Battery charger

[Singlelady]

Hi all,

I have an MX5 which isn’t really going out much at all at the moment

I’m looking into getting a trickle charger/smart charger or whatever we refer to them as these days

I rang Mazda and they told me to get a 12 V smart charger. The one they recommended is £90 and I didn’t really want to spend as much as that.

I found this one (hope this is okay to add a link?)
https://www.drapertools.com/product/53489/12v-smar...

Does anyone know if this is okay? Seems to get good reviews when I’ve looked online and I think it will do the job.

My car is parked on the drive. I have power sockets at the back of the house and in the garage, but I’m going to be running the cable across the drive. I’m not sure exactly how long the cables are on this so if anyone knows if this is going to reach about Four or 5 m to my outdoor wall socket. It would be even further to my garage. I can’t fit the car in the garage, unfortunately. This is the problem with new houses. if I can’t find a cable that’s four or 5 m long, I’m going to struggle because I can’t move the car any closer to my gate or garage door.

If anyone is familiar with this charger and it’s not going to reach, can you recommend another one with a long cable? Otherwise I’m not quite sure how I’m going to charge the car battery
TIA

[Hereward]

That charger will be fine for your needs.

The cable on the charger won't be long enough for you so you will need a waterproof extension reel to plug into.

[Singlelady]

Hereward said:

That charger will be fine for your needs.

The cable on the charger won't be long enough for you so you will need a waterproof extension reel to plug into.

Thanks

Are there any that have long cables on that would reach?

[S13_Alan]

I bought one of these and then made a little waterproof box for the charger and plug to sit in, just because I thought that made most sense even if they are meant to be ok.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/masterplug-CT1510P-IPS-MP...

Been out there powering a CTEK charger (also for an MX5) and various other cars for a few years now.

[E-bmw]

Singlelady said:

Hereward said:

That charger will be fine for your needs.

The cable on the charger won't be long enough for you so you will need a waterproof extension reel to plug into.

Thanks

Are there any that have long cables on that would reach?

It is virtually impossible to buy a mains powered anything with a long enough lead unless it is a garden power tool, just get a waterproof extension lead, it will come in for many other things when you have it.

[Singlelady]

Been looking into this a little bit more and it says that the Draper battery charger I have linked ‘reconditions deep discharged batteries’.

Is this the same as desulphurisation?

If not, do I need one that will do this? Or will the Draper be ok.

Tbh, the car is not moving at all.

Even better if anyone knows of one with a long cable so I can plug it in outside because my socket isn’t near the car. I don’t really want to have to buy an waterproofextension cable as well.

[Singlelady]

E-bmw said:

It is virtually impossible to buy a mains powered anything with a long enough lead unless it is a garden power tool, just get a waterproof extension lead, it will come in for many other things when you have it.

Ok, thanks

[Haltamer]

I use a halfords smart charger for my Civic that has done the job for a fair few years now.

In terms of getting it to the car, I'd suggest a hardwire connector on the car - I run mine out of the scuttle on the Civic, but assuming ND MX5 you could probably hide it behind the grille quite conveniently.

To get over the distance, I grabbed a 25m SAE-connector extension cable - The charger hangs on the wall inside, and the extension just sits runs under the front door.

I had to hack up the charger output a bit to convert it to SAE, but I belive the new halfords ones are using the standard SAE connector now, or there's plenty of smart chargers on amazon that do.

[Singlelady]

Haltamer said:

I use a halfords smart charger for my Civic that has done the job for a fair few years now.

In terms of getting it to the car, I'd suggest a hardwire connector on the car - I run mine out of the scuttle on the Civic, but assuming ND MX5 you could probably hide it behind the grille quite conveniently.

To get over the distance, I grabbed a 25m SAE-connector extension cable - The charger hangs on the wall inside, and the extension just sits runs under the front door.

I had to hack up the charger output a bit to convert it to SAE, but I belive the new halfords ones are using the standard SAE connector now, or there's plenty of smart chargers on amazon that do.

Erm. I have to say you’ve lost me. I really don’t know what I’m doing here and I’m surprised I’ve got as far as I have with this battery charger quite honestly. Start talking like this and it’s going way over my head.

Hardwire connector?
Hide behind the grille?
25m SAE connector….

I’m worried about how I’m gonna plug this thing into the car as it is
I’m worrying about how long I’ll leave it on for because I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing

[Singlelady]

Okay, this might not seem like much but this is very complicated for me and I’m doing my best to keep up

Having looked a little bit more online, Which quite honestly I wish I hadn’t bothered now, I’ve now completely confused myself. Somebody said that I have to be careful where I plug it in if it’s a start/stop which it is.

Not wanting to sound stupid, but if I order this battery charger, don’t I just clip it to the terminal on the battery (I’m worrying about this when it gets here) and then connect it up and plug it into the electricity

Do I need to attach the negative end to somewhere else in the car now because I’ve got Start/stop? Surely not. I’ve read in a couple of places that if it is a Start/Start you have to plug the negative end to the body of the car or something. This is too confusing.

Why can’t things just be simple?
I wish I had someone here who could actually just tell me what to do and show me what to do. Never mind.

[E-bmw]

OK, let's start simple & hopefully get to where you want in the end.

You won't get one with a long enough lead, so forget that idea.

You need a water proof extension lead that can be left out of the way.

You will plug it in somewhere near/under the car for mains.

Look under your bonnet or in your manual and you will likely find a "jump start point" under the bonnet near the engine, these generally have a RED cap on them and a large + next to it.

This is probably the best place to attach the RED lead to.

While you are under the bonnet look for a solid/clean/bit of metal on the engine or nearby.

This is where you will connect the BLACK lead to.

When these are connected, switch the charger on.

You don't need to leave it on all the time, perhaps 1 night/day a week/fortnight should be fine.

If you can't find likely points perhaps someone with the same car will be along soon to be a bit more specific.

[S13_Alan]

Went out to look and I’ve got mine connected like this (just that I’ve wired in a permanent fly lead to save me using the big crocodile clips) and had no issue with it so far.

Mind I had a look online when I did it as I think it is possible to confuse some cars, but nobody said there was any problem with the MX5 that I seen.

Perhaps someone here knows better but I wouldn’t really worry too much about it. People like to make things too complicated.

[Haltamer]

Apologies - Jumped straight into the science

Hardwire is if you want to plug the car in frequently; i.e. you connect the plug to the battery and a ground point and then the plug dangles outside the car somewhere hidden but accessible

If you are only charging infrequently, you can use crocodile clips which makes things a bit more simple.

Charger:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-53489-Charger-Batt...

(Found a reasonable one that uses SAE connectors)

16ft Extension:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/POWOXI-Extension-Disconne...

This is based on you being able to get the charger plugged in indoors and reach the front of the car within 16ft! (Can't find the longer ones I had now)

That would go:

Wallsocket--->Charger--->Extension Cable---|UNDER STREET DOOR|--->Crocodile Clips--->Car

As for connection points on the car, I've added some annotations:


The reason for running the negative connection on the bolt is so that the charge passes through any battery monitoring sensors - That ensures the charge is "registered" by the car so it isn't assuming the battery is flat after charging etc.

[Singlelady]

E-bmw said:

OK, let's start simple & hopefully get to where you want in the end.

You won't get one with a long enough lead, so forget that idea.

You need a water proof extension lead that can be left out of the way.

You will plug it in somewhere near/under the car for mains.

Look under your bonnet or in your manual and you will likely find a "jump start point" under the bonnet near the engine, these generally have a RED cap on them and a large + next to it.

This is probably the best place to attach the RED lead to.

While you are under the bonnet look for a solid/clean/bit of metal on the engine or nearby.

This is where you will connect the BLACK lead to.

When these are connected, switch the charger on.

You don't need to leave it on all the time, perhaps 1 night/day a week/fortnight should be fine.

If you can't find likely points perhaps someone with the same car will be along soon to be a bit more specific.

Right, waterproof extension. I can do that.
Car is parked at the corner of my house next to the gate. Outdoor electrical socket is behind the gate so I only need to go about 3 m maybe 4 m (although my house is for sale and I’ve no idea where I’m moving to yet. Hopefully a house. But if I get a flat, I could have another problem here, lol)

I’m going to ask you a stupid question now. I’m going out over the weekend to run the car for a bit. I think I need to look under the bonnet. I was off the impression that the battery would be a rectangular shaped likely black box under the bonnet With two bolts on top that I just attach the battery charger to one Negative one positive ie one black one red? That doesn’t sound like what I’m doing when I read your post.

Ended up with a flat battery couple of weeks ago because it was positively Arctic weather. Recovery said to charge it once a week over winter. Rang Mazda and he suggested once a month? When it went flat the other week it had been three weeks, so it’s not going to last a month if it’s freezing cold. So I thought maybe every two weeks I’d be running the smart charger.

I can see me ending up with the user manual out here

I’m guessing it’s all alright to leave out for 24 hours all day and all night without me having to check on it. Nothing is going to spontaneously combust or start a fire or anything is it? My driveway is on the side of my house. There are no windows and to look at my car I actually have to go outside & stand on my driveway so I don’t really want to be doing that. I just wanna leave it after I’ve plugged it in. So I assume it’s just safe to leave it for 24 hours like I said without having to check on it. The smart charger will just stop charging when it’s full won’t it? To stop it from overcharging and causing other problems.

Is the smart charger I found okay? It says it conditions the battery, doesn’t say anything about Desulphurisation. Is it the same thing? Or do I need one that does the Desulphurisation

So basically, waterproofextension cable and just work out where to plug it in. Thank you.

[Singlelady]

S13_Alan said:

Went out to look and I’ve got mine connected like this (just that I’ve wired in a permanent fly lead to save me using the big crocodile clips) and had no issue with it so far.

Mind I had a look online when I did it as I think it is possible to confuse some cars, but nobody said there was any problem with the MX5 that I seen.

Perhaps someone here knows better but I wouldn’t really worry too much about it. People like to make things too complicated.

If you look at the reply, I’ve posted to E-BMW I’m thinking of doing this probably once every two weeks unless we get minus temperatures and I might do it once a week.

I’m quite happy just to clip it on every time I do it. That’s if I can work out where to clip it onto. Like I said to E-BMW I thought I just clip it to a rectangular box with two kind of bolts on top, but I don’t know. He said the positive goes on that or maybe somewhere else I can’t remember now. And the negative goes somewhere else on the car?

I have the ND which I assume you have? Where does the manual say you have to plug it into? Is it the two bolts on the battery?

[Singlelady]

Haltamer said:

Apologies - Jumped straight into the science

Hardwire is if you want to plug the car in frequently; i.e. you connect the plug to the battery and a ground point and then the plug dangles outside the car somewhere hidden but accessible

If you are only charging infrequently, you can use crocodile clips which makes things a bit more simple.

Charger:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-53489-Charger-Batt...

(Found a reasonable one that uses SAE connectors)

16ft Extension:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/POWOXI-Extension-Disconne...

This is based on you being able to get the charger plugged in indoors and reach the front of the car within 16ft! (Can't find the longer ones I had now)

That would go:

Wallsocket--->Charger--->Extension Cable---|UNDER STREET DOOR|--->Crocodile Clips--->Car

As for connection points on the car, I've added some annotations:


The reason for running the negative connection on the bolt is so that the charge passes through any battery monitoring sensors - That ensures the charge is "registered" by the car so it isn't assuming the battery is flat after charging etc.

lol, don’t worry

If you see the response I sent to E-BMW, I’m happy to just plug it in every time using the crocodile clips. Probably do it once every two weeks unless we get minus temperatures and then I might do it weekly while it’s freezing.


You have confused me with the extension cable. I thought I was looking for an extension cable to plug the plug-in into on the smart chargerand then reach to the external plug socket outside the back of my house?

I’ve drawn a black circle on the picture you sent me was where I thought I would be attaching the negative crocodile to. Is this not right? This is what I saw somebody else do online.




You said this:

The reason for running the negative connection on the bolt is so that the charge passes through any battery monitoring sensors - That ensures the charge is "registered" by the car so it isn't assuming the battery is flat after charging etc.

You have lost me again. Battery monitoring sensors? Hmm, I don’t understand what you mean and I’m not sure why I can’t just plug the crocodile clip into the place I circled in black.

[ATM]

I have a 13 quid Lidl charger. It's fine. No need to spend more.

Recently I've been using a LiFePo4 leisure battery in the froot [front boot] of a Porsche connected direct to the battery. As it's not parked close to the house so can't get 240v to it easily. Does the same job - providing a constant trickle charge which varies in current. Not cheap though.

[E-bmw]

Singlelady said:

E-bmw said:

OK, let's start simple & hopefully get to where you want in the end.

You won't get one with a long enough lead, so forget that idea.

You need a water proof extension lead that can be left out of the way.

You will plug it in somewhere near/under the car for mains.

Look under your bonnet or in your manual and you will likely find a "jump start point" under the bonnet near the engine, these generally have a RED cap on them and a large + next to it.

This is probably the best place to attach the RED lead to.

While you are under the bonnet look for a solid/clean/bit of metal on the engine or nearby.

This is where you will connect the BLACK lead to.

When these are connected, switch the charger on.

You don't need to leave it on all the time, perhaps 1 night/day a week/fortnight should be fine.

If you can't find likely points perhaps someone with the same car will be along soon to be a bit more specific.

Right, waterproof extension. I can do that.

I’m going to ask you a stupid question now. I’m going out over the weekend to run the car for a bit. I think I need to look under the bonnet. I was off the impression that the battery would be a rectangular shaped likely black box under the bonnet With two bolts on top that I just attach the battery charger to one Negative one positive ie one black one red? That doesn’t sound like what I’m doing when I read your post.

Yes, that is the battery but as was mentioned by others best to use a chassis/engine earth for the black wire rather than the actual battery (if there is one available) as it helps the car's electronics keep track of the battery state of charge.

Singlelady said:

Ended up with a flat battery couple of weeks ago because it was positively Arctic weather. Recovery said to charge it once a week over winter. Rang Mazda and he suggested once a month? When it went flat the other week it had been three weeks, so it’s not going to last a month if it’s freezing cold. So I thought maybe every two weeks I’d be running the smart charger.

As I said before every week/2 weeks is fine, just make sure it doesn't go flat.

Singlelady said:

I’m guessing it’s all alright to leave out for 24 hours all day and all night without me having to check on it. Nothing is going to spontaneously combust or start a fire or anything is it? My driveway is on the side of my house. There are no windows and to look at my car I actually have to go outside & stand on my driveway so I don’t really want to be doing that. I just wanna leave it after I’ve plugged it in. So I assume it’s just safe to leave it for 24 hours like I said without having to check on it. The smart charger will just stop charging when it’s full won’t it? To stop it from overcharging and causing other problems.

24 hours is fine, just make sure the cables/connections are in a safe position & not likely to touch anything they shouldn't.

Singlelady said:

Is the smart charger I found okay? It says it conditions the battery, doesn’t say anything about Desulphurisation. Is it the same thing? Or do I need one that does the Desulphurisation

If it does conditioning it will do everything you need it to do.

Just one final thing, there is a chance that when the battery went flat it may have done some internal damage that could possibly mean it is stuffed anyway.

Basically just keep track of how well it is working after a few charges to see if it is OK going forward.

[Belle427]

You could avoid all this by just taking it out for a nice 45 minute run once a week, after all it is an Mx5 which is meant to be enjoyed.
Get the roof down wrap up warm and enjoy!

[donkmeister]

Haltamer said:

I use a halfords smart charger for my Civic that has done the job for a fair few years now.

In terms of getting it to the car, I'd suggest a hardwire connector on the car - I run mine out of the scuttle on the Civic, but assuming ND MX5 you could probably hide it behind the grille quite conveniently.

To get over the distance, I grabbed a 25m SAE-connector extension cable - The charger hangs on the wall inside, and the extension just sits runs under the front door.

I had to hack up the charger output a bit to convert it to SAE, but I belive the new halfords ones are using the standard SAE connector now, or there's plenty of smart chargers on amazon that do.

As an aside, I fitted a Magcode connector to my dad's car (OAP, never drives, but likes the thought of being able to drive). The idea is that if he were to drive and forget it's connected, or trip over the cable, it will just ping off safely.

Works well, but IIRC the pair of connectors was about £60. I've since learned they are fitted by Ferrari and Lamborghini for battery tenders, albeit with reversed polarity.