battery charging

[fatladandy]

I have an intermittant power drain at present, which is causing flat batteries. My question os can i charge the battery throught the jumpstart points under the bonnet as its a pain removing and replacing my lpg tank every time i need to charge the battery

[Don Coffey]

I would say yes.  The terminals at the front are just extensions to the terminals on the battery it's self.

Don

[Raj]

Not a problem at all. I use the jump start points with my C-TEK and its fine.

[X5Sport]

The BMW official stance is they prefer you to only use those jump points for when charging is needed.  ISTR that it says that in the book.  Saves faffing about in the boot too. 

Richard

[pvr]

Charging point under the bonnet are protected, the battery itself is not.

Best place to charge them in other words and avoid spiking any electronics when connecting to the battery direct.

[fatladandy]

Excellent save messing about with the lpg tank then, better get over to my mates and get the charger then.
Cheers for the info guys

[briankerrys47]

Defo can do it under bonnet,also make sure the charger is powerfull enough for engine size cc.(will be quicker charge time) if useing 'Jump' leads again use heavy duty.

[Smeeagain]

I have an additional question regarding this.

I top up my battery with my CTEk charger/conditioner with no problems. however on a couple of occasions I've had  a totally flat battery and when I hook up the CTEK I get problems as the battery starts to charge (presumably due to low voltage issues) - for example the lights start to flash or the alarm goes off intermittently/continuously to the great annoyance of the neighbours. So short of pulling all the fused or removing the battery to charge os there a way to charge the battery without experiencing this problem ?

Smee

[X5Sport]

Can you leave the CTEK connected?  Mine can be left connected, albeit with the manufacturer's normal caveat of 'this equipment should not be left connected when the vehicle is unattended for a period of time' which they use to absolve themselves should anything happen.

Short of putting a battery master switch in, I can't think of any obvious and sensible alternative - disconnecting the battery which is more likely to cause issues given where it is and the PITA that would be.

Richard

[Smeeagain]

Yes I can leave it connected and will do in the future but there is the odd occasion of a
light being left on or whatever that results in a flat battery and its those rare instances that I have the problem with
Smee

[X5Sport]

I think if the battery goes dead then as the charge comes up all hell breaks loose anyway.  No way around it other than a disconnect switch.  Our E46 does the same if I forget to give it its monthly dose of electrons.... :-[

Richard