D2 flat battery - jump starting.

[mannyo]

Went to start my old D2 this evening and the battery does not have enough power to operate the starter. The interior lights etc. all work.

The car is currently declared SORN and uninsured, so has not been driven on a public road for 2 weeks. Prior to that, its only done short runs for 3 weeks or so.

Once I source some jump leads and a donor battery, how do I jump start the D2. The car is reversed into a parking bay, so it is not possible to get another car alongside to use so I'll have to go direct from a freestanding power source.

Or could I get one of those solar trickle chargers and plug this into the 12V cigarette lighter socket, and leave it there for a few days perhaps.

[HPsauce]

Solar trickle charge won't make any difference, you need a mains one running for a fair few hours.
Can you not get a mains extension lead near enough to run a battery charger sitting in the boot? I've done that before to cars on my driveway.

D2's aren't particularly fussed about flat batteries so I'd borrow a decent-sized one and use it to jump-start if you need to do it quickly.

Ideally get some long, thick jump leads such as AA/RAC use and start it from a car with the engine running. 6m seem to be readily available and the car is about 5m long.

[mannyo]

The car is outside, but yes I can easily get mains power to the boot of the car as long as its dry that is. I may buy a halfords charger, they do several. I guess I need to disconnect the negative lead whilst charging.

I want to get a trickle charger anyway, as I want to update the MMI on my D3 and it seems recommended to hookup a trickle charger.

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by mannyo

I guess I need to disconnect the negative lead whilst charging.

Not really, I've never bothered.
With most chargers you do need to connect (positive first) BEFORE turning them on.

As for dry weather, I just run a long extension out of a window and up over the boot lid at the rear so no connections are exposed. Making sure that the cables are looped downwards so that any rain runs off externally, not into the boot or through the window.
Being careful I then put the socket of the extension on top of something like a box so that it's high up in the boot and there's no chance of water creeping in.
Best place to take the cable in is either bottom corner, there's enough gap.

Or if you have a ski hatch up under the bottom of the rear door (back end, or between front & rear doors ) and through the hatch.

[Dezzy]

You'll be able to get her in neutral Manno and drag her out a bit. If not i have used a jumper pack to start my old girl before, that you'd be able to get in the boot.

[mannyo]

I've purchased a charger, hopefully it will do the job. I won't know until the weekend, since I am not at home where the D2 is.