Accumate charger vs Ford Focus?

[northwind]

This is probably a stupid question but I've got an Accumate Optimiser in the garage, and a pretty dead battery in this Snowfocus:


(pic is from 9 days ago and it's been snowed on every day since! But allegedly there's a thaw on the way and I'm hoping to use it on saturday)

I can't easily get to the battery because of all that snow, but I can get into the car now via the boot after a lot of shovelling. And I've got an Accumate with a 12V adaptor on it. So, any reason I can't just plug it into the cigarette lighter socket and leave it charging? I can't think of any but I know very little about cars other than that this one is a bit annoyed with me for burying it (we had to dig out the silver one and the snow had nowhere else to go!)

[mattSV]

I used an optimate a couple of weeks ago on my mates Ferrari F430 overnight, which worked a treat. I don't see why it wouldn't work on a focus, unless the battery is completely fubar'd

[Gazza77]

I suspect you may have one problem. The charger will probably only work if the 12v socket is permanantly live. If it requires the ignition to power anything, then I would expect that you'd need to leave the keys in the ignition to be able to charge it.

The charger itself works fine on car batteries, I used it last winter to charge my MX5 after a couple of months without use. It does take longer than for the bike battery, but that's only expected due to the size.

[the_lone_wolf]

Prettty sure 12v socket is live when the ignition is off on the Focus so should work if you have the right cables...

as long as it has no diodes in the + line it will work

[northwind]

Yeah, it's always on- I've run a pressure washer off it with the ignition off. That's good news then, thanks folks! (guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow when I get home from work...)

[Gazza77]

Originally Posted by northwind

Yeah, it's always on- I've run a pressure washer off it with the ignition off. That's good news then, thanks folks! (guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow when I get home from work...)

Must be a Jap thing, neither my Mazda nor Suzuki are live without a key in them. Strange, especially as the Suzuki has three 12v sockets, including one in the boot. Anyway....

As a word of warning, if the battery is completely dead, expect it to take anything up to 24 hours + for it to be fully charged.

[northwind]

It's not totally flat, but very weak... I gave it a few cranks but I could hear it fading so quit while I was, er, behind.

[Gazza77]

Originally Posted by northwind

It's not totally flat, but very weak... I gave it a few cranks but I could hear it fading so quit while I was, er, behind.

Sounds like my bike nearly every time I try to use it. Having an optimate is one thing, having somewhere to plug it in nearer than 50 metres from the garage is quite another.

[the_lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by northwind

It's not totally flat, but very weak... I gave it a few cranks but I could hear it fading so quit while I was, er, behind.

My TDCi cranks slowly after a sub-zero night but it's never failed to start first time after a couple of seconds, iirc yours is Diesel too?

If you hear a clunk or other loud noise as the engine catches beware as the dual mass flywheel can be damaged, the culprit on mine was the starter motor...