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Ford Focus Diesel MY2013 - Battery charging - Carmark
Hi,
This is my first time on forum so please bear with me.
Can anyone advise me how to charge the battery on this car?
I tried charging yesterday using the visible positive terminal and the visible earth post which is adjacent to the battery. You can't easily get to the negative terminal as it is positioned under the bulkhead. After several hours my battery was still flat. Help please!
Ford Focus Diesel MY2013 - Battery charging - RobJP

That is the correct way to go about it.

How high a capacity is your charger ?

Do be aware that diesel cars need quite a bit of 'oomph' from the battery to get them going. A small charger might not provide enough power to do this in a few hours, and might need a day or so.

Alternatively, the battery itself might be kaput, or something else might be taking power off the battery (so as you charge it, something else is instantly draining it).

Ford Focus Diesel MY2013 - Battery charging - Peter.N.

Have you actually checked for voltage across the battery terminals? Could be that you have a bad earth connection. You should be able to connect the negative lead to anywhere that's earthed e.g. engine or body. Check between the negative battery connection and earth, there shouldn't be any voltage, if there is that's your problem.

Ford Focus Diesel MY2013 - Battery charging - skidpan

Don't most batteries today need a special charger. An old charger is probably not capable of charging one.

Ford Focus Diesel MY2013 - Battery charging - jc2

Don't most batteries today need a special charger. An old charger is probably not capable of charging one.

OLD battery chargers will charge batteries that modern chargers won't even look at;no sophisticated electronics-just a transformer and a couple of diodes.My 50+ year old "Marble Arch Motor Supplies" works well!

Ford Focus Diesel MY2013 - Battery charging - Galaxy

"Marble Arch Motor Supplies" - Wow, that's a name from the past!

Ford Focus Diesel MY2013 - Battery charging - FP

"OLD battery chargers will charge batteries that modern chargers won't even look at..."

This is a good point. I once had a battery that wouldn't take a charge from one of the more modern chargers that senses various things about the battery and varies its charge rate accordingly. I assumed that there was so little left in the battery that some clever piece of technology stopped all charging.

I used an old charger for an hour, then switched back to the modern one. Magic! Got a good charge in a few hours.

Mind you, the battery was on the way out anyway, but at least I got the car to start.

Ford Focus Diesel MY2013 - Battery charging - RT

Don't most batteries today need a special charger. An old charger is probably not capable of charging one.

OLD battery chargers will charge batteries that modern chargers won't even look at;no sophisticated electronics-just a transformer and a couple of diodes.My 50+ year old "Marble Arch Motor Supplies" works well!

+1 and some old chargers were smart, even though they used a transformer and diodes - I had a Gunson that was permanently connected in our caravan for 17 years - in that time extending the life of two car batteries that had already done 8 years on a car - by another 8-9 years.

Just regular Vauxhall zero maintenance batteries - they were built well in those days.

Ford Focus Diesel MY2013 - Battery charging - KenC

If the car is driveable take it to your local car spares shop or halfords, most places that sell batterys will test your battery for Free.

If the battery is original being only 2 years old it should still give you several years good service unless you are only driving short distances which may not replace the charge used to start the car

If its not driveable because it will not start I would find my radio code, then after checking the owners manual for any guidance relating to charging or changing the battery I would disconnect the battery and carefully look for the earth strap ( leading from the negative terminal of battery)

Clean the battery terminals with fine wire wool or a small wire brush and do the same to the earth strap.

Using a suitable battery charger charge the battery for several hours, ensure all terminals are clean then re connected and try to start it.

disconnect the negative connection before the positive, or you may cause damage to the vehicle’s electrical system. reconnect positive cable first