Before I disconnect the old battery, what problems am I likely to meet when I have connected the new one ? I can cope with re-setting the clock but what about ECU, alarm etc. The Haynes manual tells me how to reset the electric windows I think.

I have a small (4AHr) 12v rechargeble battery, is it worth connecting this with some cables to the battery leads to avoid loosing voltage during the swap ?

Swapped mine last week. Only had to reset the clock and the windows. Radio stored it's code, so didn't even need to worry about putting that back in.

I always use a battery saver that plugs into the lighter socket (which on my car is always live). You may loose any adaptive settings the ECU has stored. If you do use a back up battery, please note the following.

You should really use a blocking diode to prevent reverse current from the main battery flowing into the backup battery. Small backup batteries have been known to explode if this is not done. If you can borrow a normal car battery, this can be hooked up without using a diode.

Always wear safety glasses when changing a car battery.

If all that seems a bit daunting, just doing a straight swap is fine, you shouldn't have any problems.

Thanks for that. Have now replaced battery with second battery connected with croc clips to the terminals. Everything seems OK, even the clock kept its time (but have not checked windows yet ?)

how do you reset the windows?

According to Mr Haynes : Manually lock, unlock then finally lock again holding the key in "lock" position for 1 second. Note that windows need to be in closed position before doing this. But I have not tried this yet myself !

Windows is just a case of holding the button down for a few secs iirc

Or holding it up maybe lol

Yep, for the windows you just hold the key in the door lock in the "locked" position for a few seconds (you'll find if you do that with the windows down and sunroof open it will shut them all).

It uses this to memorise the "closed" position of the windows.

You'll find you lose the one touch up-down feature on the front windows until you've reset them as it doesn't know at what point to stop trying to close them.

Edited 23 December, 200916 yr by chicken_eyebrow

update for anyone interested, new Bosch S5 005 fitted.Was £65.98 inc VAT at Costco.

 

I used jump leads & another car to keep the leads connected to a battery while swapping out the Octavia one, so no issues with losing any settings,windows radio & clock all unaffected.

Better to do this with a helper if poss, makes it a bit easier to do.

Edited 12 November, 201312 yr by Jonathan_1.8T

update for anyone interested, new Bosch S5 005 fitted.Was £65.98 inc VAT at Costco.

 

I used jump leads & another car to keep the leads connected to a battery while swapping out the Octavia one, so no issues with losing any settings,windows radio & clock all unaffected.

Better to do this with a helper if poss, makes it a bit easier to do.

You can also use a booster pack instead of a jump leads.