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FK8 Battery Charging

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49
I would like to charge the car battery at home.
Could anybody advise me if I need to disconnect the battery?
What problems might I encounter on reconnection if I do need to disconnect?

Thanks
Dave
 
I dont see why you cant charge it with it still being attached (still in the car).

I charged my battery over the last few months (not a Civic) with the battery still wired in with no issues (that I can tell).

Happy to be corrected though.
 
The battery on the fk8 is a little weak and soon goes flat if the car is not used regularly.
Page 713 of the owners manual states that the battery should be disconnected before charging. However, if you do this, you will get the full Christmas tree warning light display on restarting the car on reconnection, and the ecu will spend the first few minutes of the next drive having to re-learn all the systems.
I couldn’t be bothered with that hassle on my 2018 fk8, so use a CTEK msx 5.0 battery maintainer without disconnecting. Been doing it regularly for 3 years now with no problems. Bear in mind that if you do charge without disconnecting the battery, that you do so at your own risk because of the requirement in the manual.
Worth noting that most dealers will connect a similar maintainer to your car whilst they work on it to avoid handing the cars back to customers with flat batterries.
If you do decide to charge without disconnecting, you would have to use a good quality battery maintainer such as the CTEK msx 5.0 though, not just any old charger.
 
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Many thanks for this. I will be getting hold of a Ctek charger. I thought that this might be the way to go, but your replies have removed any nagging doubts.

Cheers

Dave
 
I've disconnected my battery to charge it after it was standing and not being used early lockdown. Only issue I had was the car re-syncing with the key for the immobilizer, to do this just hold the key close to the starter button.
Funny thing was, my dealer said not to disconnect the battery! And they didn't know how to re-sync either!
I learnt about it from having to call the AA tech team
 
I've disconnected my battery to charge it after it was standing and not being used early lockdown. Only issue I had was the car re-syncing with the key for the immobilizer, to do this just hold the key close to the starter button.
Funny thing was, my dealer said not to disconnect the battery! And they didn't know how to re-sync either!
I learnt about it from having to call the AA tech team

ooh didn't know that would work, I had to replace the battery in the keyfob yesterday and found it had lost association with the car. So followed a google procedure that involved getting in the car with both keys, and then within 5 seconds of pressing the ingition button (but not actually staring the car) you hit the lock button on the fob I had just replaced the battery in and it worked.

that said, the new fob might have just been close (less than 1 metre) to the ignition button when I turned it "on" so it could've been that too.
 
Yes the CTEK MXS 5.0 is great for just leaving on the car without disconnecting the battery.
I've had one connected to my car for the last few years.
A decent quality one like the above would be best, some of the cheaper ones you run the risk of back-feed through the rectifier :p (as a budget battery charger manufacturer once told me lol)
 
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