My 2013 Cooper JCW is showing 11.9 volts on a multimeter and the car's apparent response to this is to restrict the heater to the lowest fan speed. This is obviously not fun when the temperature is in the negative teens. Tried to hook a charger up to it but they really don't make it easy to get an alligator clip on the terminals. Does this car have remote terminals, or do you actually have to disconnect the battery from the car in order to charge it?

I've also heard that jumpstarting or connecting a charger can short the FRM, which I really don't have the money to get re-coded right now. Is there a way to avoid that?

(Also, just generally nice to have a car that responds to extreme cold temperatures by restricting the heater to about where you'd want it on a cloudy summer day. If I lived in, say, Fairbanks, where it's -40 today and has gotten as low as -66 in the past, this could be life-threatening. You'd think, with how brutal winters supposedly are in Germany, BMW of all manufacturers would have thought better of that one, but oh well.)

 

Edit: Incorrect answer from ChatGPT deleted.

 

Good to know. Does anyone know if using a charger on those will kill the FRM? (I don't trust ChatGPT for something like that)

 

Unless you hook up the
battery backwards or
use a 48v battery by
mistake, the FCM should
be fine.

 

That picture above looks like a hacked up MINI engine. lol Never even seen one like that.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...battery-431458

The battery is under the cowl and with some small alligator clips you can reach it under the cowl flap. You can also buy kits that have little eyelets to add to your battery terminals and then connect the little plug that connects to the alligators. Then you just plug it when the car sets. Tuck the wire back in box when not in use and you dont have to use the alligators.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-schwaben.../005979sch01a/



Take the cowl out on the one side and you can reach it and it comes out with just a bolts and a plastic nut and snaps out.


Most charges have a built in systems so they dont reverse polarity https://www.ecstuning.com/b-noco-parts/

I run one on my R58 and use my on my R52 all the time when stored.

 

Haha...I thought it was a JCW thing. Do only 2nd gen European MINIs have trunk batteries and under hood jump start/charging connectors?

 

Chat GPT is horribly wrong in this case. I don’t know which engine by that is, but it for sure is NOT an 2013 JCW…

Open the cowl flap on the passenger side, and the battery terminals are right there.

 

I've seen UK MINI YouTube videos where the battery is in the trunk and jump start/charging connectors are under the hood.

 

R53 had the battery in the trunk, All second gen cars have the battery in the cowl area

 

Thats an AI image that is wrong.

All euro and USA MINIs. I know some of the Diesel MINI just have a slight different set up.
Gen 1 Cooper S/JCW have a trunk battery with front jumper points. Gen 1 Cooper have in the engine bay and close lid with positive jumper cap.
Gen 2 under cowl only.
Gen 3 MINIs in front engineer bay and insulated with RED terminal jumper and strut mount ground.
I dont think chat GPT will know that

 

 

 

It's not so much reversing the polarity that I'm worried about, it's that I have one of those charger/booster/starters that plugs into a wall outlet (hence the full-size alligator clips that won't fit on an installed battery in this car). It tries to make decisions about necessary power levels (i.e. charge vs. boost vs. start) automatically, so if the battery is low then this thing might hit it with a ton of power at least initially.

I'm not surprised it was throwing discharge warnings considering yesterday morning was the hardest time it'd ever had starting; the initial cranks were insanely slow and even once it got started it sputtered a couple of times. This morning was much warmer; the first couple of cranks still felt a little labored, and the engine sounded like it was missing a little once I started turning on lights, heaters, etc. but the discharge warning was gone, the heater fully worked, and after idling for a few minutes it sounded normal. Second trip I made today, I think the starter was still slightly slow on the draw* but no sputtering or missing and no further warnings. Seems that this car wasn't made for cold temperatures at all, and that last cold snap ended just in time.

*I don't think this is the same as the "long crank" symptomatic of a failing timing chain; the engine usually catches in three "cranks" if I remember correctly, but in this weather those three cranks feel slower and more labored than I remember.

 

Here is my solution to connecting to a trickle charger using an inexpensive connector. Perfect fit since its also just above the battery.

 

@Maybe, maybe not
I just came across this thread, luckily njaremka saved the picture by quoting it.

It makes me question both your knowledge on the issues you have so far commented on in other threads as well as your ability to identify obviously untrue data.

I'd be grateful if you could add notes to any of your posts (everywhere on the forum), for which you used any AI or otherwise unchecked sources of information. Thank you.

 

Hey George, let me be the first to welcome you to a public car forum.

 

That's a cracking idea! Will have to fit one of those myself.