drains the battery?

I have the Pre Heating, pre set for 30 mins prior to going into the RR in the morning?

Help?

Thanks
 
Interesting question that..I also have the pre heating but have never used it.. but would obviously take something from the battery I suppose..the thing is theres so many toys that drain the system and if like mine it parked in the drive for a week on end its doing the thing no favours..although I had a Disco ES which was well loaded too and no problems with same driving patterns. In cold mornings its tempting to fire up everything from the screens and seats to the heated steering wheel..and I assume that the w/screen nozzles are automatic so will be heating too etc. If its stop start I suppose its to be expected..but nine months is well short of the mark I would say.
Mine was replaced by Guy Salmon at 24k and 2 years after it went flat ..but I think it was a case of as its under warranty just change the thing and no check was made on the old battery. Current one now 3 years old and 30k on it.
 
Thanks Jon V8 for advice..welcome news re costs if alternator needed.
On charging I have also seen guys charge them in situ.. but they are not their vehicles!

You`re a technical guy so hopefully ypou might hjelpm with some questions..

If I disconnected the Neg. and charged in place would it be ok?

Also will I need to reprog / recode anything after it?

Other thing I was going to do was conect with jump leads a spare battery to the jump points in engine bay in parallel and then remove battery for charging to preserve the integrity of the circuits etc..is this OTT?

Whats the script with the device on the terminals that auto disconnects if in collision..will I upset it by removing terminal as if another in parallel therer is bound to be a difference in potential and therefore a spark?..hear stories about people losing fingers..are they just stories?

I can`t believe such a simple thing as battery charging has turned into something so complex and reduced me to this stage of apparent incompetence..I am an electrician..working up to 11kv daily..and I am having to ask questions about charging a b****y battery..maybe better to go back to a Series!

Thanks in advance..all appreciated.

Dave
 
I really wouldnt worry too much about charging it with the battery connected,just connect the charger to the battery before you switch the charger on.If you were to scope the main battery leads whilst cranking,you would see allsorts of nasty spikes from arcing of the brushes in the starter motor - all this is going on while various ecu's and circuits are powering up.If they were really that finicky they would never get out of the showroom. When working on most modern LR's I rarely disconnect the battery,it often causes more problems than it solves.Just being careful how you do things like attaching jump leads is all you need to do.
 
thanks for that..its reassuring to hear.
You hear so many stories from so called experts that eventually you start doubting your own judgement.

Dave
 
Depends what charger you intend using. If it's a boost charger that tries to stuff 30 or 40 volts into it to get some charge in as quickly as possible, no. If it's an intelligent charger, something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RAC-INTEL...-BIKE-BATTERY-CHARGER-RAC-HP239-/111692193277 or this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12v-3-8-A...Fully-Automatic-Battery-Charger-/320675670784 you can leave the battery connected as it simulates the output from the alternator so won't do any damage to the battery or the car. If you have a Lidl near you, keep an eye out there. They often do the same charger for around £13.
 
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