This might sound like a strange question, but last year I left the parking light on, on my car overnight and the following day the battery was completely dead.

yesterday having driven from London to Brighton I was parked up for about three hours with the radio on, my iphone charging, and for most of it the DRL's on ( as I had the ignition on) and the battery went dead.

I know it is cold out, but should I not expect more?

Even though my main warranty has run our, does the battery have a seperate warranty??

3hrs!! my days no wonder it went flat,

I got stuck in the queue to Eurotunnel 2 weeks ago, stereo was on for 6 hrs (this is the hi fi Skoda system with DSP in the boot, quite current hungry).

The Mk1 V6 TDI Superb started normally, voltage just prior to start was 12.42V

But then I use Exide EA852 85Ah battery and not Bosch/Varta pseudo-maintenance-free (water filling caps under a sticker) junk.

Get a decent battery, I recommend Exide maintenance free, either EA770 or EA852 or similar, check first if it will fit in your battery tray.

I have been using the top range Exides since 2003, and out of 3 put in so far, I had to replace one at 6+ years mark. The one in the Superb is 3.5 years old I think.

Edited 18 January, 201313 yr by dieselV6

my car is only 2 1/2 years old, but I do sometimes keep stuff on over night (charging) just a phone or satnav so maybe this has ruined the battery.

car is off the road at the moment, but I presume it is a simple thing to change ( I am useless when it comes to this sort of stuff)

It's definitely less hassle than in Mk1 Superb.

Bateries live longer if you do not discharge them completely, in fact more than 50% discharge is already very bad.

That's why a bigger battery helps more than the difference in capacity rating. You should never discharge it flat.

Edited 18 January, 201313 yr by dieselV6

A battery will almost certainly be a consumable so not under warranty after 1yr.

you've probably just run it down, charge it up properly and see how you get on. My battery is nearly 6yr old and works fine even at a silly low temperatures.

Like most things, we have our own opinions as to what is the best whatever. So for what its worth, here is mine.

Odessey batteries are it. Top working battery. Will hold charge for months so come fully charged, never needs attention, guaranteed for up to 8 years, wont ever leak - even upside down, can be repeatedly deep discharged without damage, much less fall off of current delivery when cold, greater cold cranking capability, designed for tanks.

Sure they are dearer, but because of their higher energy density, a smaller Odessey will have the same performance as a larger conventional one. One bought one line is about the same as one bought in extremis when stuck.

Batteries are generally easy to fit, but unlikely to be covered by any warantee after a year, but its always worth a try. (you don't have to buy one off them)

A battery will almost certainly be a consumable so not under warranty after 1yr.

you've probably just run it down, charge it up properly and see how you get on. My battery is nearly 6yr old and works fine even at a silly low temperatures.

Your battery is under warranty for 3 years

Read this:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/258992-is-the-octy-vrs-cr-170-diesel-battery-not-up-to-the-job/

The manual says you should change it after five years. So VAG must have some faith in them. When buying a replacement for mine I got a VAG "economy" battery from a VW dealer. Quite cheap with a proper warranty for two years. Volkswagen are doing this with a lot of common parts. They consolidate all the various part numbers across the range into one new one for owners of vehicles five years old who would normally bypass VAG and buy after market batteries, , exhausts etc.

I do like the idea of a five year warranty but if you read the fine print it is usually a discount of the price of a new battery. If it fails at four years you will get 20% off whatever the retail price is on a new one.

Like most things, we have our own opinions as to what is the best whatever. So for what its worth, here is mine.

Odessey batteries are it. Top working battery. Will hold charge for months so come fully charged, never needs attention, guaranteed for up to 8 years, wont ever leak - even upside down, can be repeatedly deep discharged without damage, much less fall off of current delivery when cold, greater cold cranking capability, designed for tanks.

Sure they are dearer, but because of their higher energy density, a smaller Odessey will have the same performance as a larger conventional one. One bought one line is about the same as one bought in extremis when stuck.

Batteries are generally easy to fit, but unlikely to be covered by any warantee after a year, but its always worth a try. (you don't have to buy one off them)

If you have the cash for Oddesy then i'd suggest XS Power, extreemly good batteries.

With regards to leaving things on charge over night, this will not help. Constantly draining current from it.....doesnt you car have the auto off facility where after 1/2hr its switches off the radio etc?

Remeber, your battery is not a never ending power supply like plugging into the mains. It sounds like you need to find the highest AH rated battery you can possibly fit in your car. You will be talking hundreds of pounds but it should last and also you need to buy a charger.

Look at XS Power as I said. They do an SPL range for car audio, I have one (D3100 model). Its 110ah and short circuit amps of 5000. I used it to run a rated 7000wrms of car audio so a few things on charge should be no issues. They are pricey though.

Check out www.bladeice.com for them.

Have used Odyssey batteries on my bikes for decades - not the same one - never had a problem, leave it for months, even part charged.

There are sites offering Odyessey batteries for not much more than ordinary premium batteries.

XS power is similar technology, but not from the people who invented it. A quick google on a single site looked more expensive too.

Optima also produce AGM batteries, but I have read disparaging comments about them compared to the Odyssey.

I would agree that from what the OP has said, an AGM battery would suit his requirements better.

i wouldnt even consider optima. They used to be good but now they use their reputation to sell but are pretty poor batteries compared to what else is about

As with everything it all depends on budget. But the op should be looking to spend £200 at least imo

Edited 18 January, 201313 yr by ryan-re

I would not pay £200 for a car battery when I can pay £76 quid..

That's why a stonking big Exide EAxxx (pick largest fitting in the tray) is a bargain compared to other technologies. Even in stock size they have ~20% more CCA and 7Ah - 10Ah more capacity.

EA852 (size 110TE) is £76 delivered, 85Ah, 800CCA (cold cranking amps). It fitted in Mk1 Octavia, in case 313mm battery does not fit in Mk2, you can use EA770 (size 067TE), same price, £76, 77Ah, 760CCA, that is double peak cold cranking current output of biggest Skoda supplied battery.

they are more expensive because they are better and if the op is going to be silly and leaving things on charge over night etc then they want the best battery possible

The DRL's on the Octavia (non vRS) are 21W (PY21W).

Leaving these powered up for three hours will soon flatten the battery, especially one that is being asked to power the radio and the 12V outlet socket.

My Battery on the 'Red One' is original and the car is 2005 Octavia Mkii VRS I make that 7+ years and counting . Surely thats got to be the oldest working battery. Oh and she fires up first time even at -6 like it was on wednesday. Had the RAC out to it recently and they tested the battery and it passed all tests ok. So from my experience 5 year is quite conservative. I do have a Bosch S4 sat in the garage ready for when it does fail though and thats garanteed for 4 years.

I sold my 14 year old 1999 (V) Peugeot 306 with 150,000 miles on it last year still with the original battery.

Some common sense helps...

No electrical load before starting the engine.

All electrical load off before stopping the engine.

I use these LED DRL's in the Roomie (last 2 photos):

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/238769-some-roomster-add-ons-photos/#entry2806337

They take far less current at 3W each rather than 21W, look OK and are not as blinding, but still well visible at a distance.

But leaving ignition on to power things is not a good idea, at ignition there are a lot of other electrical loads and not all get switched off after a while.

You'd think that with things like the radio and interior light automatically turning off when the ignition is off for a certain period of time the DRL's would do the same.

Let's face it hardly anyone know's how DRL's work at the best of times so someone who falls asleep in a laybay with the ignition on is going to be annoyed when he wakes up and finds himself stranded!

My last octavia went to the crusher at 11 yrs old with the original battery still in it. And exhaust and clutch come to that.

I frequently have 7A fridge in the car, get stuck at Eurotunnel entrance at least 2-3 times a year, plus car can be parked abroad in winter with no topping up battery, for 1-2 weeks at a time. Under these conditions, I can tell a good quality battery from a poor one in about 3 months to 1.5 year, and the 3 that arrived in new Skodas were not good enough.

That Exide I took out after 6 years only went out because Superb got newer Exide and I put Superb's factory battery in the Octy. old exide went to sit in the garage as backup. But it would still start the car just fine. I still prefer genuine maintenance free design, double CCA and 20% more capacity rather than what Varta/Bosch sells to Skoda.