if you find you put off necessary jobs

[grazuncle2]

and regret it.. make it easier to do them.

I have always hated the chore a putting the battery charger on.. (I only found recently that it is more necessary if you don't use your vehicle frequently).. With my car and situation, and the way i position the car in it; reversed in - the mains socket is at the back of the garage and I have to get the coiled extension out for the charger .. the battery is on the other side of the car.. wires all over the place to trip over, no switch on the extension so can't leave the charger plugged in the extension whilst connecting the battery connections;

I got rid of some of the battery chore by fitting a remote plug-in connector on the charger and left that fitted to the battery... so I bit the bullet and planned to put in a double gang (switched) socket towards the front of the garage and on the righthand side, on a surface mounted pattress and printed off some brackets for the charger body to keep the charger (which has no mounting points) higher up with its display at eye level and easily switched on or off at the mains switch.

Now all I have to do is open the bonnet, plug in the quick connector and switch the charger on.. I'd really have liked to have had an external socket in the car body to just plug the charger into.. but i can't see or know of anything suitable/viable cost-wise.


At least I'm more inclined to connect up..

The things you have to do...

[RUM4MO]

I hope that I'm not seeing that installation correctly, but it does look to me that you are connecting the -VE to the battery -VE post - that wire should be changed to go to the service jump point or another close body earth bond point. VW will or should have made that clear somewhere.

[Andy Beats]

Is this really necessary?
I put my motorbikes on a trickle charger, but that's because they're laid up for months on end.
I'm not exactly a high mileage driver, my cars only do very short commuting and are then laid up all weekend.
I honestly, truthfully, cannot remember the last time I had any battery trouble, so why go to these lengths?
I don't 'get' unnecessary maintenance on cars.

[iichel]

I hope that I'm not seeing that installation correctly, but it does look to me that you are connecting the -VE to the battery -VE post - that wire should be changed to go to the service jump point or another close body earth bond point. VW will or should have made that clear somewhere.

I agree. The reason for this is, you're charging around the intelligent battery monitor, the 2-wire plug on your battery negative terminal.
It's better to put the minus somewhere 'downstream' of the negative battery strap. The positive terminal is perfectly fine where it is.

[Johntheo1]

Is this really necessary?
I put my motorbikes on a trickle charger, but that's because they're laid up for months on end.
I'm not exactly a high mileage driver, my cars only do very short commuting and are then laid up all weekend.
I honestly, truthfully, cannot remember the last time I had any battery trouble, so why go to these lengths?
I don't 'get' unnecessary maintenance on cars.

I agree, in my 58 years of VWs I have never had to trickle charge any of them even my wife's ones doing very very short runs, stop/start with excessive use of auxiliaries while stopped coupled with very short runs may require the odd top up, I would strongly suggest monitoring the charging voltages in one of the ways I suggested in the post "Is the 12 volt battery covered under the 3 year warranty"

[grazuncle2]

Is this really necessary?
I put my motorbikes on a trickle charger, but that's because they're laid up for months on end.
I'm not exactly a high mileage driver, my cars only do very short commuting and are then laid up all weekend.
I honestly, truthfully, cannot remember the last time I had any battery trouble, so why go to these lengths?
I don't 'get' unnecessary maintenance on cars.

ok

[RUM4MO]

If you are concerned about this mainly being due to the car not "looking after" its battery, why not buy a cheap DVM that is built into a "ciggy lighter" plug, and use that to give you an idea that all is okay, thy are not professional quality bits of kit, but they do seem to work well enough to give an idea of what is happening wrt charging from the alternator - cost probably round about £5. I eventually bought one just to check what was happening with both our cars - and any friend's cars, it sort of lives in wife's Polo, for no good reason other than it adds a very small bit of extra interest when driving that car!

[grazuncle2]

If you are concerned about this mainly being due to the car not "looking after" its battery, why not buy a cheap DVM that is built into a "ciggy lighter" plug, and use that to give you an idea that all is okay, thy are not professional quality bits of kit, but they do seem to work well enough to give an idea of what is happening wrt charging from the alternator - cost probably round about £5. I eventually bought one just to check what was happening with both our cars - and any friend's cars, it sort of lives in wife's Polo, for no good reason other than it adds a very small bit of extra interest when driving that car!

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I had bought an accurate volt meter and connected permanently hence I know running voltages; my standing voltages were low. 11.8 which suggested very low charge... My usage is very low due to illness and I had learned.. from this forum.. that a battery standing around with low a charge is no good for a battery so I wanted to make connecting it up easier. My batteries didn't last very long in my previous Polo; but I didn't know about this stuff and was abusing my battery unknowingly.

Charging V is good at 14.5. Over the last two weeks I have found that leaving the battery with this smart charger had improved the standing charge to 12.3v so far.. Just for leaving it connected. The charging when driving stays less at 14.5v so much more now. Seems to indicate a better state of battery. Someone else had the car for over two years before me. Who knows how long it was standing unused?

I think I have upset a few people with this post.

[RUM4MO]

---snip snip

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

---snip snip

I think I have upset a few people with this post.

Ha Ha, that happens all the time on these forums, live and let live is hopefully my way of approaching this, but offering a bit of correction if relevant.

Now, on that approach, the possible relocating of your -VE charging lead, I don't have this version of Polo, but looking at your last posting on the "what I have done to my Polo" - or similar thread title, I noticed that the first picture of the -VE charger lead on the battery shows what looks like a body coloured dome nut directly behind the battery -VE post - that is exactly the easiest/closest earth bonding point for moving your -VE charging lead to, that body mounted stud is M6 so I'd think that that means either a new ring terminal, or cutting it open and turning it into something suitable for fitting onto an M6 stud, though maybe you might get concerned about a cut ring terminal "opening up" when that dome nut is tightened back up, I'll check the diameter of the used Audi A4 one I bought to fit to my wife's 2015 Polo in place of that car's painted dome nut and report back soon confirming the thread size really is M6!

[grazuncle2]

Thanks for the reply..

I already did as you suggested and fitted it under the earth point.. It is a very long thread under that nut!.

I also found that my waterproof connectors did not stand the test of time.. even though I have done a lot of successful crimping of connectors in the past... the cable fell out. Don't think you can get the pins out of the casing once pushed in though.

In the end I sent for some pre-wired SAE connectors.. these are beefy polarised connectors with protective caps and can take a lot of amps if needed

like these
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000920 ... 0315%22%7D

it wasn't a waste of effort wiring up a double gang socket.. I now have more points for electrical tools to be connected at the same time; router, jigsaw etc. It cost me about £12 in 2.5mm twin and earth and £3 for the patress and cable clips.. and an hour of time.

[RUM4MO]

I seem to have got that sizing the wrong way round, well at least on the previous Polo, ie 6C, the thread size on the battery terminals is M7 X 1.0 and so the domed nut is M6 X 1.0, or at least the service jump point nut I bought is M6 X 1.0. Sorry about that!

Edit:- I've just read your last posting, so all good!

Now to move the Polo across the garage a bit to get the under cover off and retrieve the battery -VE small plastic cover - as I seem to have dropped it when checking that thread size!

Another Edit:- many years ago I bought a "good" set of jump leads, but being maybe a smart car owner, never needed to use them on your cars. A few years later, a neighbour who knew that he had a duff battery just ran out of luck in winter, step in "Mr Jump Leads man" - they did not help one bit, why, well the nasty Chinese company probably even back then, had not worked out how to crimp big heavy duty leads!! So I sorted that out properly and as to this day they have never been called back into action, next door neighbour seems to have a 58 plate Passat TDI so maybe they will be needed!

[grazuncle2]

I did exactly that when removing it to fit the ring connector!!!!

luckily I have slim hands and long fingers.. just about got to it..

Thanks for checking it. appreciated.

hope you find it!

[RUM4MO]

Thanks, I've added a bit to the last posting, just a bit of self humiliation!

[grazuncle2]

next door neighbour seems to have a 58 plate Passat TDI so maybe they will be needed!

Sounds very familiar..

I did have a portable (joke!) lead acid battery with fixed leads. Only used twice in the time I had it.. But lead acid batteries as I have found out need to be maintained or used. Only since changing jobs from traveling type (service industry) to more stationary have I found that I bought more batteries. Lack of good knowledge

[Andy Beats]

I did have a portable (joke!) lead acid battery with fixed leads. Only used twice in the time I had it.. But lead acid batteries as I have found out need to be maintained or used. Only since changing jobs from traveling type (service industry) to more stationary have I found that I bought more batteries. Lack of good knowledge

How many more, how often are you having to change?
Last battery I changed was our daughter's 8YO Seat Mii, and that was only a precaution.
You'd think my ultra-low mileage would be bad for batteries, but evidently not.