battery querie

[bikerbadge]

Hi there sorry to ask a dumb question but id rather be sure before i do things lol so im just wandering if it is ok to charge the battery whilst its still hooked up to the car or do i need to dissconect it totally, the battery is quite new but a blown fuel pump n all this cold has kicked the ass out of it n now starting to sruggle in a morning
thanks paul

[HDI]

It's fine to charge the battery on the car and connected. The thing to be careful of is big jump start chargers on more modern cars with lots of ECU's which can be damaged by voltage spikes.

[Monkeyfeet]

I'm too lazy to disconnect the battery (and then have to reset the radio etc, much too much work) and have never had any problems. Agree with HDI though - I always connect the battery first, then plug the charger in to avoid sparks around the battery. I use a low power charger and leave all night. I have occasionally used a big jump starter and taken the same precautions, again with no ill effects.
Also if a C5 then it may not be too keen on low battery starts, can chuck up some strange fault codes, may get some quotes for a new battery?

[bikerbadge]

yeah sorry its a c5 2002 2.0 hdi i havent yet had any codes coming up but its just starting to feel a bit struggling so im gunna give it a bit more life thanks for the help guys

[myglaren]

yeah sorry its a c5 2002 2.0 hdi i havent yet had any codes coming up but its just starting to feel a bit struggling so im gunna give it a bit more life thanks for the help guys

May not be the battery.
I bought a replacement for the original Varta battery and it is no different.
Don't do what I did and just buy another, get yours tested first.

Mine struggles a lot and eventually I will find out why.

They do suffer from starter motor problems but I think mine may be due to corrosion on the terminals for the battery/starter/alternator and earth points or perhaps the leads need to be replaced.

[HDI]

Starter motor issues afflicted my HDI a few years ago, it was badly worn brushes and loads of carbon dust. The symptoms were almost exactly like a weak battery, the give away is the end of the starter motor gets very hot very quickly !! Rather than bin or exchange the Mitsubishi starter for an inferior make though, I rebuilt it.