Steering locking on start-up.

[aphybrid]

Re battery.

Car left for 12 days Edinburgh airport car park first part of this month, no indication of any problem.

[Hugh R]

Thanks for all your very interesting thoughts.   So I've just taken the car out today for a one hour run. On turn on cigarette voltmeter gizmo showed again around 11.6v  On start up it went to 12.3 and within a second to 14.3 where it stayed the whole journey. 
In my case the car never saw the showroom, owning it as soon as it was delivered.
I don't think my case is particularly unusual from many Jazz owners. I live in Canterbury in the centre of the city and have to park in the road so no chance of trickle charge etc.  Also unlikely to want to take the car on extended journeys more than once a month.  So if these non-daily short journeys are not good for the battery (or the car??) and the battery is not very strong, is it possible or sensible, to get a higher rated brand of battery that will keep its charge longer?
Otherwise it's difficult to think of an answer, apart from taking the car on one or two hour trips every week.
And please people, don't suggest selling the car and taking a taxi. I like my clever little Jazz far too much.

[sportse]

One thing you can do is sit in the car with it powered up once a week for maybe 60 minutes (and read the paper/etc.)

The engine won't be running the whole time. If you turn off the climate control it won't run much at all but the 12V battery will be charging all the time the car is powered up - just the same as if you were taking it on a long trip.

It's what I did with my Auris hybrid during lockdown 1, as Toyota 12V batteries are particularly poor and I also can't use a trickle charger.

[Lord Voltermore]

Thanks for all your very interesting thoughts.   So I've just taken the car out today for a one hour run. On turn on cigarette voltmeter gizmo showed again around 11.6v  On start up it went to 12.3 and within a second to 14.3 where it stayed the whole journey. 
In my case the car never saw the showroom, owning it as soon as it was delivered.
I don't think my case is particularly unusual from many Jazz owners. I live in Canterbury in the centre of the city and have to park in the road so no chance of trickle charge etc.  Also unlikely to want to take the car on extended journeys more than once a month.  So if these non-daily short journeys are not good for the battery (or the car??) and the battery is not very strong, is it possible or sensible, to get a higher rated brand of battery that will keep its charge longer?
Otherwise it's difficult to think of an answer, apart from taking the car on one or two hour trips every week.
And please people, don't suggest selling the car and taking a taxi. I like my clever little Jazz far too much.

If you dont have access to power for a trickle charger your best option might be to buy  a jump start power pack.  You could keep it charged up at home.  Probably cost less than a replacement battery. I have my doubts that the smaller  ones can actually start a conventional car, but may work well as a portable  charger to  give the battery a quick top up.

another possibility is a solar powered battery maintenance trickle charger, that plugs into the OBD2 port.  These only give a very low trickle charge,so its not really an alternative to a mains charger, and might struggle in winter.  But quick and easy to plug in and might be enough that you wont ever need to jump start the car .   Ideally have both    I have never used a solar charger and would be interested to hear opinions on them.

[sportse]

I have a portable jump pack - ones the size of a large paperback book can actually start a large engined car... however the problem with many jump packs is that the leads aren't long enough to connect to both the positive battery terminal and to the one earth point the manual says you must use

They are fine on a normal car where you can connect them to the battery terminals, or to a very nearby earth point.

With hybrids, you don't actually need much power at all - just enough to get the correct 12V level to boot up the computers and the big battery then takes over.

I did hear of someone managing to boot up a Prius with just a small pocket battery.

[Hugh R]

another possibility is a solar powered battery maintenance trickle charger, that plugs into the OBD2 port.  These only give a very low trickle charge,so its not really an alternative to a mains charger, and might struggle in winter.  But quick and easy to plug in and might be enough that you wont ever need to jump start the car .   Ideally have both    I have never used a solar charger and would be interested to hear opinions on them.

I had one and used it as you describe on previous car (Mercedes A160, the shape that Honda used for the Jazz) and found it fairly useless so sold it when I bought the Jazz.  Even if I'd kept it I might not use it as so weak and a nuisance to store and plug into OBD2.

[John Ratsey]

I had one and used it as you describe on previous car (Mercedes A160, the shape that Honda used for the Jazz) and found it fairly useless so sold it when I bought the Jazz.  Even if I'd kept it I might not use it as so weak and a nuisance to store and plug into OBD2.

Ideally, a solar charger needs to be positioned where it can get some direct sunshine. The charge generated from ambient light, particularly during the winter, is minimal.

[Kremmen]

My neighbour has a 55 plate Fiesta and does about 200 miles a year ! Just goes to the tip, MOT and service.

He has one on his dash plugged into the fag socket, which must be permanently active. He reckons It keeps his battery topped up.

[Hugh R]

I have a portable jump pack - ones the size of a large paperback book can actually start a large engined car... however the problem with many jump packs is that the leads aren't long enough to connect to both the positive battery terminal and to the one earth point the manual says you must use

I must look at the manual to find where this earth point is. Would it be dangerous to use the jump leads in the normal way i.e. one to plus, one to negative?

[nowster]

I have a portable jump pack - ones the size of a large paperback book can actually start a large engined car... however the problem with many jump packs is that the leads aren't long enough to connect to both the positive battery terminal and to the one earth point the manual says you must use

I must look at the manual to find where this earth point is. Would it be dangerous to use the jump leads in the normal way i.e. one to plus, one to negative?

Probably not, if all you're doing is bootstrapping the ECU and other 12V systems.

[Kremmen]

Where to attach the leads is covered in the manual.

Positive to battery pos and negative to the body, opposite side of the engine somewhere.

[Lord Voltermore]

I've noted what others say about solar chargers  but have ordered a little 3 watt solar maintenance  charger.  This is only about 0.25 amps in good sunlight , but I'm hoping that even in winter it will be enough to replace normal parasitic battery loss or at least delay problems.

It would be better to charge the car properly and give it regular runs  . But covid permitting there is a possibility my car will be unattended for quite long periods.    You can get more powerful panels but then i'd be worried it would over charge.  I'll see how it goes.

 I  may also buy a little 20000 mAh battery pack, which should be enough to power up the jazz systems in an emergency. (Although |I'd rather  prevent it going flat at all.)    £24 wont break the bank  , and it has other uses.
 
I had thought this could also serve as a self contained charger for those who need to keep the battery topped up without mains electricity . On reflection the time spent doing this might  be better spent starting the car up and giving it a run.

[guest9236]

We have used a 10amp 12volt/18 volt solar panel  about the size of an A4 sheet of paper and very slim laying on dashboard for almost 2 years and this has been superb so much in fact that the stop start always working so I suspect it is very much doing the job.
It is plugged into ODB socket with a cable a plug from Halfords.
This setup was recommended by Culzean and has proved superb, during the very long shutdowns and never had a flat battery since.
 May I send  Christmas Greetings to you all and a healthy happy and prosperous New Year.

[Lord Voltermore]

We have used a 10amp 12volt/18 volt solar panel  about the size of an A4 sheet of paper and very slim laying on dashboard for almost 2 years and this has been superb so much in fact that the stop start always working so I suspect it is very much doing the job.
It is plugged into ODB socket with a cable a plug from Halfords.
This setup was recommended by Culzean and has proved superb, during the very long shutdowns and never had a flat battery since.
 May I send  Christmas Greetings to you all and a healthy happy and prosperous New Year.

the 'AA' branded one I ordered on  fleabay  cost £24,and includes an obd2 adapter.  The adapter alone costs £13 in Halfords . If I find I need more amps I only need buy the panel. 

[guest9236]

We have used a 10amp 12volt/18 volt solar panel  about the size of an A4 sheet of paper and very slim laying on dashboard for almost 2 years and this has been superb so much in fact that the stop start always working so I suspect it is very much doing the job.
It is plugged into ODB socket with a cable a plug from Halfords.
This setup was recommended by Culzean and has proved superb, during the very long shutdowns and never had a flat battery since.
 May I send  Christmas Greetings to you all and a healthy happy and prosperous New Year.

the 'AA' branded one I ordered on  fleabay  cost £24,and includes an obd2 adapter.  The adapter alone costs £13 in Halfords . If I find I need more amps I only need buy the panel.

The Halfords adapter  cost a paltry £9.00 when purchased.