 | Home > Technical > Storage of a puma with a dying battery?? |
 
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| Scoobeenut Member Since: 04 Mar 2015 Location: West London Posts: 310   
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Can you get power to the vehicle and connect a ctek battery charger to keep it topped up until you have time to change the battery?
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3rd Sep 2017 8:35pm |
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| leeds Member Since: 28 Dec 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 8581
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Yes battery might be on way out if it is the original battery.
Something like a Ctek charger would be a good investment. Other issue might be the alternator. Is it giving out ca. 14.6 volts? If not it will not be charging battery properly. Brendan |
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3rd Sep 2017 10:41pm |
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| agentmulder Member Since: 16 Apr 2016 Location: Outer Space Posts: 1324 
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Just had a look at the range of ctek chargers available in NZ, quite a few.
The puma battery specs I think was 90Ah? Could I - well, could my partner - get away with one of the lower spec models and just 'maintain' the battery in its current state? Whatever it's current state is...🤔 (My multimeter with me here at work.) After the initial charge how often would it need to be plugged in? It's outdoors, but with a few diagrams of how to waterproof the electrics they may be able to work something I'd consider safe, but how much supervision is expected of these chargers? Solved the bowel problem, working on the consonants... |
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3rd Sep 2017 10:52pm |
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| agentmulder Member Since: 16 Apr 2016 Location: Outer Space Posts: 1324
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Last time alternator gave issues was for one night only, system measured only the 12ish volts and threw a dash light, which we're not getting at the moment... That was over a year ago.
My DMM is with me, we are both 9029mi away from the Defender. Solved the bowel problem, working on the consonants... |
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3rd Sep 2017 10:59pm |
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| ericvv Member Since: 02 Jun 2011 Location: Near the Jet d'Eau Posts: 5816  
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Any Ctek charger should be fine to top up your battery, and keep it topped up for months if you leave it connected permanently. The easiest way to connect a Ctek is via a 12S plug and Martin's adapter which much commented on here. Many people on here have the Ctek MXS 5.0 which is plenty big enough. I have this version too, and have used it without any problems for regularly topping up or for longer time maintenance. Even the smallest Ctek charger which is the 0.8Ah version will do the job, it only takes more time to charge, but it will top your battery up fully and keep it topped up if you leave it on. I know this because before buying the MXS 5.0 I used such small Ctek on the Puma as I already had that for our garden tractor. So any Ctek smart charger will do the job, no need to invest in a big Ctek 10.0 or so.
Now, my Puma is of the same 2008 vintage as yours, and I had my genuine Varta 90Ah replaced by a new one just a month ago, 9 years, not bad at all. Again the same genuine Varta used by Land Rover for the Defender which is a LFD90 dual purpose battery with 800 CCA, clearly all you need for normal use. Alternatively you can go on the Varta website and spec your truck there. Varta themselves are suggesting two 95Ah batteries for the Puma now, see link below. So any Ctek can top up your battery and automatically maintain the charge if you leave it plugged for longer periods of time. But one day your genuine battery will start to give up anyway, a period you probably can extend by using the Ctek regularly. Yours, like mine, at 9 years is a good life expectancy, you may be able to extend further with a Ctek, but not forever.... Wonder how Ashgabat is today, I was there last back in December 1989 (cotton (khlopok) trading related), surely wouldn't recognize the place anymore, and my good old Intourist hotel there probably is no more. How funny it was to fly from Moscow Domodedovo airport where temp was minus 15°C and land in Ashgabat a few hours later where it was +30°C then. 
Good luck there, Eric https://www.varta-automotive.com/en-gb/bat...S%29%22%7D You never actually own a Defender. You merely look after it for the next generation. http://youtu.be/yVRlSsJwD0o https://youtu.be/vmPr3oTHndg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GtzTT9Pdl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABqKPz28e6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLZ49Jce_n0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvAsz_ilQYU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8tMHiX9lSw https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwjPuHIV7I https://vimeo.com/201482507 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSixqL0iyHw |
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4th Sep 2017 1:17am |
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| zsd-puma Member Since: 09 Aug 2016 Location: Kent Posts: 2720 
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If the battery is just a bit low then any mains car battery charger will charge the battery on an overnight charge. Once it's charged keep it topped up with a cheap solar charger.
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4th Sep 2017 1:54am |
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| agentmulder Member Since: 16 Apr 2016 Location: Outer Space Posts: 1324
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It's ... well - let's just say I can tell you all about it in 50,437 minutes 
Last month the death ray (the sun) regularly got us up to 40°C+, I think cracking 46°C one day. Our electrical drive cabinets are sweating in the 70's, big bucket of smoking Makita power tools too. I've been on night shifts though, so it's quite pleasant for me - and much better internet once you've found a VPN that works, although I'm not sure of the veracity of the following 'fact', but apparently the 800 staff I've been trucked in with are using half of the country's internet  Solved the bowel problem, working on the consonants... |
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4th Sep 2017 2:10am |
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| lohr500 Member Since: 14 Sep 2014 Location: Skipton Posts: 1316 
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As suggested above, given the Defender is outside, I would consider a solar charger placed inside the windscreen.
I have a 10 watt panel that is around 1ft 6 inch square and since I started using it, I have no issues with the battery going flat whilst standing. Sometimes there can be 3 or 4 weeks between me using the Defender and before using the solar charger, the battery would discharge to the point where the alarm went off whilst cranking the starter. A sign of low voltage. I have a tracker fitted which will be taking some current draw (I have never bothered to measure the actual current when standing). Unless you already have a permanently live cigar socket in the vehicle, or some other power point, the easiest way to connect the panel would be directly to the battery. Although I think I would want an inline fuse between the battery and panel just for piece of mind. In theory current can't flow back to the panel when the panel isn't generating a high enough voltage as there should be a diode in the panel to prevent this. But a fuse would prevent an excessive flow of current the wrong way if the panel did go wrong. Also as above, it would be even better if you could get your partner to fully charge the battery first with a mains charger for a couple of days. Then the solar charger just has to hold the battery voltage. |
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4th Sep 2017 6:42am |
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| Balvaig Member Since: 19 Feb 2016 Location: Fife Posts: 730  
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If the vehicle is stored safely and you do not need the alarm then just disconnect the battery. Replace when you return.
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4th Sep 2017 7:40am |
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| agentmulder Member Since: 16 Apr 2016 Location: Outer Space Posts: 1324
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Hello all, thanks for the discussion.
As mentioned, I'm not with the vehicle, and my partner, while very handy with most stuff, doesn't have time to learn how to place inline fuses or disconnect batteries. I think perhaps solar charger will suffice as placing some crocodile clips on terminals wont take too long. However, big question, will a solar charger/protect itself work if the battery is low? Also, any brand recommendations? Solved the bowel problem, working on the consonants... |
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4th Sep 2017 12:47pm |
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