"low Battery" message.

[wolfie]

Odd one this, not seen it before. With all the Covid restrictions the cars been getting very little use. It's been sat in the garage for a couple of weeks at a time without moving. Longer than that and I do take it out for a run to blow the cobwebs out and to try and put a little back into the battery. That appears to have done the trick so far. This morning I needed to use the car, it cranked over a little slower than normal but fired up first turn as usual.

While sitting in the car on the car park I was listening to the radio. The speakers gave a little tone and a "Low Battery" message popped up on the radio display. Car started perfectly when I set off.

My money is on the car needing a substantial run to put some charge back into the battery. That said car is 10 years old and on it's original battery. I had a quick measure with a multimeter when I got home and I'm seeing 12.18V across the battery terminals (engine off)

Wut you reckon, suck it and see or time to invest in a new battery. Battery wise, who are OEM suppliers or who makes a decent battery. (std, not start-stop)

[RUM4MO]

Varta is one OEM supplier of battery to VW Group - which brand of battery did VW fit into your car, maybe Varta or Moll or Exide or ??.

Tayna batteries online tend to offer good or best prices and they sell Varta among other brands, as we have a Costco card, I try there first for a price, they sell Bosch batteries which are made by Varta and have a 5 year warranty whereas Varta tends to have a 4 year warranty - though to be honest, if I found Varta available cheaper than Bosch, I'd just buy the Varta equivalent.

As usual most brands sell at least a couple of their own brands at differing prices. I am not too sure about Yuasa - they should be good, but I've read about a few people getting let down by them.

My plan, currently, is to replace the EFB battery in my wife's 2015 Polo SEL with stop/start with the AGM version and the next size up as that is a more popular size and slightly cheaper from Tayna batteries, to do that though you need to replace the battery platform and the insulation - so if you are not keeping that car much longer, that might not be a good plan - but I've started preparing for changing batteries and I already have the bigger battery platform and insulator!

Edit:- I'm guessing that buying a smart charger and using it once a week is not possible or convenient, this current situation will be leading to lots of people ending up with duff batteries due to lack of use, we are lucky in as much as both cars live in a garage, and tend to get connected to smart chargers/battery maintenance as soon as they are back in the garage, my own car is 10 years old almost and its (AGM) battery is still okay.

[wolfie]

Edit:- I'm guessing that buying a smart charger and using it once a week is not possible or convenient, this current situation will be leading to lots of people ending up with duff batteries due to lack of use, we are lucky in as much as both cars live in a garage, and tend to get connected to smart chargers/battery maintenance as soon as they are back in the garage, my own car is 10 years old almost and its (AGM) battery is still okay.

To be honest I've been mulling over whether to treat myself to a smart-charger for ages. I very nearly pulled the trigger on a CTEK 5.0, for Christmas, but my PC started playing up so the money got diverted there instead. Plus I'm not sure which path is actually the smart buy. New battery, or smart charger to squeeze a little more life out of my current battery. At the moment I'm leaning towards a new battery, as I've mentioned mine is almost 10 years old so it's done pretty well.

Not sure what the original battery is yet, other than it's black and squarish. I intend to take a look in the morning. I did have a quick measure and it has a 207 X175mm footprint, cant see what it's rated at without removing the insulator/wrap. For no other reason than I've had them in the past I was looking at Excide or Bosch as a replacement. There appear to be lots of folk selling "Yuasa" which is not a name I'm familiar with at all, plus they are silver-grey which to my eyes would look a little odd in my engine bay. (Not that it makes a scrap of difference to how they function.)

[RUM4MO]

As far as the visual looks of the battery are concerned, I think that unless you buy a genuine VW Group battery or a quite cheap one, you will end up with a battery that shouts "not genuine part".

That even annoyed me a bit when I was looking after my daughter's previous car, a late 2009 Ibiza, my previous car a 2000 VW Passat 4Motion had its battery hidden away under a water shield in front of the windscreen, and my current car is a 2011 Audi S4 and its battery hides under the boot floor, all 3 of these batteries were Bosch sourced from Costco, the S4 one has still to be fitted, it was bought during a 15% discount period and I'll be happier once I have changed the battery in that 10 year old car, especially when we are free to go on holiday away from home!

Battery versus smart charger:- a difficult call which could be influenced by just how much longer you are going to keep that car, and/or just how long is your car going to end up not being used much.

An ex-work friend, has a C3 petrol model, it is maybe 8 years old, it is always kept in a small garage that does not have power, currently that car is only used for short shopping trips.
By about May last year, he had his first "not starting", another ex-work friend drove round with a booster battery and got he going, my first suggestion based on initial cost and availability, was to grab a starter pack with a built in battery from his local Halfords - I had checked that they had one in stock.
He bought that jump pack and used it a few times but quickly declared that it was a nuisance to have to keep in his car, so he bought an expensive compact jump pack, capacitor based type, and that worked very well for him and many of his neighbours!
When things opened up a bit more in the summer, he eventually went and got a new battery fitted, not being the sort of person that bothers to do messy things with cars, he went to a quick kit battery type place, reading between the lines, he has successfully bought himself a cheap brand of battery and one with much lower capacity than the one that Citroen fitted at factory - and paid top dollar for it.
Currently he has moved back into needing to use his compact jump pack, so I think that he will be about £200 down and still needing to use a jump starter in cold weather. In his case a lot of that is due to he not being able to use a smart charger due to no power at remote lockup and no space to park outside his front door - worst case scenario I'd think, and many others will be in a similar situation and aging/killing their batteries at the same time.

[d-ash]

My 2016 R-Line is doing the same due to lack of use. Message on dashboard says 'charge battery by driving', which I do and the message goes away for another few weeks. Just a symptom of lack of use. I wouldn't panic buy a battery just yet.

[wolfie]

My 2016 R-Line is doing the same due to lack of use. Message on dashboard says 'charge battery by driving', which I do and the message goes away for another few weeks. Just a symptom of lack of use. I wouldn't panic buy a battery just yet.

I don't think you're wrong. I think it's probably a combination of the car having spent more time standing than moving this year That and it's winter. It's been significantly colder the past couple of weeks. I'll have a little look later today at what sort of money a new battery is. Mine is only a standard wet battery so shouldn't be a fortune. As I've mentioned, current battery is very nearly 10 years old so has done OK, considering the vast majority of my journeys are pretty short. Plus with lockdown you can't really jump in and take it for a good run out for a day. (unless I circle home a dozen or so times, LOL)

I'm guessing you have the MFD on the R-Line. Message appeared on my radio display which surprised me, didn't even know it was a function.

[wolfie]

Just a quickie. Are there any little booby-traps that may catch me out when swapping batteries. Or is it as it was in the good ole days and just a matter of switching over batteries with the 6R0?
Iirc the radio is coded to the car so numbers to find or remember??

[RUM4MO]

@Wolfie, your car being a 6R, should only need the electric windows limits reset - if even that as I think that things might have changed on that front.

Yes the radio is known to the car, only the stored fuel computer values will get lost.

In theory, the engine might not start as cleanly-quickly as it previously did initially, but after it has been allowed to warm up at idle then driven roughly 10 miles under varying load and road speed conditions, the engine's ECU will have collected enough data to be back to normal.

I've only ever frequently removed the battery from a late 2009 Ibiza 1.4 16V petrol engine, and it did not exhibit any roughness at all from the engine running after its first engine start and driving after a battery removal.

[wolfie]

@Wolfie, your car being a 6R, should only need the electric windows limits reset - if even that as I think that things might have changed on that front.

Cheers.

What is involved in resetting the window limits? Do they all need to be cycled or is it more involved than that? VCDS?

[RUM4MO]

Cheers.

What is involved in resetting the window limits? Do they all need to be cycled or is it more involved than that? VCDS?

If the electric windows do not work correctly, ie stop at the wrong point during opening or closing, hold the button down and keep it down for a few seconds after it has reached the lower position - ie no longer moves, then pull the button up until the window has reached its fully closed position, continue holding the button for a few seconds, after that that window should have relearned its end stops and so work okay. Repeat for all other electric windows.

[wolfie]

Cheers.

What is involved in resetting the window limits? Do they all need to be cycled or is it more involved than that? VCDS?

If the electric windows do not work correctly, ie stop at the wrong point during opening or closing, hold the button down and keep it down for a few seconds after it has reached the lower position - ie no longer moves, then pull the button up until the window has reached its fully closed position, continue holding the button for a few seconds, after that that window should have relearned its end stops and so work okay. Repeat for all other electric windows.

Thanks.
Where on earth did you learn that little trick?

[RUM4MO]

That used to be the method detailed in the owner's operating handbook I think, when cars definitely needed the electric windows "sorting" after the battery had been removed.

[amer6R]

I just close the windows and hold the button for 2s. That method of lowering holding, closing holding never worked for me.

[wolfie]

Only just got round to fitting a replacement battery with one thing and another. Are there any potential issues with leaving the car without a battery for a while? I was just going to have a good clean under the battery tray while I have the room to get in.