Dead battery following alarm/electrical oddities

Notanumber wrote:

You are doing very well, dont knock yourself at all. You have asked, you listened, you have looked how to apply that knowledge and you have learned. That's how all of us on built up knowledge and confidence.

Well done for uncovering the boot hinge wiring problems. Unless you have already been to buy the cable I would suggest you order a metre of automotive wire in each required colour rather than general wire from a general DIY store. Wire made for automotive use is a bit more flexible which is quite important for the hinge area which is subject to vibration and movement. The insulation layer is thinner but more durable than ordinary knock about wire. It's also best to match the existing colours. Joint are best soldered and covered with heat shrink tubing

On my way to B&Q I thought about whether or not I should get automotive wire specifically. With needing to be mobile in the car this weekend if I can, I opted to get something cheap for now to give me a temporary fix (and to confirm that the broken loom is the cause), and then the specific automotive wire I've ordered should be here for me to replace it all during the week next week. 

For shat read should, I am full of remorse for this interruption in poetic flow. Even blank verse is now affected by “ageing fat finger syndrome” coupled with reduced optical function & spell check.
It’s interesting that shat is in my spell check library, I don’t remember a text where I found myself referring to a French cat.
My most humble apologies.
M

Intriguing how we got from the prose of boot hinge wiring to poetry of French cats and Aussie underpants. It's these things that are guaranteedto make every visit to the forum an entertaining high point of the day.

One point on auto wiring & colours. There are still general suppliers of these cables in regular colours & colour/tracer but I haven’t found any supplies of those really odd combinations (yellow/pink+black dot).
However if you have a good & accommodating car dismantlers I your area, I’ve found them happy for you to cut the “blood vessels” out of dead cars.
Go for non CANBUS vehicles & look for the front to back loom plus the ventricles around its electronic heart.
I’m still working out of a £5-00 bag harvested years ago.
M

It's ok, I won't say "I told you so". That boot hinge wiring has had many people pulling their hair out!
On the battery charger front, they have become too intelligent for their own good!🤣 A really depleted battery is beyond their little brains...
I have a deliberately "dumb" charger, no electronics just good old fashioned electrical grunt. 
The trick of putting  a decent battery in parallel usually tricks  the "intelligence" to stop being a numpty!😋

Cobber wrote:

I'm not a chap...I'm a bloke....we don't do chaps in Oz!

Mind you, up in Oxford Street Sydney there are plenty of blokes that do chaps.....but that's another matter entirely!

David Aiketgate wrote:-
In the green sylvan paradise that is Cumbria, we refer to someone of the masculine gender as a Gadgie.
and a less than attractive person of the female gender as a buwer.🤣 
 

A friend who was native to Keswick would use those endearing terms, I’d know him for some time before I realised their true significance.
One aside about my friend Miles was his method of poaching pheasants; silent & wholly successful.
Bird seed I abundance on a wire mesh grid, pair of long wires & an electronic inverter would up to fifteen. Watch from a distance, through binoculars & then press the button.
The bird would be part plucked part drawn & part cooked.
God bless you Miles.
M

Update, and hopefully the last I need to make.

This morning I went out to the car and got everything open and out for me to get to work on the loom. I'd left the battery out of the car all night, so once I had my tools and stuff out, I was curious to see what the tester would show. Tester showed 9.9V, ok not where it should be but at least it's not giving me problems like it was before. I then decided to put the charger back on to see if it was still being dumb, and to my surprise instead of saying 100% and turning itself off, it showed it was between 75% and 100% and then proceeded to start charging the battery, result!

So, whilst that charged for a bit, I got to work on the loom. Like I said yesterday, I needed the car to be usable today and tomorrow and so I was only doing a temporary fix for now until the other stuff I need arrives during the week. After about 2, maybe 2 and a half hours, I connected the last cable. My hands were sore given the huge lack of space in that area, and with the cables having no slack at all you're at the mercy of how little room there is. I'd removed the boot off the hinge temporarily to bring the loom to the other side to make it easier. Once done, I got in the car with the key and held my breath as I waited to see if that was the only thing I needed to fix.

I put the key in and turned it, nothing. No lights, no sounds. Then, in the corner of my eye, I saw the stupid battery still sat there in the garage on charge! My mistake out of the way, I put the battery in, and as soon as I heard the little spark of the negative terminal touching, I knew I was getting somewhere. Back in the car, ignition on and we were a go.

I tidied everything back up, got the loom back on the correct side of the hinge and tightened that back up before taking her for a little drive just to make sure the power wasn't going to vanish over the first bump. Everything went well, and after a stop at McDonalds for lunch, all was ok.

Next week I'll have to remove it all again anyway to do a more permanent fix still I suspect, but I'm happy and I'm thankful for all the advice and input everyone had on this thread. It's this sort of engagement and community that keeps these cars alive.

Good to se you're getting results!

"then out of the corner of my eye I saw the stupid battery still sat there in the garage on charge"

Those are the best mistakes because you know instantly what the fault is!!  Well done mate...the guys on here pointed you in the right direction and you got through it.
Brilliant outcome.

Right, you are now the “go to” man on boot wiring & you’ve been a member for how long?
There you go, just get on with the jobs that require attention, as you’ve seen there are lots of folk who are happy to help, what could possibly go wrong?
Oh! Possibly sparks, a bit of smouldering, possibly a flame, a flame spreading to a petrol soaked rag, nothing more serious.
We’ll not after the fire brigade has gone & you’ve looked at the insurance small print.
NO I’m only ribbing you, but it illustrates what could happen if you don’t concentrate on the job in hand & constantly.
M