Battery Conditioner

[chrislane]

Or very "untimely" - 24 hrs too late as ordered from amazon last night! Thanks anyway though :-)

 

Just tested it and the power socket does seem to be live with ignition off. Not much power though so i'm eagily awaiting tomorrow's post!

 

 

[stockhome]

Chris what year is your car

 

Mine is an Jan 2002 s2 and the cigarette lighter is live with the ignition off (that's how i charge mine).

[chrislane]

2003 - i'm fairly confident now that it should work fine. Just need to wait for it to arrive.

 

Thanks all

[chrislane]

After all that, the bloody cig adapter was broken when it arrived! So i ended up fixing up the eyelets directly to the battery anyway, which was a piece of cake even for me. So the cog adapter will be returned and a refund requested from amazon!

 

Charger now showing fully charged so it should just be keeping it topped up as and when it needs it, and i can stop worrying that on the odd ocassions that i am going to get to get to use the car that it wont start!

[scatty]

If you are anything like me, I bet you will still go and start it up. Just to be on the safe side!!!!!

[flibberflops]

... or if you are anything like me you may drive off with it still attached! (black cable on black car).

 

I actually tied a big bright tag to the cable that sits on the windscreen when its attached (I had visions of me driving down the road with a trail of electric cable following behind me!)

[jhall89]

HaHa - I've done that too with my Accumate lead so always leave bonnet up [with wooden strut!] when on charge which with the weather like it is is most of the time!

[neru]

Hi,

 

I have a similar problem with a '99 S1 Elise - dead battery after being sat for a while.

 

What is worse is that I am really struggling to get in to either the engine bay or service compartment due to rusted hatch release cables.

 

WD40 does not seem to be cutting it currently.

 

Will charging via the cigarette lighter on a '99 S1 Elise work to recover this problem?

 

Cheers,

 

Rik.

[kayj_prod]

Hi Rik,

I've just been out to double check on my 99 S1, and the lighter is not live with ignition off.

As for the stuck release cables... You might find that having a friend apply downwards pressure to the bonnet or just wiggling the bonnet forwards to back while you pull the cable release could help.

If not, have you got the wheel nut key or is that also under the front access?

When I misaligned my front bonnet (and so it would not release properly), I was able to manually release it by removing the front off side wheel, arch liner, and reaching through to the underside of the catch.

As for the back, hmmm... wiggling again, you never know. Has your car got a solid boot box or a boot bag?

 

It might be worth starting a new thread if these ideas don't get you anywhere.

[M111]

Bonnet release cable - sounds like a winter job to me, best attend to it before it snaps though.

 

for Optimate. I think I bought mine through Lotus Drivers Club at a discount at the Donington show.

 

I know some chargers struggle from a completely flat battery. If the battery goes too flat you need to get a jump start to get some juice flowing then attach the conditioner. I had a Halfords one that was a RPITA before buying the Optimate.