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Negative lead for jump starting

DavidL

DavidL

Active member
So where do you put the negative lead if you want to jump start the car since the battery is in the boot?
 
[FONT=courier new"]I would use the battery terminals and disconnect the remote end first. There should be either a pipe that vents to outside or a reservoir for the escaping gases anyway.[FONT=verdana,geneva"]
[FONT=courier new"]Tony[FONT=verdana,geneva"]
 
Thanks - I know it seems like a daft question but when you are suddenly faced with a flat battery and lots of carpet and no engine you wonder whether you are missing something really obvious!

David
 
The hearse has a rear battery too, and like the 944 a postive terminal under the bonnet (so you can get the tailgate open, just as with the 944 I imagine. I also imagine you can jump it from there; I know you can charge it because, while I said on the other thread I just put the charger on the battery I don't with the hearse, what I meant was I don't disconnect anything.
 
ORIGINAL: Fen

It's in the scuttle in front of the driver with a blue alloy cap on it.
Click to expand...

fairly certain its plastic and its only on models with the boot release where the key works a microswitch. earlier ones that have a cable from the key lock dont have it.
Tony
 
Plastic would make more sense, but it always looked anodised to me. I've never touched it.
 
When starting your car with a battery pack, do not put the negative on the negative terminal, but to a earth point on the body or engine. If you connect the pack to both terminals you run the risk of battery damage and will accelerate the wear of the battery cells.
 
ORIGINAL: cornishgrose

....If you connect the pack to both terminals you run the risk of battery damage and will accelerate the wear of the battery cells.
Click to expand...

Why should this be the case ?

The electrical difference between the negative terminal and the car body is nothing at all except when using the starter motor. The resistance of the lead joining the two up is tiny. So why is one end of it OK and the other not ?
 
Hi
I think I must be blind - i have been out to try and find this front battery terminal and simply cant find it. Dont suppose anyone might have an idiots guide picture to the engine bay and battery terminals do they??

Thanks! Apologies for posting somethign that is probably perfectly obvious!
 
As Tony said only later cars have it. In this early pic of WUF's engine bay from the definitive reference site for 944 photographs [;)] you can see it as the blue thing in the scuttle area in the bottom left. [FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]
944T%207%207.jpg
[FONT=verdana,geneva"]
 
brilliant, thanks Fen - most helpful as always - will try and open my eyes, i am sure i must have one it is a '90 S2 so figuring that is late enough to have one there.
 
My battery has gone flat again! I dont really get to drive the car much during the week so it is left outside to suffer the Scottish cold which is clearly not doing the poor battery any good. One solution would be to drive it more, but if this isn't possible, I was thinking about one of these http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=47902&doy=10m2&C=SEO&U=Template and wondered if anyone had any feedback on them?
I agree Scotland is hardly an obvious choice for solar power charging, but with the huge greenhouse like window on the 944, and the occasional sunny day I thought it can't hurt? The car is kept nowhere near a powerpoint so constant trickle charging might require constant removal of the battery.

 
Well it looks like it will source around 100mA. This is enought to trickle charge a battery as long as there's nothing else on the car pulling more current than that out of the battery - eg the alarm.

Bottom line is, it can only help. But whether it will actually charge the battery or just reduce the discharge depends on the alarm, immobiliser etc. If you want to measure the standing current drain, disconnect the battery +ve lead and put an ammeter between the battery +ve terminal and the lead. Allowing for night-time, cloudy days etc, anything less than around 20mA bodes well for your plan. Anything more and you will just be delaying the inevitable.
 
I have one very similar and it was rubbish. That may be primarily because the car was backed up to the house and therefore in shade a lot of the time through the winter, so maybe I didn't give it a fair run.[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]I thought I had lost it, but it turned out to be on the shelf under the boiler and was unearthed a couple of weeks ago when that leaked.[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]If it still looks OK inside the very water damaged box you can have it for postage.[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]
 
Tracey used to have solar panels to keep the batteries topped up on a boat, they worked well enough during all but the winter.
Fen's offer has to be worth a try.
 
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