360 Battery Charger and Possible Battery Issue

[johnjstewart]

Hi folks.

The charger on my 360 has gone doo lally on me. When not connected to the car but switched on the red light is on and the yellow and green flash on and off. The manual says in fairly broken english that this is a battery under 3V, a short circuit or a fuse - mine is the charger with the cable and custom connector so the only fuse is inside the unit and appears fine - having checked it with a meter and tried another 15amp glass fuse - even though currently it has a 16amp fuse and says 10 amp in print on the circuit board.

When connected to the car it does exactly the same and doesn't appear to be charging.

However, I have tried a battery booster and that didn't fire the car up and we tried to bump start it and the battery is so dead it wouldn't even light the dash up.

I've looked at the battery and it's not obviously a Ferrari one - and I can't see anything in the history to suggest whether it's original or not so could be 8 or 9 years old.

There is a lot of white powder under and around it and so I've gone for a new battery which due to severe weather I haven't fitted yet but am planning to do tomorrow.

So questions are:

1. Does anyone have any experience of these chargers - anyone had the same issue?
2. Any tips on changing the battery which looks like it's going to be tricky due to the cramped space.
3. If the charger etc doesn't sort itself out with a new battery - does anyone know of a repairer. I can't believe they can't be repaired - they are made in Italy but it's just electronics and there's no way I'm paying 600 pounds for a new one. The cable seems to have a positive and negative which I would have thought can be easily connected to a different charger if the amps and volts are correct.

Any advice is very gratefully received.

Thanks.

[Rayman1]

After you change the battery your problems will disappear. Usually when you don't know how old the battery is, that's it. Your charger won't come on because there is not enough voltage in the battery to turn it on. The white powder is sulfation (crystallized acid). Need to clean that off real good with a mixture of water and baking soda.

You should leave the charger on all the time with new battery.

[johnjstewart]

Thanks to everyone who offered assistance.

I'm pleased to say that I've just finished my first real DIY Ferrari repair.

I removed the old battery - not too hard although the terminals were a bit tight, removed the tray it sits on - easy, then cleaned up all the white powder from under the tray. Honestly the car looks like a gang of columbian drug barons have been using it for a mule - the wind blew the dust all over.

Fitted a new Battery from Halfords, 4 year guarantee - £99 excellent. Checked the fuse (no 72) which had blown and replaced it and then started the car.

All well - lovely clean start and less hunting that usual. Car running fine.


Finally re-connected the battery charger and lo and behold - no warning flashing. So conclusion is that the yellow/green always flash when not connected to the car and flash on the car just as the manula says - if the battery is below 3v or if a fuse has gone - the inner fus in the charger or the fuse no 72 behind the left hand seat.

I'm feeling rather good and will now go for a drive!

Have a great weekend or what's left of it.

Thanks again.

John