Help...battery / trickle charger

Leave it over night and you should be good. You could always go to pep boys and pick up a quick charger/jump box and start right away if needed.

 

The charger will get it going. You had enough voltage to run the lights etc but not enough to crank the starter motor. The starter motor is on/off; it will crank or not. It's not the type that will strain to turn over if the voltage is low. When the amber light switches to green you will be ready to go. It should be only a few hours as the Ferrari charger/tender is rated at 3.3 amps, fairly high. But you should have the battery checked. I will bet that it is not holding a charge and will need to be replaced.

 

Why don't you just invest in a decent charger. Schumcker is relatively cheap, easy to use and has a switch to charge regular acid lead, Gel and AGM batteries. Can also aid desulfanating.

 

Why not try jumping it? if it turns over you know the battery is completely toast, drive it straight to the dealer.

If not, then i wonder if something is up with your fuel system...

 

Jump starting a modern Ferrari is not advised. Sensitive electronics may be damaged. If the battery maintainer will not sufficiently recharge the car's battery, it should be removed from the car properly (check the manual for the procedure, it should be in there) and charged with the correct battery charger. If the battery won't accept or keep a charge, it needs replacing.

 

With a low battery initially your trickle charger will have 2 light come on which will be red and yellow. If it begins to take the charge in approx. an hour or so the red will stay on till it charges, then will be replaced with green when charged. Trickle charger at times if have a bad battery will not go to the red mode or will stay with the initial 2 color mode at times for days , then start to blink back and forth. If that happens battery is definitely history. As stated above I would have two chargers on hand , one for maintaining, one for true discharge. Fact that lights still work has nothing to do with cranking power left or health of your battery. As long as voltage is still approx. 9 volts lights will work.

Your problem may not be your battery, but may be the health of your alternator inability to bring the battery up to full charge, then the electronics deplete existing power prematurely. Eventually both the battery and the alternator dies. This is certainly an easy thing to have checked and rectified.

If you chose to jump start you had better Follow your Handbook or you will be in more Trouble and your car will need to be towed and expenses mount!

 

Yes. That is the green light that indicates full charge. Your last post was four hours after your first. The charger should be tailing off by now or soon. Four hours at 3 amps = 12 amp hours, a good fraction of capacity. The battery may not hold a charge but it should start and get you where you can get it tested and replaced. If the battery were completeley sulfanated it would not charge or would be cycling quickly. Patience.

 

Either your battery is toast and/or your alternator is weak. You should not have to keep it charged after only 4 days sitting. I leave mine for months and it's ok.

Easy fix is remove the battery and take it to any battery shop. They can test it correctly. Then take the car and have the alternator tested.

 

You can have the battery tested to see if it needs replacement at a place that sells batteries.

 

Am not sure but would bet not. Power Normal does not cover much if any electricals.
More than likely just the batt.

 

There is a standard battery test which tests for charging and for discharging without load. If your battery weakens in four days so that the starter no longer cranks, either there is excessive discharge from the battery or it does not charge sufficiently when you run the engine. The second of these could also be a faulty alternator but that is relatively rare. As has been suggested you ought to take the battery to a competent dealer for testing. If the battery tests badly you should count yourself lucky and just replace it.

I leave my charger on all the time I am not using the vehicle on the theory that lead-acid batteries do not like deep and repetitive discharges. There is a lot of computer stuff running in the vehicle and F430s are notorious for batteries.

 

Hey. Sorry to hear you are having the same issues. My batt does not die for 12 days of non use. It could probably go longer. I have mine on charger right now, don't think it's temp dependent. Something else is going on. My gt3 took an overnight to fully charge a dead battery. If you want you can borrow my charger, maybe it's the Ferrari charger issue.

 

Have you checked the fuse for the battery charger? Similar thing happened to mine where it didn't charge after 4 hours and I checked the fuses and what do you know it had blown... check the manual for which fuse but for me it was in the fuse compartment behind the passenger seat (keep in mind my car is UK so RHD). The toolbox will have a replacement fuse if it has blown.

Just my 2cents

Happy new year all!!

 

I thought it was any jump starting is unadvised, but if the dealer said using a jump box is safe, then it's probably fine. Knowing how sensitive the electronics are though, I'd still be a bit leery about using one.

 

OK so far. Keep it on the charger until you get to a dealer. It will start. Again the odds are great that all you need is a new one. It should take a standard European battery (Interstate about $150-180).

The Ferrari charger is actually a 'conditioner.' It cycles the battery every once in awhile to simulate a load which in turn helps prevent sulfanation. Your 'manual' should show representative graphs that represent this cylcing. The unit is provided with the car because they know that many people do not use Ferraris for long times.

The 458 group has a thread on this http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=348280&highlight=battery+charger There is wide agreement that the unit is made by CTEK (in China). There is some controversey about how good it is relative to more sophisticated ones. It works for me.

 

"Unlike the last time, my radio did NOT need to have the code entered. When I turned on the radio, it worked. The clock however did need to be reset."

The clock needing reset indicates that your battery was discharged pretty far down, consistent with its needing a long charge. You said that you still had lights so I am surprised that the clock fell behind. In any event you will certainly need to change the battery. If the battery had been only mildly discharged -- say down to 9-10 volts, the starter would not crank but you would still have accessories, but if it fell below that the clock would start to fall behind and the lights would be dim.

I actually leave my car unlocked in my garage just to reduce current draw from the alarm system and to head off being unable to unlock it in the event of total electrical failure. To each his own.