Technical Help newbie please with battery connections!

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Technical Help newbie please with battery connections!

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Hi all, thanks for reading!
I've got a 2011 fiat 500 lounge. The battery goes flat if I don't drive it for more than 4 days so I got a smart charger to charge it up fully at home. Got the battery out OK, disconnecting black first then red.
Unfortunately now I've come to put it back, I've found I disconnected sone wires that didn't need disconnecting and now I don't know where to put them. I know the black and red clip goes on the negative pole at the end but I'm left with one black connector which I thought went on the negative terminal, but a bolt which only fits on the positive terminal.
Please ease please could anyone save me from this terrible humiliation!
 

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Hi

Pictures are handy..

Here is one I took of my twinair a while back

The black seems to have a plug and circular clip.on connection to the main Negative clamp

The positive has the main cable running down almost out of sight

And the 2 x smaller black cables running across the top of battery
 

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pixie67

Looks like you were not too far away :)

Your battery..

4 days to drain isnt good :(

(That twinair is on the original 2012 battery.. and stands for weeks)

Lots of prople are now having thoughts of disconnecting the Blue and Me to stop these drains.. :eek:
No doubt cold weather and inactivity have highlighted these failings ;)
 
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A couple of pix of my 2013 Twinair for reference too. The small blue connector on the positive goes to the subbie and the extra red one nearest camera is from the CTEK charger plug - otherwise standard..
 

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Thanks guys, you're amazing! I'll try this when I get back tomorrow and let you know how I go! It's so lovely to have people so willing to give help, and so quickly!
I know varese crazy, the battery's terrible, I wish I could shut off the start stop or have a normal battery, I only changed it 18 months ago, but I tend to do a lot of short trips, so doesn't get fully charged.
 
Hi lovely peeps, thank you for all your help, I connected it up like so and it started up with a vroom, and the battery is fully charged yey!
Every time I start the car I switch off the SS with the button, so I don't even know if it works. When I've forgotten, it's never actually stopped the engine.
Is the Exide battery OK? I got the car second hand and the first battery kept cutting out completely at junctions especially up a slight incline. I'd have to completely restart it. At that point I hated my car, but it's OK now.
Before the fiat I had two ancient Suzuki Balenos (1995 and 2001)They looked appalling but they just kept going and going, never went wrong, always passed the MOT, finally defeated by rust, but so so reliable.
 

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Hi lovely peeps, thank you for all your help, I connected it up like so and it started up with a vroom, and the battery is fully charged yey!
Every time I start the car I switch off the SS with the button, so I don't even know if it works. When I've forgotten, it's never actually stopped the engine.
Is the Exide battery OK? I got the car second hand and the first battery kept cutting out completely at junctions especially up a slight incline. I'd have to completely restart it. At that point I hated my car, but it's OK now.
Before the fiat I had two ancient Suzuki Balenos (1995 and 2001)They looked appalling but they just kept going and going, never went wrong, always passed the MOT, finally defeated by rust, but so so reliable.

Pleased to hear it's sorted!

Must be a pain switching off S/S every trip. If you're not using it there's no reason you can't fit an 'ordinary' battery rather than the EFB type; mine ran on one for three years when FIAT (!) fitted it and I was ignorant of the difference. S/S actually worked too. I did eventually replace it with an EFB type when it started to get a little 'tired'.
 
Hi, good to know piccolo! I was wondering, I'd heard S/S batteries run down quickly. I'll ask the garage to check it when I go for MOT in Feb!
 
Hi, good to know piccolo! I was wondering, I'd heard S/S batteries run down quickly. I'll ask the garage to check it when I go for MOT in Feb!

I doubt EFB's run down any more quickly than standard batteries, less quickly if anything I would imagine, but the FIAT S/S system demands the battery be at least 100%:rolleyes:, otherwise it won't work or will only stop the engine for ever-shorter periods. Short journeys and a cold climate will damage it, as will standing uncharged for long periods (when I bought my car, brand new in 2013, the S/S would only stop the car for seconds before firing it up again - it turned out the car was in storage, uncharged, for ten months before it was delivered to me!).

My current EFB is over three years old now and the S/S works perfectly if I choose to use it - but during the months of lockdown here I did keep it constantly connected to the CTEK charger.

It does sound like you may have something draining your battery but getting your mechanic to test it for maintaining charge might be a good idea too.
 
The car is a lounge, I suspect the "blue and me" issue could be the root cause?

John 202020,Well I'd gladly do without that, the voice recognition is really bad. Even in a stationary car, I'm shouting Call Elsie (or something) and get "Calling Virgin Media" or some other random thing! Never tried that again!
 
I doubt EFB's run down any more quickly than standard batteries, less quickly if anything I would imagine, but the FIAT S/S system demands the battery be at least 100%:rolleyes:, otherwise it won't work or will only stop the engine for ever-shorter periods. Short journeys and a cold climate will damage it, as will standing uncharged for long periods (when I bought my car, brand new in 2013, the S/S would only stop the car for seconds before firing it up again - it turned out the car was in storage, uncharged, for ten months before it was delivered to me!).

My current EFB is over three years old now and the S/S works perfectly if I choose to use it - but during the months of lockdown here I did keep it constantly connected to the CTEK charger.

It does sound like you may have something draining your battery but getting your mechanic to test it for maintaining charge might be a good idea too.

Thanks Piccolo, I do lots of very short trips so expect the battery doesn't get fully charged that often. No wonder the SS doesn't work. Not that I want it to, it'd freak me out!
Anyway, now I know how to get the battery out I can just charge it overnight if I haven't driven it in a while! Yay!
 
Our car gets driven very short trips usually with the odd 30 mile run we've never had a battery discharge issue and can sit weeks without serious degradation, any car that goes flat after days or a week has some sort of drain?

Either that or the battery can't hold a charge.

If a faulty Blue&Me module is draining the battery does it still function or is it completely kaput?
 
Thanks Piccolo, I do lots of very short trips so expect the battery doesn't get fully charged that often. No wonder the SS doesn't work. Not that I want it to, it'd freak me out!
Anyway, now I know how to get the battery out I can just charge it overnight if I haven't driven it in a while! Yay!

What kind of charger are you using?

I've no issues with the voice recognition, though to be fair I don't really use it often. You do have to speak loudly and clearly, especially when under way with the roof down. It struggles with my wife's accent but then so does the new Mazda (and even me at times...!).
 
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